Macedonia - Skopje

This postcard, also sent by Ana, shows Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. The name of this city in Macedonian is Скопје (By the way, I wonder, why do they use "j" instead of Cyrillic "й" in Macedonia - and also in Serbia, if I remember well). Although the site of modern Skopje has been inhabited since at least 3500BC, the city developed rapidly after the World War II. Ana writes that the Vardar River that you can see on this postcard isn't that blue and clear in fact :) Well, I think it's the same with most of rivers in urban and industrial areas, but it's good that at least on the postcard it looks blue :)

Maybe my postcard blog isn't the best place to write anything about politics, but anyway, I use every chance to express my point of view :) I don't know much about Macedonia and I haven't been there, but it always makes me a bit angry when I hear about "FYROM" ("Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"). This strange name appeared because of naming dispute with Greece (if you're interested, you can read more here). Shortly, Greece claims that the name "Macedonia" is part of Greek history and heritage, while people living nowadays in Macedonia are a Slavic nation. Of course, it's all more complicated, that's why I advise you to read the article, because I'm not an expert at all. But I know that my favorite country is Ukraine and I would be really furious if anyone called it the "Former Soviet Republic of Ukraine". I don't know, if there's any good solution of this dispute, but what I'm absolutely sure about is that people should have right to use the correct name of independent country that they live in.

And thanks Ana for choosing a card with a bit of orange! :) That's my favorite color :)