Macedonia! Fancy dress help required

[Dave the OAP]

you have a girlfriend?

 

[Colossal Squid]

Here is Skopje's main square:

The controversial giant Alexander the Great statue sits atop a huge column in the centre of the grand central fountain.

 

[Colossal Squid]

The national sport is basketball and they're seriously MAD for it. You could dress up as star player Bo McCalebb, affectionately known by locals as "****** guy" (seriously)

 

[Colossal Squid]

Sounds brilliant. I need to go to Skopje as part of my quest to visit every country in Europe. How long would you say it's worth staying there for?

In all honesty it's not exactly bustling with activity. I had a great time out there but I was very much in with the locals. As a tourist I'd say you can get a good enough feel for the place and visit the major sights (the old town bazaar, main square and stone bridge, nearby lake Matka and the Mother Teresa memorial) in just a couple of days. It's INCREDIBLY hot in the middle of Summer however, so be prepared if that's when you're planning on visiting. Being completely landlocked there's no cooling sea breeze ANYWHERE and the ugly concrete monstrosities that make up the predominantly sixties built city centre just trap the searing heat and humidity.

One reason you may wish to stay a little longer however is the incredibly cheap cost of EVERYTHING. I think only Tirana in Albania is a cheaper European capital. The local brew, Skopsko, is actually a fairly pleasant beer and you can buy it by the litre for less than 50p.

Here is a photo I took of a meal out I once enjoyed which cost me about £2.20, with two beers:

Keep an eye on travel warnings however as since I left a number of my friends out there have commented that relations between the ethnic Macedonians and Muslim Albanian population have really suffered lately and there have been bursts of violence around the city. It doesn't get reported much here because nobody seems to care about Macedonia but there have been some pretty unpleasant clashes by all accounts, and I wouldn't want to get caught up in them.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Oh, and go visit the national stadium, the Phillip II Arena. It's quite nice

 

[The Large One]

Without having read the rest of the thread, she can always go as Mother Teresa.

 

[Arthur]

The other half is off to a Eurovision party tomorrow and has Macedonia.

Any ideas on what she can wear, take as food and take as drink?

Clothing looks like old Russian. Not so sure about food and drink though.

You have shit friends!

What sort of **** sits there and thinks I'm going to have a Eurovision party (I could end the sentence there with a ?) and then makes the people attending dress up in theme of a country participating?

Suggest you go as Greece, turn up in a bed sheet f***ed on Ouzo. Say you are too poor to bring food or drinks and drink and eat for free. Call everyone there a **** and bail out at the first opportunity. You'll be very unlikely to get invited back which by the sounds of things will be a massive result!

 

[Woodchip]

Without having read the rest of the thread, she can always go as Mother Teresa.

You are a legend!

 

[Colossal Squid]

Now you're talking my language. I dread to think how much food and drink I could consume there. My only complaint would be that knife - how are you tucking into the meat with that pathetic tool?

It sounds like a couple of days in Macedonia are probably enough then. Can I ask, did you have any experience of trying to move between countries while you were there? I also need to go to Kosovo on the same trip, which I'm fearing might not be the most hospitable border crossing on our planet?

I came into Macedonia the first time via Serbia without any problem and left the same route. The crossing into Kosovo is fine, the trouble is getting from Kosovo into Serbia because the Serbians refuse to recognise Kosovo as a separate nation so border patrols kick off about the Kosovan entry stamps in your passport. Again, be very careful in this part of the world. A guy I know who serves in the forces in Kosovo got stabbed up pretty bad earlier this year as part of some initiation ritual for new recruits into the Albanian mafia.

I hasten to add that I never had ANY troubles when I was out there and found the whole region to be very safe and friendly BUT I do hear these stories and they're not bullshit sadly.

2012 Republic of Macedonia inter-ethnic violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[cloud]

Or you could knock up something like this