Touring around Skopje by the local dogs

Today was the first time in 20 days that we have seen rain! It just made us realise how lucky we have been so far and how easy it is to take it for granted. We didn’t let it stop us though, just got the raincoats on and out we went for the morning walking tour.

The tour guide was great, so knowledgeable and full of beans! The best thing about the tour though was the many dogs that came along with us. [There are loads of stray dogs all over the city but they have tags on them which ensures that they have been vaccinated and have food etc. Its still sad to see but they seem happy enough and they aren’t annoying or aggressive really.] So these dogs came along on the tour and they would stop patiently at each stop and wait for us to move on. They became very protective over us too and would bark at anyone that came near the group. This included people, people on bikes and even cars. Hilarious. I couldn’t take in much of what the tour guide was saying as I was so distracted by these funny dogs!

The guide admitted that Skopje has a bit of an obsession with statues but he explained the important ones! We got a nice view of the city too from the city fortress and the sun had come out by that point so that was lovely. You could hear the mosque chanting in the background too, felt like we could have been in the middle east. There is a huge cross up on Mt Vodno that overlooks the city. It’s twice as big as the one in Rio which I found hard to imagine as I didn’t think it looked that big!

Skopje is another city that seems to live in harmony with lots of different religions and beliefs which I like. It seems like there is a lot of poverty though which is sad to see next to so many expensive monuments and statues. Overall though, I really liked it here! And a bonus- we found the best hostel ever that feels so homely! Free popcorn last night and free pizza tonight- can’t complain!Read more