Skopje on Day 4



  Yay for sleeping in. Then we went back to downtown Skopje. We visited this multi-domed church that was empty of people. It was not as ornate as other churches, no spires. A few statues. However it was a sight to behold. There was a segmented picture every few feet on the wall itself, not in a frame. Ancient saints, I suppose. The paintings went in rows and continued on the ceiling. The only thing blocking the view was a humongous chandelier that was hanging fairly low in the room and was about 12 feet across. Would I say a 12 foot circumference, since it was a circle?
  Speaking of math in Macedonia, let me explain the issues I have with the language. They use numbers. There is a letter that looks like a 3, and one that looks like a 6 and an open 4. I was good at everything in school until I was introduced to algebra word problems. It was my downfall then, and it's not helping now. It took me years to get smart at math again. Between numbers and accents, I have not tried Macedonian lessons. I'm doing well in my French refresher, so I think I'll stick with that.
  Then we went for a little walk and ended up near where we were yesterday. Except yesterday it looked First Time Cool, but not as cool as Budapest or Warsaw. This time we were 2 blocks away along the same river, and all the amazing stuff opened up in front of us like magic. Never sit still, folks! You never know what's around the block. For us it was a world of statues and huge fountains.
  It was another European town square. An open area surrounded by shops. This one also had a big 25 square foot (at least) ground fountain. The kind that shoots up out of the sidewalk, and kids run through it laughing. That was part of our view from the outdoor restaurant. There was another very tall fountain with a extra large statue of man on a horse. Surrounded by... 8 lions as tall as me. All of this was on one side of a walking bridge that went over the small river to another square with 4 other fountains. Our restaurant had a guy out playing the piano near us, and he was very good. It was an amazing experience. Living it up on a hot Macedonian afternoon, trying to ignore my allergies.
  Ron ordered a dish that was so wonderful I wanted to be the kind of person who takes pictures of their food. It was so pretty. Bright red skinny peppers cooked whole. A bowl with oil and 3 big olives. A hunk of bread. Some amazing white garlic sauce, and more. So many tiny bowls of tastiness on a big flat black platter. Well, I guess you had to be there. I'm definitely going back there, just not in the heat of the day again. Unless I run through the fountains first. That might work.
  There was a huge agricultural museum too. It's big and white and tall with pillars. We will go inside some day. We walked in front of it to another walking bridge. This one had statues on the sides every 10 feet or so. I can't wait to go back at night and see what it all looks like. They have beautiful street lamps here. The rest of Skopje that we saw had a million tiny restaurants. This place had several really big outdoor spaces with what, 50 tables each. And they played 70's cheese music from the States. We survived.
  Then some more wandering around the chaotic shopping centers, we actually went in 2 circles, but it looked different from opposite directions. We sat in a park, to catch some shade. The big tree over us had a lot of tiny yellowish blossoms that smelled heavenly. Then we caught another cab home so I could rest from all my sneezing. Pictures coming soon.










One last fountain picture. This was the second biggest one.

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