Markets to visit Skopje

Located in Stara Čaršija, opposite the Čifte hammam, this white-walled building (Безистен/Bezisten, Bezisten) was used to store merchants' most valuable goods for the night: silks, gold, jewelry, etc. It was built in 1900 on the site of an earlier ^15th-century bezistan destroyed in the great Skopje fire of 1689. With its four entrances, the current complex takes the form of open-air cobbled lanes running around two former warehouses. This rather charming complex now houses a number of stores.

Located in Stara Čaršija, near the Museum of North Macedonia, this caravanserai (Куршумли Ан/Kuršumli An, Hani i Kurshumlisë) is the city's largest. Built in the early ^16th century, it had 60 rooms for merchants, including 32 upstairs all with fireplaces. Its name comes from the lead(kurşumlu in Turkish) that covers its domes. Transformed into a prison in the ^18th century, then into a museum in the 1920s, it now houses the lapidarium of the Museum of Northern Macedonia (Roman steles and statues). Concerts, exhibitions and theater in summer.

Surrounded by stores, this caravanserai in Stara Čaršija (Сули Ан/Suli An, Hani i Sulit) is hardly visible from the outside. Located just north of the hammam Čifte (another entrance to the east via Bitpazarska Street), it was established around 1460 by Governor Isa-Bey Ishaković. Its name comes from the Turkish word sulu, meaning a damp place. The building stands above the Serava River, which was covered over during the Ottoman period. Restored after the 1963 earthquake, it looks like a classic caravanserai: a courtyard used to store goods and 57 rooms for merchants on two levels. Since 1982, the first floor has housed part of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Saints Cyril and Methodius University, with an exhibition. The first floor is occupied by the Stara Čaršija Museum (Музеј на Старата Скопска Чаршија/Muzej na Starata Skopska Čaršija, Muzeu i Çarshisë së Vjetër të Shkupit). Established in 1983, it is part of the Skopje City Museum. Covering 350^m2, it includes an archaeology section displaying objects dating from the ^10th to the ^20th century, found in the charchia and the fortress. The ethnology section focuses on the ancient crafts of the charchia: goldsmiths, tinsmiths, coppersmiths and leatherworkers. An opportunity to discover old tools and beautiful pieces of hammered copper. The museum also includes a history section (plans and documents) and an art gallery (paintings by ^20th-century local artists).