How Skopje became Europe’s new capital of kitsch | Travel | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/apr/11/skopje-macedonia-architecture-2014-project-building?CMP=share_btn_fb
Walk along the river towards the heart of Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia’s capital, and you’ll quickly find yourself among a host of gleaming, neo-classical buildings, complete with ornate columns and rooftop figures of nymphs. The buildings weren’t there five years ago.
In early April, the riverside bars are just shaking off the cobwebs of winter, returning tables and chairs to terraces that look out over many of the new structures. Bridges lined with pristine statues of Macedonian heroes, writers and artists cross the slow-moving waters of the Vardar river.