Today started really early for Kristian who was up before seven, and I think, enjoying the peace and quiet before Saya and I woke up about an hour later. We had breakfast, did some washing in the washing machine! and headed out around 10.
We took the pushchair for the first time since during the trip, but quite quickly realized that even though it is flat here, the pavements are really bad and in many placed non existent. After a quick walk to find a supermarket we went back to the flat and got the chair for Saya instead.
We decided to walk to the old part of town and to see the big bazar that supposedly is the biggest on in the Balkans. The walk to the bazar was hot and humid and uphill and took us past the fortress. Unlike the the other fortresses we have seen this one had big advertising banners on them. We decided that we didn't have a big need to go in a see the fortress since we have seen one in every place we have visited on this trip. The bazar was nice however, though we didn't spend that long inside as both Kristian and Saya were feeling really hot. Afterwards we went to have some lunch in the old town area. The food wasn't great, but it was ok and we enjoyed resting our feet for a bit.
after lunch we went looking for the Sveti Spas church - a Christian church built partially underground, since the Turks didn't allow churches to be taller than mosques during the Ottoman rule. Inside was an amazing hand carved iconostasis (a new word I have just learnt) - basically a hand carved wooden wall depicting tales from the bible.
We then started to walk towards the park in the search of a playground for Saya. To her great disappointment though the playground was a really sad looking one with only a few things that were all so worn down that they were falling to pieces. We spent only a short while here and then decided to go to the zoo that was right next to the park to tray and make it up to Saya. I had my doubts as I have been to a few zoos around the world and the ones in poorer parts of the world have been, to put it lightly, pretty heart breaking.
The price to get in was only 100 Denar for the three of us and the zoo wasn't quite as bad as I feared. Ok the animals could have had a lot more room to move on and quite a few of the animals didn't have a partner and consequently looked quite lonely and sad. Saya loved the zoo though and was extremely eager to see all of them. We spent about an hour there and by the time we left, mainly because we were very thirsty and beginning to feel very tired, it was close to 5pm. On our way out we discovered a bouncing castle and Saya went wild with excitement by the prospect of trying it out. However when we asked one of the staff members about it turned out that it was only for guest at a birthday party that was just starting. Saya got her second big disappointment of the day and my heart broke a little when she started crying. I reallyy wish she could have had that experience. Nothing we tried to comfort her seemed to work afterwards. And still when I tucked her into bed this evening that was all that was on her mind. Even the good experience with the zoo seemed to have faded in the light of the disappointment with the bouncing castle. We really have to learn not to promise her anything before we're am 100% certain that it is possible.
We then went looking for a specific restaurant we had read about in our guise book. At this point we were really really tired and our feet were aching - We had literally been walking around non stop since 10am this morning. We couldn't seem to find it though and in the end we were close to being grumpy all of us and we decided to give up and walk back towards the flat were we knew we could find some restaurants. We had our dinner in a Chinese restaurant us being a bit fed up with grilled meats and salads and it was ok.
Tired we walked back to the flat we Saya is now asleep and we are winding down for the day.
Tomorrow is our last proper day of the trip and we are probably going to spend it at Lake Matka just outside of Skopje. It is supposed to be really beautiful there and to be honest I am looking forward to be getting away from Skopje which I find a pretty ugly, bleak and strange city from what we have seen so far.
Saya is really looking forward to going home and seems to be counting the days till we are on our way. I can understand why as well.. 2.5 weeks only with mum and dad is a long time and with no one to play with. it will be good for her to be around other children again and just play all day long.
I, as usually, don't want to go home. I think this travelling this time though have been a bit hard, probably mainly due to sleeping really badly at night for most part of the trip, which has left me feeling drained during the day time. Also - as always - trying to cover as much as possible in very little time, leaved you feeling pretty tired after a while. Having said all that, I am not ready to go home to our ordinary life again with everything it takes - getting up early, work, cleaning the flat etc etc, and not to forget the pending winter!
For now through I will enjoy the last day tomorrow in the heat and make the most of it.
We took the pushchair for the first time since during the trip, but quite quickly realized that even though it is flat here, the pavements are really bad and in many placed non existent. After a quick walk to find a supermarket we went back to the flat and got the chair for Saya instead.
We decided to walk to the old part of town and to see the big bazar that supposedly is the biggest on in the Balkans. The walk to the bazar was hot and humid and uphill and took us past the fortress. Unlike the the other fortresses we have seen this one had big advertising banners on them. We decided that we didn't have a big need to go in a see the fortress since we have seen one in every place we have visited on this trip. The bazar was nice however, though we didn't spend that long inside as both Kristian and Saya were feeling really hot. Afterwards we went to have some lunch in the old town area. The food wasn't great, but it was ok and we enjoyed resting our feet for a bit.
after lunch we went looking for the Sveti Spas church - a Christian church built partially underground, since the Turks didn't allow churches to be taller than mosques during the Ottoman rule. Inside was an amazing hand carved iconostasis (a new word I have just learnt) - basically a hand carved wooden wall depicting tales from the bible.
We then started to walk towards the park in the search of a playground for Saya. To her great disappointment though the playground was a really sad looking one with only a few things that were all so worn down that they were falling to pieces. We spent only a short while here and then decided to go to the zoo that was right next to the park to tray and make it up to Saya. I had my doubts as I have been to a few zoos around the world and the ones in poorer parts of the world have been, to put it lightly, pretty heart breaking.
The price to get in was only 100 Denar for the three of us and the zoo wasn't quite as bad as I feared. Ok the animals could have had a lot more room to move on and quite a few of the animals didn't have a partner and consequently looked quite lonely and sad. Saya loved the zoo though and was extremely eager to see all of them. We spent about an hour there and by the time we left, mainly because we were very thirsty and beginning to feel very tired, it was close to 5pm. On our way out we discovered a bouncing castle and Saya went wild with excitement by the prospect of trying it out. However when we asked one of the staff members about it turned out that it was only for guest at a birthday party that was just starting. Saya got her second big disappointment of the day and my heart broke a little when she started crying. I reallyy wish she could have had that experience. Nothing we tried to comfort her seemed to work afterwards. And still when I tucked her into bed this evening that was all that was on her mind. Even the good experience with the zoo seemed to have faded in the light of the disappointment with the bouncing castle. We really have to learn not to promise her anything before we're am 100% certain that it is possible.
We then went looking for a specific restaurant we had read about in our guise book. At this point we were really really tired and our feet were aching - We had literally been walking around non stop since 10am this morning. We couldn't seem to find it though and in the end we were close to being grumpy all of us and we decided to give up and walk back towards the flat were we knew we could find some restaurants. We had our dinner in a Chinese restaurant us being a bit fed up with grilled meats and salads and it was ok.
Tired we walked back to the flat we Saya is now asleep and we are winding down for the day.
Tomorrow is our last proper day of the trip and we are probably going to spend it at Lake Matka just outside of Skopje. It is supposed to be really beautiful there and to be honest I am looking forward to be getting away from Skopje which I find a pretty ugly, bleak and strange city from what we have seen so far.
Saya is really looking forward to going home and seems to be counting the days till we are on our way. I can understand why as well.. 2.5 weeks only with mum and dad is a long time and with no one to play with. it will be good for her to be around other children again and just play all day long.
I, as usually, don't want to go home. I think this travelling this time though have been a bit hard, probably mainly due to sleeping really badly at night for most part of the trip, which has left me feeling drained during the day time. Also - as always - trying to cover as much as possible in very little time, leaved you feeling pretty tired after a while. Having said all that, I am not ready to go home to our ordinary life again with everything it takes - getting up early, work, cleaning the flat etc etc, and not to forget the pending winter!
For now through I will enjoy the last day tomorrow in the heat and make the most of it.