City Park Skopje / Photo by Boban Stojanovski on Unsplash
At the end or beginning of the day, everyone needs some greenery to rest their eyes and soul, whether to start the day or to relax after a busy day. Or, to organize a birthday, to take advantage of the warm and sunny weather, to take a walk and relax without many people during the night.
Regardless of how long you've been here, and whether you know some of them, we're going to present some of the bigger parks that are worth visiting.
1. City Park
The City Park is the busiest in Skopje, located along the course of the Vardar river, where on the other side is the Ilinden boulevard, and in the vicinity the Zoo, the barracks of the City of Skopje, as well as the Government.
The huge park covers more than 350,000 m2 and is somehow divided into two parts, the old part, and the new part. In the entire space, there are benches for sitting, fountains for drinking water, a pond, statues as well as accompanying elements that are usually found in parks.
During the weekends, the park is the choice of a large number of citizens, especially in spring and summer. So, you have to wait in lines to buy a coffee or some kind of juice from the cafeterias on wheels, and sometimes you can rarely find a place in the usual places where people hang out, like around the lake at the Central Park Cafe. During the year, a variety of events are organized at the popular spot in the park called Shkolka (Seashell), but also in the huge space after the statue of Goce Delchev, near the Todor Proeski arena.
2. Жена борец (Woman Warrior)
You will not find a greener place in the strict center of Skopje except for the "Woman Warrior" park, which is located right across from the Parliament, with the City Trade Center on the other side. Although it may not be a huge park as you would imagine a park to look like, “Woman Warrior” is a great place to relax right in the center of the city, and to try and escape the hustle and bustle of the city for at least a few minutes.
Here, you will breathe in a bit of Macedonian history, by seeing the monuments of Pitu Guli, "Fallen Heroes for Macedonia", Monument of the Presidium of ASNOM, Nevena Georgieva Dunja, and many others.
3. Park Gazi Baba
A little further away, but still very close to the city center is the Gazi Baba forest park, with the neighborhood Chair on the West and Zhelezara on the East. Perhaps, the biggest park in Skopje in some way, covering an area of 102 Hectares, i.e. 1.02 km2.
Although this park may not be as popular as the city park, this is a place that many choose, and celebrations and picnics are often organized there.
In the park, you could see the Gazi Baba Tomb (a judge, an official in the Ottoman Empire, who lived in the 14th century), located at the top of the hill.
The forest park in 2015 was declared a natural monument.
4. Park Gjorche Petrov
This is the central park for the residents of the Gjorche Petrov neighborhood, located near the SP Planet shopping center and the busy roundabout at the entry of the two boulevards Partizanska and Teodosij Gologanov. Around the park, several shops and restaurants can serve you well if you want to spend some more time in the park.
An exhibit of the train Kirco (Pampur, Kiro) which operated on the route Skopje-Ohrid at the beginning of the 20’s is also located in the park. In addition, there is a Clock Tower in the park itself.