Kočo Racin's Memorial House, Veles, Macedonia

I've written about Postcard United here a few times before. Well, I STILL occasionally receive postcards through that website! This one arrived earlier this month. The postcard IDs on that website look so weird... this one is 'MKD-1'! O_o

This is Kočo Racin's Memorial House in Veles, Macedonia. Kosta Apostolov Solev, primarily known as poet Kočo Racin (22 December 1908 – 13 June 1943), was a Macedonian partisan and author who is considered a founder of modern Macedonian literature. His poem collection White Dawns (Zagreb, 1939) is one of the most important masterpieces in Macedonian modern literature. Racin wrote in prose too and created some significant works with themes from history, philosophy, and literary critique.

Macedonia map

This was such a lovely surprise in my mailbox a couple of years ago! Dear Ana sent this to me from a mini Postcrossing meet-up in Skopje. :)

Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991.

A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northwestern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia, which also comprises the neighbouring parts of northern Greece and a smaller portion in southwestern Bulgaria. The country's capital is Skopje, with 506,926 inhabitants according to the 2002 census. Other cities include Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, Štip, Kočani, Gostivar, Kavadarci, and Strumica. It has over 50 lakes, plus sixteen mountains higher than 2,000 m.

Ovče Pole, Macedonia

Train tracks fading to the distance... I'd like to travel somewhere too... :P Well, I'll be going to London next month to see my sister but it won't exactly be as peaceful and tranquil as this. :P This is such a lovely view, too, one of my favourites from Macedonia, received from dear Ana.

Ovče Pole is a plain situated around the flow of Sveti Nikole's River, which is a tributary to the Bregalnica river, in the east-central part of Republic of Macedonia. The climate of the plain is characterized by hot and dry summers and temperately cold winters, with occasional sharp lows. The highest registered temperature in the plain was 44.0C and the lowest registered temperature was -23.0C.

 Strong winds from the north-west, north, south-east are specific for this region and are present for most of the year, this being the reason the area to be called "the windiest place on the Balkans". The Ovče Pole plain is one of the driest areas in Europe and is plagued by frequent drought periods. The yearly average of rainfall is in the 400-500 ml/m2 range. The average elevation of the plain is 200–400 m, and the highest place is Gjurište, with an elevation of 856m above sea level. In the region of Alin Dol of the river Mavrovica, in 1981, an artificial dam was built. Its water is used for the water supply of the city of Sveti Nikole.

Ohrid, Macedonia

This card is from dear Ana. Thanks to her I finally have a couple of postcards of Ohrid. :) I had difficulties picking which one to show here, I ended up choosing this one because of the stamps - there are so many of them and they are so pretty and colourful!

Ohrid is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and the seat of Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country with over 42,000 inhabitants as of 2002. Ohrid is notable for once having had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as a "Jerusalem (of the Balkans)". The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola, close to the border with Albania. In 1979 and in 1980, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. In fact, Ohrid is one of only 28 sites that are part of UNESCO's World Heritage that are both Cultural and Natural sites.

Macedonian food

This AMAZING Macedonian postcard is of course from dear Ana. I simply adore this, and this is one of those cases where I don't mind a multiview at all :) ...although I'm not entirely sure if this should be classed as a multiview..??!

I have no idea what most of these dishes are but they all look really delicious. Mmmmm...!! Ana did give me a recipe for the bread in the second picture: spread some olive oil over the bread, put it in the oven or on the grill for a few minutes, take it out and grate some cheese over. I think I'll have to try it, it sounds really yummy!

City Park, Skopje, Macedonia

Autumn's here again. *sigh* I'm not too excited, even if I do like the colourful leaves in trees. It's just that it's also a lot colder again and I don't like having to freeze all the time. We've had a pretty weird autumn here so far, though - last week it was super warm, some days were actually warmer than in the Caribbean I think, but then this weekend it might snow! :( Anyway, with autumn here again at least it's more appropriate to post about this lovely card here - it didn't seem right earlier this year. :p Dear Ana sent me this beautiful card earlier this year.



This is the City Park in Skopje. Ana tells me it is one of the most frequented destinations in Skopje during nice sunny weekends in the summer, I wonder how popular it is in autumn? It certainly looks lovely! ..and reminds me a bit of West Park, my favourite park in Wolverhampton. It's such a lovely oasis amongst all the houses and urban areas, a bit of nature in this area which otherwise isn't exactly the prettiest place in England. I should visit there again soon, to relax a bit and to take photos again. ;)



The adorable cat stamp was issued in 2007 and the Darwin stamp in 2009. I'm too lazy to check but wasn't 2009 a special year when it comes to Darwin, I mean I remember a set of Darwin stamps being issued in the UK then as well?!

Skopje, Macedonia

I have a thing for panoramic postcards, there's something quite special about them I think. More room for the picture for one thing, but it's not just that, I can't quite explain it though. One thing is for sure - they are nice to send to friends because there's a bit more room for the writing! :D Anyway, this lovely panoramic card is from the lovely Ana in Macedonia. Thank you so much!



The Orthodox Cathedral Church on this card is situated in the centre of Skopje and is where the main religious events take place, particularly during Christmas and Easter. Oh, and incidentally, Eastern Orthodox national churches celebrate Christmas on 7th January, something I only learned since joining Postcrossing... This really is an educational hobby! :)

It looks like it is The Church of Saint Clement of Ohrid. Built in 1972, the Orthodox church in one of few in the world to be designed in modern contemporary architecture. The main Macedonian orthodox cathedral church was consecrated in 1990, on the 1150th anniversary of the birth of the church patron, St. Clement of Ohrid. The iconostasis icons were painted by Gjorgi Danevski and Spase Spirovski and the frescoes were painted by the academic painter Jovan Petrov and his collaborators.



The stamp is from a set of 4 commemorative stamps issued in 1999 with the theme Flowers.

Korab, Macedonia

This beautiful card arrived from a swap with the lovely Ana a few weeks ago. Isn't it a gorgeous view?!



Mount Korab is the highest mountain of Albania and Macedonia, its peak forming a frontier between the two countries. The Korab mountain is adjacent to the Šar Mountains. The mountain is home to the spectacular Korab waterfall, in the upper valley of the Dlaboka Reka river. During spring time, the waterfall reaches height of over 130 meters, which makes it the highest in Macedonia.

The best chance to climb Mount Korab is to join the International climb that is taking part every year in beginning of September.



I really need better stamp sources.. :S According to the Stanley Gibbons website, there was a set of 4 commemorative stamps issued in Macedonia in 1999 with the theme flowers, I have no idea if these are from that set, though? EDIT: Nevermind, I found the comments page.

Also, I only just found out that Ana had left me comments in some of my entries. Does anyone know if there's a way to get notifications of comments posted in your blog? I've been using livejournal for years and there you can get email notifications of any comments left to you, but I haven't been able to find anything like that here in blogger. It would be really annoying if the only way to see comments was to go back to specific entries and check if there's anything there, but that's how it seems to be like to me. Grrr.

The Old Bazaar, Skopje, Macedonia

Another postcard from the swap with Anja, and another one showing the Old Bazaar.



I don't really have anything to add here, I'd just like to say again that the architecture looks so cool, these pictures make me think of lazy days and old times when you didn't have to worry about all the modern crap.



The stamp is from a set of 4 (+1 mini sheet) issued in 1999 under the title of "Cultural Heritage" and they all portray different icons. This one shows an icon of Jesus Christ from the monastery Preobrazenie (Преображение) in Zrze, which is around 30 km away from the city of Prilep.

Skopje, Macedonia

I've learned so much through postcrossing. It's such a fun way of learning about different countries and cultures (and other random things, too :D). For instance, I didn't really know anything about Macedonia before postcrossing. I still know very little, but that's still better than nothing. :)



This card came from a swap with Anja in Macedonia. The postcards I chose all turned out to be of the Old Bazaar of Skopje, but it IS a very beautiful-looking place so I don't mind.

The Old Bazaar is one of the largest bazaars in the Balkans and the largest in Macedonia. Situated on the eastern bank of the Vardar River, the bazaar had been the city's centre for trade and commerce since at least the 12th century. It rapidly grew and reached its peak during Ottoman rule, evidenced by over 30 mosques, several caravanserais, and other Turkish buildings and monuments. The commerce hub of Skopje has since become Centar Municipality, just across the river. Although Islamic architecture is predominant in the bazaar, there are several churches as well.

I love the architecture there, it looks so charming, and it looks like such a great mix of east and west. That, plus I'd love to wander around these narrow lanes and explore the shops. :)



I couldn't find any info about the stamp so I just know it was issued in 2000. Anja says that the brooch is an example of the things you can find in the Old Bazaar. EDIT: Ana gave me some more info :) It's a "Cultural Heritage" stamp from 2000, from a set of 4 stamps. It represents a brooch from the 19th/20th century from the city of Bitola.

Skopje, Macedonia

I thought I'd finish today with something a little different...




These are from a swap with Marja in Macedonia. She decided to send me the whole collection of this awarded edition of postcards, made by young Macedonian artists for a competition related to the city of Skopje. It is a collection that rebels against the drastic changes of the city's looks.

These two cards are probably my favourites. I obviously don't understand Macedonian so I have no idea what the cards say... It looks like a very interesting collection, though, I really like the idea. They should do something similar in my hometown of Lappeenranta in Finland, too... They seem to be rather too eager to destroy all the old, beautiful buildings there and replace them with ugly modern ones. :(



I didn't scan the postage label on the envelope but I did scan the stamp... It was issued in 2009 and shows Yuri Gagarin, the first human in outer space.