Earlier this fall I went to Skopje for a quick getaway. Due to some constraints I had very little time and could only take a flight Friday after work to come back Sunday afternoon. So effectively I would only have Saturday as a full day in the city. Thus I decided to focus on just visiting the old town and the city center, I would not climb any mountain or visit any canyons.
I booked a local hotel right by Alexander Square, 90 EUR night for a fully flexible stay included breakfast, quite a good rate. I also booked a transfer from the airport with the hotel for 27 euros. Local taxi would cost 25 euros and there is not really any public transport, just an unreliable bus that runs a few times a day and is very slow.

I flew with Lufthansa, a short hop of 105 minutes from Frankfurt, with a fun landing which involve overflying the airport runway heading and doing a 180 degrees. The city is surrounded by mountains and the approach is a bit convoluted to avoid terrains.


First surprise : my driver is not here waiting for me. The flight was delayed so I look around in case he decided to get a coffee or to smoke outside. Since I can not find him, I called the hotel who say they will inquire. Less than 10 minutes later I see a man holding a very quickly made sign with my name on it running into the terminal and looking around. After introducing myself, he explains the situation. He is not my driver but a friend of him, he runs his business via Whatsapp and is not affiliated with my hotel or any company. My driver is stuck in traffic leaving the city and ask him to drive me as a favor. It turns out I decided to travel on a special weekend : there will be local elections in North Macedonia on Sunday and most of the population of Skopje is registered to vote at their place of birth in the countryside so they are all leaving for the weekend. As we drive towards the city I see the worst traffic I have ever seen in a long time : kilometers after kilometers of cars exiting the city. My driver has been stuck in this for 2 hours and he has made 2 km only. Quite impressed he called a friend to pick me up instead of letting me fend for myself, I contemplate how the poor guy will be stuck for more hours before being able to go back to the hotel.

The drive there is a typical Balkan experience; my driver is texting and making Whatsapp voice message while driving, usually with his two hands on the phone. We pass three accidents and every time he laments the madness of his peers, without seeing the irony. He is pleasant and gives me tips on the city.
We finally arrived, I dropped my bags after checking in and look for food, since I did not had anything really for lunch. I found a well reviewed Macedonian grill just around the corner so go there for a nice chicken breast with dips, potatoes and salads. I realized the chips are made from frozen and not fresh but I am so hungry I don't care.




After that I walk around Alexander Square and get my first real glimpse of the city and its oddity. I am very intrigued by the architecture and this mix of fake Las Vegas, classicism and marble with enormous statues that makes little sense.







After a digestive walk I decide to call it a night and go back to the hotel to plan the walk I will do tomorrow and read up a bit more about the city history.

This was a fun read. We've been to Skopje twice, staying at the Marriott on the central square. We've enjoyed both visits and used them as a launching off point to see more of the surrounding area.

Next day I went after breakfast for a long walk around the city that was going to take me all day.
Skopje was destroyed in an Earthquake in 1963, and the UN put the country on the list of relief nations. Tito and the UN made a plan to reconstruct the city with the help of a Japanese architect and international funds. The plan was quite special and mixed Yugoslav architecture with Brutalism. A lot of the buildings are still there and I went around trying to see as much as possible.
I started with one of the main street with social buildings having some brutalist elements to lead to the Cathedral of St Ohrid, which might be the biggest cathedral in North Macedonia (some might say the ugliest too). But first I made a detour via a school to see Tito.









I then continue my way along the river to see what was a monument of Brutalism at the time, the main Post Office. Today it seems to be closed but not abandoned, there was a few post cars in the parking lot. Beton, glasses and weird angles are all around this building that is also looking like a flying sauce after having landed (or crashed at Roswell).




I then crossed the entire Project 2014 area, which I will come back later, and then went to the other side of the river to find the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Art. The entire city is quite feeling a bit rundown, lots of abandoned works and generally you can roam where you want. The Academy was the only place where there was a guard and I could not enter the parking lot, for some reasons. He let me took some pictures but asked me to vacate fairly quickly after.


Behind this there is a rundown area, not unsafe but lots of abandoned building and a park with this monstrosity, which is, very obviously, a memorial for the second world war. No explanation or placard explaining what it is or why a memorial to a war was build this way.



To finish with this tour of the Brutalist Skopje from 1963 I went to the final boss, the ugliest of them'all : the University. Look at those beton and structure and imagine being a student here.






I stumbled upon this beauty of a mall unexpectedly, this screams "behind the Iron Curtain" from seeing it around a corner.




I had time for a coffee break and found a small place, where I could witness the hospitality of the Macedonian people. They are truly hospitable and proud of their country, the cafe owner chatted with me in German (while english is well spoken by young people, older adults speak the language of the country they took refuge during the war of 95 : I spoke German and Norwegian with locals) and introduced me to the Iman of the Sultan Murat Mosque, the largest mosque of North Macedonia and a place I intended to visit anyway. The Iman came with me after his late breakfast and gave me a tour. The mosque contains various artefacts and its clock tower is one of the historical landmark of the city.

I had my view on a restaurant for lunch so made my way here. It is located in the streets south of City Park, a nice area with trees bordering small streets, lined with trendy coffeeshops and new restaurants. Quite different from the rest of Skopje, more relaxed, with a younger crowd. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed, albeit the opening hours posted stating it should have been opened on a Saturday for lunch. I assumed the owner was one of the gazillion of people leaving the city to vote. I walked a bit until I food a coffeeshop open and quite busy, serving bowls and toasts for lunch. After that I went back to the city center to see most the Project 2014 building.

The government of Macedonia decided in 2010 that the city did not had enough of a classicism look, it lacked a visually pleasing image. The government, which was rather conservative, imposed its nationalistic views on the project and imposed a false vision of Macedonian history for purpose which could be seen as propaganda. The project was very controversial with the population from the start and it continues to be : too expensive while the population suffers from low wages, too ambitious, fake, ugly, abandoned. It was finished in 2014
The result is an oddity, 20 buildings and 40 monuments that are just wrong but interesting, funny sometimes, weird always. They went for a gaudy faux Las Vegas marble kind of look, copied various monuments (Brandeburg Tor, Charles Bridge among others), put some real oddities (three fake and stationary boats). Some are unfinished, there is construction site still present and abandoned since years, there is a lot of empty space and neglect, most monuments are out of order (all fountains were broken when I saw them).

The buildings below are the City Hall, some government agency building (the Water management system building is visible as well as the office of the District Attorney of Skopje), some museums, new bridges (the Stone bridge is an old structure which, fortunately, kept) and plazas with imposing statues.














In addition to those monuments, diverse statues were put all over the cities, The bank of the river have a lot of them but you can find others all over the city centers.









And here is one of the fake, static boat, this one parked in front of an unfinished building. This boat itself is abandoned (the other twos are used, one as a restaurant which was open, one as a casino I think which might be closed).




I think it is worth to see but useful to keep in mind the history and context of it. The locals are not very happy about the entire endeavor and it is worth keeping in mind when talking with them. Also a lot of the monuments here were built for propaganda, it imposes a continuity from antiquity to modern times to Macedonian identity which does not correspond to the historic reality.

I visited Skojpe in 2021 and enjoyed it, but obviously missed a few highlights. I do want to return at some point. Nice report!

This architecture is a little too restrained for my taste.
Seriously, I've never considered Skopje before. But somehow it looks interesting.

It is worth a trip. And the city has much more to offer, I was just very constrained in time for this trip but I know I will go back.

The entire area was occupied by the Ottoman at some points and that left traces in the architecture of the city. Like Sarajevo (a city I found similar to Skopje on several aspects : friendliness and hospitality), Skopje has an old town with mosques, caravanserai, hamman and madrasa. I spend the afternoon there, it is the most hectic part of town, plenty of shops and little restaurants. A large part of the old town is occupied by a giant market with plenty of fruits and vegetables stand.











Don't be fooled by the pictures, several of them were taken Sunday very early morning before going to the airport. The place was full of people and very busy. The Caravanserai is now a private art Gallery while the Hamman are a museum of photography (and an interesting one at that). There are plenty of small alleys to get lost and around a corner I found the tomb of one of the conqueror of Skopje, in the courtyard of a discreet mosque.
Time for dinner came quickly and after my healthy lunch it was time for something more Balkan : a local dish made of a burger patty with cheese inside and on top, topped with a Trilece for dessert, a sponge cake marinated in three different kind of milk. I finished the night by taking some pictures from Woman's park, another area of Skopje 2014 and the old Parliament. While being accompanied by a local who was very determined to tell me all about how North Macedonia is in reality controlled by the Serbian secret police.






The next day was very short, I wake up early, went to the old town for some photography while it was empty and took my shuttle to the airport mid morning. I plan to come back some time to visit the outer suburbs : Aerodrom, the mountain with the cross and the canyon.