When earthquakes meet 1960s Communism. . .
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
1
79
144
Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
Skopje,
Macedonia
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Y'know, they ain't lying!
This is one seriously ugly city. Stupefyingly ugly. It's borderline comical how grotesque the place is in some parts, with massive housing complexes straight out of a Marxist textbook lining most boulevards, yawning plazas for no purpose other than military parades, and shockingly vile futuristic public buildings. I've spent near an entire day walking the place looking for some charm and history and come up with precious little. Sure, there's a little bit of history here and there. An old stone bridge still spans the Vardar River on the northern edge of Socialist ugly-ville and across it on the north side lies a good-sized, if pretty ramshackle, Turkish-style bazaar. There's a fortress propped up on the hill nearby that seemed to have weathered the quake well enough - although there are plenty of roped-off, "no go" areas within the grounds. A number of historic mosques still punctuate the low-rise townscape of the bazaar, and there are even a couple odd churches amidst the relatively few orange-tiled roofs. But the rest? Yikes.
It looked bad from the start, as I arrived at the train and bus complex, a long eyesore of a structure east of the center. The hideous apartment blocks, decaying industry, rundown shops and stretches of weedy lots didn't make a good first impression. I thought I should save my judgment of the place until I had a good look. After a long walk to my night's lodgings - a relatively new hostel awkwardly situated in the southern suburbs - I checked in, dropped off my bag, tried to wash up a bit (unhappily discovering that I left my towel in Tirana!!) and then have a go of it. Maybe I shouldn't have gone straight up one of the main, Socialist showpiece boulevards into the unsightly central square. Then again, none of the other routes were any more attractive. The closer I got, the more I chuckled about how terrible the architecture was. Not a great start.
After taking in the unfathomably ugly main post office, with its bizarre spider-like design and blocky detailing, I thought I'd best get into the older bit. Even crossing the stone bridge didn't improve things significantly. The bazaar itself, while certainly easier on the eye, is hardly the finest example of its kind, and it too is dotted with depressingly unattractive modern constructions. The odd mosque and Turkish bath complex looked forlorn and neglected despite the bustle of the market and churning noise of the nearby freeway. I figured maybe it'd help if I did something about the empty stomach I was running around on; maybe once I was satiated, my state of mind would improve.
Well, the lunch was nice enough and fairly cheap. I had a pint of the local brew too (Skopsko Pivo), just to make sure I was relaxed and mellow enough to enjoy things. It didn't work. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find the nice aspects of the place, wandering throughout the mazelike streets of the old Carsija district. I made sure to stop in at a church and a mosque or two. I hiked up to the castle to take the whole city in. At the end of it all, it was still just a big, ugly capital city heavy on concrete monstrosities with little more than a scraping of the past crammed in. The fairly green mountains all around didn't seem to help either - especially since that's been a feature of every urban environment I've been in over the past two weeks. Skopje has failed to make the least bit of an impression on me.
As a matter of fact, I'm feeling a little underwhelmed with Macedonia overall. Nice people, good, cheap food, pretty countryside and all, but it just doesn't quite do it for me. Ohrid was pretty and all - and it was easily the highlight of the country, in my book - but even there it came up short of my expectations. Bitola yesterday was kind of ho-hum and now Skopje is just plain laughable. I'm beginning to see why this isn't a tremendous tourist destination. Perhaps I'm drawing conclusions a little prematurely, but there just isn't a whole lot here overall. Sad to say it, but I have to say that it's been probably the least impressive country across the whole trip. (Sorry to anyone Macedonian that reads this!)
I'm heading up to Kosovo for a few days tomorrow morning. Quite a few people I've talked to have either already been or are planning to go, so it seems like an interesting and stable destination nowadays. I'll most likely be just long enough to take in Prishtina, Peja and Prizren and then move on again. After that it's onwards to Serbia . . . back via Macedonia though. Which means I'll have one more day here in Skopje, though I'll most likely spend the day out someplace, like Tetovo or something. So Macedonia, I'm giving you one last chance. Better make the most of it!
