[Macedonia] The unexpected

Macedonia was quite interesting. It may have been the country that I’ve visited with the least information and knowledge. I do regret it, but in a way it was exciting because most, if not everything of what I saw was unexpected.

Pride
Again, Pristina was dead when I walked around in the morning. Maybe it was because it was a Saturday morning. Or maybe because I over-romanticized it in my mind. Macedonia, on the other hand, was a buzzing country filled with energy. Why? I have no idea. Tracing the country’s history, there are many similarities between Macedonia and Kosovo (minus Serbian rule). The only major challenge that Macedonia face this day is the name dispute between Greece. Supposedly Greece does not formally accept Macedonia as an UN member because Greece has a province also named “Macedonia”. So unless Macedonia changes its name to “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Greece will not accept (even though all other members don’t really care). Personally, I think its much less of a burden on Greece’s side to change it’s province name rather forcing another country to change it’s entire name. But then whose the bigger power? Greece.
One thing I noticed from this country is that, it has extensive amount of flags in the city. I've never seen so many random flags in the street, not even in the states. When I climbed up the fortress and had the view of the city, I literally counted over 20 HUGE Macedonian flags in the air. First I thought it was their way of retaliating against Greece, but then its not like their national flag is threatened to be changed..I don't know.

Randoms
Alright I’ll cheat and just post bunch of photos. I’m doing this because I don’t know much about Macedonia but I did manage to walk around the city within a day and take many photos.

One thing I can say is, they have one of the most colorful cash I have ever seen.

Random statues on the street

They really need an explanation for this one

Ciao, Macedonia