36
WIZZ MAGAZINE
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2012
COVER FEATURE
SKOP J E
By now it’s 1.30am and I’m feeling
peckish. “It’s time,” says Dime, “for a great
late-night Macedonian tradition.” He takes
me to a small family-run bakery where
a wood-fired oven is producing delicious
flaky pastry pies known as
burek
.
Filled with
meat or cheese, they are baked and then
cut into wedges. It’s a sort of high-octane
pizza, Macedonian style. Despite the late
hour, the place is packed as party revellers
grab a bite to eat on their way home.
The next morning it feels like time to
explore old Skopje and find some of the
history I’ve heard so much about. Before
heading for the Old Bazaar, I browse the
stalls set up at the edge of Macedonia
Square. Most are selling books, but one
has some interesting old artefacts on
display. “This is one of the best places
to buy genuine Macedonian silverware,”
explains Radmila Klimovska, a collector
of traditional jewellery, “especially rare
handmade pieces”.
I’d already spotted some antique
shops in the Old Bazaar, so head over
the 15th-century Kamen Most, or Stone
Bridge, and into Skopje’s historical centre.
With its maze of atmospheric streets and
cobbled alleyways, studded with mosque
minarets and with the brooding Kale
Fortress beyond, there’s a real feel of
the old-style Ottoman Balkans here. My
first port of call has been recommended
“
LOOK OUT FOR
ANTIQUES AND
OLD MACEDONIAN
JEWELLERY”
RADMILA
KLIMOVSKA
LEFT:
LOOKING FOR BARGAINS
ON MACEDONIA SQUARE
BOTTOM:
A
TRADITIONAL WOOD-FIRED BAKER’S
OVEN AND
SIMIT BUREK
,
A CLASSIC
LATE-NIGHT SNACK
