Coming down from Vodno to the city center

There's Vodnjanska - the main road coming down from the Vodno mountain. We were in a taxi and shot a few light-action photos last night. Seven of them made it to this slideshow blog entry.

Protest in the park

Economically Macedonia is in a turmoil. Some parts do very well, others are close to disastrous. Unemployment rate is high: 30+% And what do you do when you hear that you lost your job after 25 years service? I don't know in my case, but there are a few people gathered in front of the Parliament, protesting against their fate.

Mavrovo and Sv. Joakim Bigorski slideshow blog entries

It seems like yesterday when I mentioned the 'under constructioness' of some slideshow blog entries. But no, it's not. In fact, it's already two days ago and this is what I meant. People announce things coming up on their sites many times and it usually takes longer than to get it updated than everybody (including the author) anticipated for. Well, I guess I had in mind to release these blog entries yesterday. Maybe the Sepultura cancellation got us off track, but what am I talking about? It's not this nagging that you're here for. I'd like to add one more thought though: "One picture can tell a thousand words". This would meant that I'm leaving you today with a couple of thousand words to behold.

Mavrovo just after New Year's Eve (11,000 words)

Monastery Sv. Joakim Bigorski (5,000 words)

Anticipation for a NO-GO

Tonight could have been THE night. Skopje would have been witnessing something beautiful and unique. A real Brazilian top act could have been playing in the MKC. I guess it would have been their first time. I don't keep track of where they've been before, but I doubt if they ever played here in Macedonia before. Sigh... To keep it short: it didn't happen. What DID happen was this. We anticipated a long time this gig. On the very day it was known they would come here, we got our tickets. Hey, we even got a ticket for the son of our landlord. He's into the same music (more or less) and a musician himself. Also brought the concert under the attention of the Brazilian top-sporters who're working very hard in Macedonia. Some of them even made it to the Olympics and obviously play and played in national teams of their sports discipline. We were all getting ready for the tunes to be heard. But... again... it didn't happen.

At about 18:00 hrs, we got a phone call from the man who sold us the tickets telling us that the concert was cancelled. The lot didn't arrive in Skopje after their Greece appearance last night. Grrrrr.... Or... sigh... DISAPPOINTMENT. The concert was sold out. And no reason was given. Not even on their site. Not even on fan forums. Not even on the venue's site. All what's left is an image of their concert tickets. The ones that will stay untouched.
Gee! The photo of these tickets leaves quite a bad impression. Click on it to get a better view.
[Update 30 March] I just found out on Sepultura's fan forum that the promotor here in Skopje appeared not to have done things according to plan. A bus was not organized e.g. Well, talking about having things organized: their site could be a little more informative about their 'news' as well.

I got to dislike announcing activities on blogs like this...

... but I'm going to make myself guilty of it anyway. When I woke up this morning, very early at 4, I couldn't sleep anymore. So I got to do a few blog entries. Yes, I'm talking about the two you see below. While preparing all the photos for these slideshow blogs, I realized that there are quite a few photos of sceneries missing in both this blog as on the Flickr pages where I started to locate all photos (I also started experimenting with Picasa but this new star on the firmament is too 'green' for me at the moment. Even though I've got to admit that the 1 Gb free memory is very tempting). It also appeared that all the photos I put on Photobucket are linked to this webblog here (my previous webbased photo sharing/storing device but of which I decided to stop working with for very subjective reasons). Looking at the lots of photos that are still waiting on my computer to be processed and also the plans we're making that includes many new photo shooting opportunities, it seemed to me that I should share with you at least a few of the moments/slideshow blogs that will be up here in the hopefully not too near future (sentence is too long bothering rephrasing). Here's a quick list of what I had in mind:

• The Millennium Cross;
• Mavrovo and Movrovi Anovi;
• Sv. J. Bigorski near Debar;
• Ohrid (yes, again);
• ... and some more.

Hope you don't mind me contributing this 'under construction' kind of blog entry.

Spring time in Skopje

It is like the winter never really came. Result: Spring in Skopje came early. At least to my reckoning. We were able to see the Spring coming from our balcony. Sounds chique? Yes it is. There's a cherry tree that started to blossom the last couple of weeks. I've been collecting a few photos in this period and here's the little slideshow of this including a few busy bees.


Click photo to start the slideshow (7 photos)

Been in Prilep

Prilep: the city of marble and tobacco. Coming down from the mountainous road from Veles, you'll see some chuncks been taken out of hills when you get close to Prilep. It's the site where the marble and famous white stone (this probably has a name, sorry I don't know it) is taken. In the city center at almost every corner of the street you'll be able to see a statue of some sort. Different styles from different artists. I can't really go into all these details here. First, because I'm not that much of an expert, and second as I think the photos would be more interesting to look at. The third reason right now would be that I'm in a little hurry, so time limits me also.

About the tobacco: if you walk or drive through the city you will see the drying racks all around Prilep. Didn't take a photo of these (yet), so don't expect them to see when you're clicking on the photo below to start the slideshow. What is it that you can expect? A few shots from Monastery Sv. Archangel Mihail, some dogs, hill views and... sigh, again... a disturbing little garbage dump. It's what it is. Enjoy watching the slideshow anyway.


Start the slideshow of Prilep (15 photos)

A few new slideshows

As usual, it's hard for some people like me to keep the blog up-to-date. This is a little bit of a photographic catching-up. Click on the photos below to open the Flickr slideshow that goes with that particular photo. Beware that not all photos are the typical touristic shots one might expect to find out.

Kavadarci: the centre of wine making Macedonia (8 photos).

Tatev Kamen ancient observatorium (3 photos).

Sveti Gjorgi in Staro Nagoricane (2 photos).

Kumanovo (3 photos).

A Stip church and their great pastrmalija (5 photos).

Struggle for Bargala

Today, after finishing a rather heavy lunch in Stip (yes, it was another Pastrmalija afternoon) we decided to go down to the remains of the ancient Roman city of Bargala. Recently it's been under quite some maintenance. And this shows. It's a pretty afternoon or early evening stroll. Today, Mr. Z, the guide of the site, approached us while I was taking photos. A few "Nema fotos!" made me understand that I was not supposed to make any here. When we arrived on the spot, I didn't see a sign explaining us that photography was not allowed. I mentioned this and to my surprise the reasoning for not taking any photos was completely different. Here's the nutshell story.

Last year, a professor from a Bulgarian university came to visit Bargala. He took plenty of photos and returned home. Once back at work, he showed a collection of his photos in a presentation or any other kind of publication. The reference to Bargala was clearly made. Only, there was a slight itch of misunderstanding created when this professor mentioned that Bargala was on Bulgarian grounds. So, what happened next: Obviously Mr. Z's organization got a hold of the Bulgarian claim on Bargala. I don't know if it was Zvonko himself or any other policy maker, but since the presentation, Bulgarians are not welcome to make photos of the site anymore. It gets a little more interesting, as at one stage we were explained that Bulgarians were refused entrance to Bargala.

When we explained that we were not Bulgarian, our allowance to make photos was returned to us. So, here's it. For you to behold. The one and only MACEDONIAN Bargala:

These are the good times!

Was the end of last year interesting concert-wise with Iggy paying a visit to Skopje. It's getting quite a lot more interesting this Spring. Tomorrow it's the mighty Toy Dolls who're playing the МКЦ. The end of the month is highlighted by the greatest rock act from Brazil visiting the МКЦ as well. These are the good times.

Vardar beating FK Makedonija G.P.

Today's a big day for Vardar - the Skopje football club that through history has seen most of the world compared to all other Macedonian football clubs. Is this historically correct? Oh no. It's just what I am repeating hearing others say. Today we went to see them playing the Skopje derby against FK Makedonia G.P. Big reports about this game with photos, videos, comments, critics and praises can obviously be found elsewhere on the web. What this blog entry adds to all these better written and more informatical has not much to do with football as it is a description about the context in which the match took place. Beautifully under the sunlit sky, it was one of the first spring days out. Young kids sporting their shorts were not exceptionally rare in this West Skopje small stadium.

During our walk to the market (Bunjakovec at Bulevar Partizanski Odredi) we also spotted the first trees in blossom. Spring has already arrived in Macedonia. Big news? Well, with the mild winter we had, one could get away with the statement that spring never left the country for the cold.

By the way, Vardar won the match with 0-2 with the Brazilians Wandair, Braga and Franca being the men of the match. No doubt!

Full moon fading over Skopje, Macedonia

Here's a first photo of what I was previously talking about.

Disappearing moon

Tonight's the night. Actually, as I write these words, it is still happening. The moon's gone. Not only is it obscured by the earth covering the path of the sun. Nooo! What many people here have been looking forward to - it's been all over the newspapers in Skopje today - turns out to have become a wee bit of a downer. The moon is not just invisible because we collectively have our big 'beep' in front of the sun. The Skopje sky of this minute is also covered with clouds. And not just a bit here and there. It's all over town.

Anyway, I managed to make a few photos of the moon's changing face. Hope to get them up tomorrow or so. That is, of course, if I keep finding the discipline to keep up with the writing.

See y'all later!