Welcome to Skopje! Welcome to the Old Town – our bazaar!
Surrounded by seven mountains for more than 7 thousand years our capital has been a crossroad of civilizations, culture and art in this part of Europe. It is not accidental that the number of tours we prepared for you is seven.
Skopje Bazaar is proclaimed by law a cultural heritage of special importance for our country. This application can help you experience seven different tours in the Bazaar, or the Old Town and visit over 50 different locations of your interest. For our application, we have chosen the color of Macedonian ruby, story of which will be narrated in our tours.
We promise unforgettable experience that you can share through our application and social media because the people of your country and the world deserve to hear about Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.
Choose your tour, relax, enjoy and find your hidden precious stone in the heart of Skopje.
1 - OPEN-AIR MUSEUM
Skopje with its long history has always been positioned on the crossroad of civilization. Numerous empires, cultures and civilizations left their traces in its development and lifestyle. Those diversities as well as the East and West influences may be even today felt in the Bazaar. This tour will show you the most important historical monuments in the Bazaar, including the Stone Bridge, Church of the Ascension of Jesus, Mustafa Pasha Mosque and Murat Pasha Mosque. At the end of Skopje Fortress you can enjoy wonderful views of our capital. Enjoy our open-air museum!
2 - LEGENDS AND MEMORIES FROM THE BAZAAR
Like any city with long history, Skopje and the heart of the city – Old Bazaar have their own legends. In this tour you will hear not only about legends related to key historic-cultural monuments in the Bazaar but also memories of people and parts of the city that do not exist anymore. You will learn more about Karposh’s rebellion, Church Saint Demetrius, Daut Pasha and Čifte Hamam. The tour will also lead us to Jewish neighborhood where you will learn more about the history and tragic destiny of the Jewish in this part of Macedonia. Most of the interesting locations in this tour can be found in the southern part of the Old Bazaar in the vicinity of the Stone Bridge. Remember that Skopje and our country were under reign of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, which strongly influenced the old town.
3 - THE CRAFTS – IN THE PAST AND NOWADAYS
The Bazaar complex was built around the Bezisten as a central core. The bazaar extended from Daut Pasha Hamam to the Bit-Pazar and covered numerous shops, hamams, inns for accommodation of traders coming worldwide and other interesting localities. Skopje today registers around 1000 artisans, 126 of which work on the territory of the Old Bazaar. There are craft shops in the Bazaar in which artisans such as quilt maker, furrier, hatter, slipper maker, silversmith, potter, watchmaker, coppersmith, whitesmith, jeweler still exist. This tour will retell the story of crafts in the old town. At the end, we will visit the Museum of the Old Bazaar. We are convinced that you will find your favorite craft and maybe the perfect souvenir to always remind you of your visit to Skopje.
4 - MACEDONIAN RUBY
One of the specificities of Skopje Bazaar is that nowadays most of the shops are oriented to craft and sales of jewelry. Macedonian population has always nurtured special attitude to jewelry made of various materials. Jewelry and decorative items are also present in archeological material found in the vicinity of Skopje dating as of ancient times. Consequently in this tour you can get knowledge of the tradition of production and sales of jewelry made in the Bazaar. Within the tour you can get familiar with artisans who work this craft and hear the story of the Macedonian ruby and filigree, and visit the long Goldsmith Street. There you can surely find your precious stone in Skopje. This tour starts from the northern part in the vicinity of the North Gate. We recommend to choose this tour once you visit the locations of your interest related to the historical heritage of our old town.
5 - MERCHANTS WITH BIG SMILE
Shopping is favorite activity of any tourists. This has been also the case in Skopje Bazaar for centuries, and its merchants are well known for their kindness. This tour will not only introduce you to the trade tradition in the Bazaar but also to the features of traditional outfit, and you will also visit places where furs, footwear and dresses are sold. Special attention in our tour is dedicated to Mother Teresa, our humanist, missionary and Nobel prize winner, whose family had a shop in the Bazaar. Mother Teresa is most famous person from Skopje, her story is special in its own way and closely related to our city. You will also visit the biggest inn in the Bazaar where traders, who brought goods for sales in our city, were accommodated for centuries. At the end you will visit the biggest open market in Skopje – Bit-Pazar. One thing is common for all the places you will visit – everywhere you will be
welcomed by big smiles. Enjoy!
6 - FOOD FOR THE SOUL
Shopping is favorite activity of any tourists. This has been also the case in Skopje Bazaar for centuries, and its merchants are well known for their kindness. This tour will not only introduce you to the trade tradition in the Bazaar but also to the features of traditional outfit, and you will also visit places where furs, footwear and dresses are sold. Special attention in our tour is dedicated to Mother Teresa, our humanist, missionary and Nobel prize winner, whose family had a shop in the Bazaar. Mother Teresa is most famous person from Skopje, her story is special in its own way and closely related to our city. You will also visit the biggest inn in the Bazaar where traders, who brought goods for sales in our city, were accommodated for centuries. At the end you will visit the biggest open market in Skopje – Bit-Pazar. One thing is common for all the places you will visit – everywhere you will be
welcomed by big smiles. Enjoy!
7 - LIGHTS OF THE OLD TOWN
Night life in the Old Town is mostly dynamic in the summer period. Parties, open-air music events, cozy summer terraces, full restaurants and crowed of tourists. Skopje nights are hot and that’s why night life in the Bazaar extends late in the night. Our city has had a long tradition of night life. For instance, in 1924 when Skopje had population of 50 thousand citizens, there were around 300 cafés in the city. During this tour, you can familiarize with the night life in the Old Town. We will take you to popular locations you can go out, eat and party. We propose this unique tour for night time. Have a nice time and enjoy it because the time in the old own passes really fast.