Thru the Lens: Skopje
It looked like an urban mirage.
As my bus from Ohrid cruised through downtown Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, I had to do a triple take. In the middle of the river a fountain shot jets of water towards the sky while neo-classical buildings adorned with statues stood proud against the beams of floodlights. Seriously, where the hell am I? But that was about all I saw of the city the first time around since I popped over to Amsterdam for a few days.
When I returned, I had time to see all the new buildings and many of the statues scattered around the city. The majority of them are clustered along the river, which itself resembles a huge construction site. As I understand it, the government wants to “modernize” the city. But rather than modernize infrastructure it appears a lot of the funding has gone into building statues. On bridges, in squares, in parks, on buildings. The statues, they’re everywhere.
But hey, if you like statues, then you’ll love Skopje!
Along the riverfront.
On one of the new bridges adorned with statues.
Not sure what this is going to be used for, but it probably cost a lot of money.
The old stone bridge.
Crossing the stone bridge back to the main square.
Not a bad location for a brand new stadium!
The main square.
It’s possible to see most of the new construction from atop the fortress.
The view from atop the fortress.
Good to know.
The old bazaar.
More statues.
Walking across the Stone Bridge towards the old bazaar
The river is awash with new construction.
The massive statue of Alexander the Great ahorse.
The Macedonian Arc de Triomphe
The Stone Bridge
So many statues!!
My favourite statue in town.
One of the new bridges and buildings along the river.