Skopje

Skopje - darkometer rating : 3 - The capital city of the North Macedonia (formerly "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") in the southern Balkans has at least two sights that put in on the dark tourism map – but it is also a place worth visiting for other reasons and deserves better recognition as a tourism destination. > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos What there is to see: Skopje doesn't have the best of reputations as a city – one of grey blandness, mainly. The taxi driver in Sofia , who took me to the bus station from where I travelled to Skopje, even said "why go there? – there's nothing to see." That's unfair, though. OK, it can hardly compete with Bulgaria 's capital as a metropolis, but it does have its undeniable charms. The grey modernist (in particular 'brutalist') architecture may indeed be a delight only for a niche audience; but the wild redevelopments and construction work that is currently going on all over the city does not promise an awful lot either – on the contrary: it's almost a lesson in "how not to redevelop a city centre" (maybe the city planners went on an apprenticeship in Yerevan ?). The pseudo-neo-classical monstrosity that was nearing completion when I was in Skopje in April 2011 is a particularly vile example. So is the gigantic video screen on the main Macedonia (Makedonja) Square which showers the population with garish advertising around the clock. Even worse: some prime examples of brutalism are being covered up by fake pseudo-classical plaster facades. It's an architectural travesty. But there are counterexamples. In particular the maze of little alleyways of the old Turkish quarter across the river is a marvellous delight.