SERIOUS TALK: Which capital city in the Balkans do you think is the ugliest? Why?

This map isn't correct. Croatia has Ivan, not Jovan, although they are the same name. Just like the Serbian version of Joseph is Josif and Croatian Josip, or Serbian Stefan and Croatian Stjepan.

Reply

[-]

Novel-Wait328@reddit

im lost brother...thats what i said?

Reply

[-]

Cringsix@reddit

My point is that it just depends, and in Balkans, Jovan is the more appropriate version.

Reply

[-]

Novel-Wait328@reddit

well depends where,in slovenia janez is most common john variation,but ivan,johan,jan are also common

Reply

[-]

Cringsix@reddit

I suppose population wise and based on geographical spread, Jovan would have to take the cake.

Reply

[-]

RandomVariable44@reddit

Balkans already has both Jovan and Ivan so Jovan can't be Ivan. Jovan is Jovan and Ivan is Ivan. John can be both, but it's closer to Jovan.

Reply

[-]

i dont get it,john is both right? and those are variations of same name but theyre not the same?i mean ofc theyre not phonetically but root is the same and that makes them the same at least thats how i understand names go

Reply

[-]

jeroenemans@reddit

Or Boris Balkan, like the ninth gate

Reply

[-]

YagizHarunEr@reddit

fair enough, i was trying to go for the most popular name, not john's one-to-one translation. appreciate the input

Reply

[-]

SinancoTheBest@reddit

How does it compare to Ankara

Reply

[-]

One_Permission_4590@reddit

It’s misleading. Podgorica is actually a relatively clean, normal provincial city. Just no tourist attractions.

Reply

[-]

Similar-Orange-3371@reddit

Not true. The river canyons make it quite unique.

Reply

[-]

beggs23k@reddit

So river canyons which are made from nature will make them look like capital city? ok

Reply

[-]

Similar-Orange-3371@reddit

No, they make it unique.

Reply

[-]

Zestyclose-Ad-7606@reddit

what about Pristina

Reply

[-]

beggs23k@reddit

Prishtina has its own normal boulevard atleast.

Reply

[-]

HuIk_Bogan@reddit

I've never been, I looked around on Google maps and honestly it looks like it was made by AI

Reply

[-]

Wojewodaruskyj@reddit

What does ot mean? Not decorated enough?

Reply

[-]

ExternalLeg3902@reddit

podogorica no doubt

Reply

[-]

Holiday_Pumpkin1279@reddit

Tirana is kind of meh. Athens, without the Acropolis and the other old buildings, is like Tirana. Pristina is more organized than both of them, but still ugly. Podgorica. I can’t say it’s ugly, but it’s very small city, and compared to Tirana and Athens it’s not that lively at all. Skopje, to me, looks the ugliest and the strangest. Especially those buildings that have done these last 10 years, and statues, everywhere statues.

Reply

[-]

Individual-Source-80@reddit

No way Skopje being uglier than Tirana, Pristina or Podgorica🥀

Reply

[-]

madsauce178@reddit

Athens is very lively and fun though. Tirana is a boring city in comparison. Greek people are also a lot more friendly.

Reply

[-]

Holiday_Pumpkin1279@reddit

Albanian people are also very warm and friendly, and the food is very good. And those are not my words, but from tourists who have visited it. Anyway, it’s just my perspective: Athens isn’t that different from Tirana, aesthetically speaking, except that Tirana is smaller and doesn’t have ancient ruins at all.

Reply

[-]

madsauce178@reddit

Well I went to both and found Greek food to be better. Albanian food is quite good too, but I didn't find Albanians to be as friendly or helpful as Greeks. Aesthetically speaking you're right, but Athens has lots of ancient parts that make it a good experience. I think it's a good place to spend 2 days. Especially if you can stay during the weekend and go out at night. Tirana is just boring. Albania has amazing cities, but not Tirana. Tirana was by far the worst city I have visited in Europe so far. And I've been to like 25 so far

Reply

[-]

Holiday_Pumpkin1279@reddit

I’m not saying Albanian food is better than Greek food, but it’s not bad either, and Albanians aren’t any less friendly than Greeks. Still, you’re right that the city itself isn’t that great, and I always tell visitors that one day in Tirana is enough. After that, they should head north or south, where it’s more beautiful and enjoyable.

Reply

[-]

MixPsychological4728@reddit

Well let's start eliminating them! Athens definitely ain't. Sofia and Belgrade also aren't that bad. Bucharest is good. That leaves Podgorica, Saraevo, Zagreb, Skopje and Pristina, which I don't know anything about. But Skopje is Macedonian so it's probably trash. I feel like Saraevo and Zagreb are probably good.... but really I have no idea. That leaves Pristina and Podgorica. Both are of a made up country, but out of the two Kosovo is more recent and controversial. So Pristina is the worst capital! (I could be completely wrong :))

Reply

[-]

tiny_smile_bot@reddit

>:) :)

Reply

[-]

Whole-Valuable22@reddit

Athena has to be the one

Reply

[-]

zackmydyck@reddit

Tu vieja

Reply

[-]

Form13H@reddit

Belgrade

Reply

[-]

AvailableLiving1849@reddit

Podgorica. It's just not good. Nice people. Love the country. Least interesting capital.

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

Well, truth be told, Podgorica is the Capital only in political terms. It's the seat of the parliement and stuff... in every other way, it's a provintial town. For everything else, culture, media, big city stuff... the Capital of Montenegro is Belgrade, no doubt there.

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

Why would you say that, just stop.

Reply

[-]

Ur-Best-Friend@reddit

"Why would you give your opinion when someone asks for it?"

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

That is not an opinion. Capital of Montenegro is Podgorica. That is a fact. Opinion on this thread would be which capital is the ugliest.

Reply

[-]

Ur-Best-Friend@reddit

>That is not an opinion. Capital of Montenegro is Podgorica. That is a fact. Yes, as u/Nothing_Special_23 put it, "in political terms", i.e. on the official documents etc. It's the only "*real"* capital of the country. But people often use the term "capital" for other aspects. The culture capital of a country is the city with the most vibrant music and arts scene, for example. None of these are official designations, and no one claimed they were, but it's totally fine to use the term "capital" in this context too. It is absolutely an opinion.

Reply

[-]

wojtekpolska@reddit

except belgrade is not even in montenegro

Reply

[-]

JRJenss@reddit

Isn't Nikšić an old Montenegrin capital and to this day a cultural capital of sorts?

Reply

[-]

LakyakIII@reddit

That would be Cetinje

Reply

[-]

JRJenss@reddit

Oops, sorry! I knew there was an older one but obviously wasn't sure which one. Apologies

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

And Cetinje is not a Capital in absolutely any way nowadays....

Reply

[-]

JRJenss@reddit

Absolutely? Only a Sith deals in absolutes. 😅 Kidding aside, that's not necessarily true, as the city is an old royal capital of Montenegro, oftentimes considered a historical and cultural capital of Montenegro, plus it is a seat of the Montenegrin president. Podgorica being the capital is actually a relatively new, post WW2 thing, when it became the capital under the name of Titograd. This was 1946.

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

Nope. Not at all actually.

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

Cause it's a well known truth?

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

Just unnecessary. If some of them study and work and live in Belgrade it’s because they are allowed by our laws and government, you cannot fault them for it.

Reply

[-]

Massive_Armadillo646@reddit

Ooooh, now i get why this got you upset. I think You're the only one here who misunderstood it that way. He wasn't bashing Montenegrins at all in fact.

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

I don’t think I misunderstood at all. The comment was condescending. Belgrade is not the capital for Montenegrins. Most of them see it ones in a blue moon. I go to Bay of Kotor almost every year and it very distinctive in terms of music, nigh life, traditions and festivities they have. So i don’t see how they are culturally turned to Belgrade. At all. Not to mention some of the other parts of Montenegro, that either are inclined with other neighbouring countries, or are vocally opposed to everything Serbian. For Montenegrins who come to Serbia. Yes, just by the fact that they are living in the capital of Serbia. For the rest of them in Montenegro, absolutely not.

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

Girl, are you sure you've ever been to Montenegro or just watched online tourist videos... cause I'm beginning to habe doubts here...

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

I’m positive.

Reply

[-]

Massive_Armadillo646@reddit

1.I didn't see it as condescending at all 2. The comment didn't imply Montenegrins are in no way culturally specific. But everything beyond the Montes is balkanic and closer to Belgrade. The coast is different culturally from the hinterland in Croatia and Slovenia as well 3. Political opposition doesn't infer cultural opposition, my mother's tongue isn't even Yugoslav but i identify with liberal Serbs. Like you. Again, I didn't see in the original comment what you thought you saw. 4. Belgrade used to be the capitol of all Yugoslavs, mind you Love you!

Reply

[-]

Boraivkovv@reddit

![gif](giphy|jXD7kFLwudbBC)

Reply

[-]

Frequent-Concept7227@reddit

![gif](giphy|3JERArflmMfSM)

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

You do know that they are aware of it, right? Nobody is forcing them to move or come to Belgrade so frequently, they do that because they chose to.

Reply

[-]

amerikani@reddit

Lmao Belgrade ok buddy

Reply

[-]

humanistazazagrliti@reddit

Podgorica has Hague vibes, but in poor.

Reply

[-]

Top_Preparation_6053@reddit

Hague is beautiful, coastal city clean and nice.

Reply

[-]

MeaninglessSeikatsu@reddit

They said "but in poor" tho

Reply

[-]

Top_Preparation_6053@reddit

Not comparable even in that sense😁

Reply

[-]

blunt4ever@reddit

Your nation destroyed it

Reply

[-]

AvailableLiving1849@reddit

At the request of Tito in ww2, along with the Brits, and Canadians.

Reply

[-]

velebr3@reddit

I'm from MNE and I agree. It's just a very boring city for outsiders and tourists but very convenient for us to live in.

Reply

[-]

AvailableLiving1849@reddit

My nephew married a beautiful, smart, funny woman from Podgorica. I love the people. It was one city/place in Europe, and the Balkans that just didn't leave any memories. The hiking in the mountains is amazing!

Reply

[-]

velebr3@reddit

Yes, it's by far the least interesting part of our dare I say beautiful country :)

Reply

[-]

Drilon85@reddit

My first impression when I visited was like a ghost town. Even though our visit was during the week and in spring, you'd barely see people walking around. It seemed like a city built for one million people, but inhabited by less than 10k; it felt really sad and lifeless.

Reply

[-]

wojtekpolska@reddit

I got a really bad impression of Bucharest. it's just so dirty and full of filth.

Reply

[-]

Rave_lovers@reddit

Don’t know about the ugliest, but the prettiest ia in my opinion Sarajevo ❤️

Reply

[-]

lipiancarlliam@reddit

Really depends on what makes a city ugly. Podgorica is boring, but not a ruin. Skopje always seems fun, but is really just a lot of something's put together. Belgrade is a major cultural city, but can often feel unsafe. Zagreb is elegant, but can feel like it's not fulfilling the potential of a capital city.

Reply

[-]

NikkS97@reddit

Belgrade is really safe though

Reply

[-]

nantlink@reddit

Bucharest have the first place, others cities can fight only on second.

Reply

[-]

Correct_Emotion3455@reddit

podgorica or skopje

Reply

[-]

MrGee4real@reddit

I'm not a Balkaner, but I traveled quite a bit in the region. Frankly, Prishtina is the ugliest capital. Skopje would be a close second place.

Reply

[-]

Pluxluv@reddit

I think that Chișinău is the ugliest capital city in Europe. It’s very depressing especially in winter

Reply

[-]

Accurate-Mongoose-20@reddit

Istanbul is not a capital and Ankara is not in Europe. Bucharest is not in the Balkans also. Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana partially lay on the area of Balkan peninsula, so they qualify. So here's my list, as a citizen of Belgrade and someone who visited them all, multiple times: 1. Priština* - simply extremely ugly in every way 2. Podgorica - not interesting, but great surroundings 3. Skopje - kitchy and quite chaotic 4. Tirana - similar to Pg, only more chaotic. Has some vibe. 5-7 shared - Belgrade, Sofia and Athens - too big and not the place of choice for living in their own countries. All of them have a-lot of vibe and only true metropoles. Maybe too high on this list, but I started to hate all that crowd. 8. Ljubljana - a bit sterile, but very neat. Low vibe, high aestethics. 9. Zagreb - exactly between Ljubljana and Belgrade in every way. 10. Sarajevo - personal choice.

Reply

[-]

yohana31@reddit

skopje all day

Reply

[-]

melabaa@reddit

Ankara. It's just big town with traffic.

Reply

[-]

Dr_Civana@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/czn24rckhtqg1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=055632b74dc7463fff9904e7334ae6a716f9da74 So much wasted potential, Ankara grew like how it was envisioned by Atatürk it'd been probably one of the best planned cities in the world.

Reply

[-]

arbty@reddit

It said Balkan

Reply

[-]

Savings_Dragonfly806@reddit

This feels very socialist, ironic because the country never adopted the ideology.

Reply

[-]

Dr_Civana@reddit

We are a country that basically takes in the worst sides of everyone.

Reply

[-]

Likeanu@reddit

![gif](giphy|fFa05KbZowXiEIyRse) Sorry for You mate ...

Reply

[-]

Savings_Dragonfly806@reddit

"Jack of all trades" ahh😭

Reply

[-]

heppekoseykensi@reddit

Firstly this is not a picture of Ankara secondly Ankara is not in the balkans

Reply

[-]

OnkelMickwald@reddit

What was Atatürk's plan for the city? Btw, I heard that Atatürk had a plan for the urbanisation of Turkey to be spread out into various urban centers with different profiles in each city (kinda like Germany today) but that after WW2 the democratically elected non-CHP people went "fuck it" and just let things happen as they may, which in 9 times out of 10 meant mass countryside migration to Istanbul.

Reply

[-]

tursija@reddit

Is this a real photo? What is this. Its like a still from a sim city playthrough

Reply

[-]

msfakianos@reddit

This photo is from Pardis, Iran though

Reply

[-]

FuzzyAmbassador663@reddit

This looks like a PS1 game. I have super liminal feeling by looking at it

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

![gif](giphy|KXmsBJCcFbEz44IRwJ|downsized)

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

lol, now Ankara is Balkan?

Reply

[-]

Rough-Boot865@reddit

Well it’s capital of a Balkan country just not in Balkans 🙂

Reply

[-]

Aulawabe@reddit

The ones I've been in Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade. The uggliest was Sarajevo then Belgrade. Belgrade I like the most but it's not a Beatutiful City. It has many beautiful parts, but not in whole.

Reply

[-]

SpendGloomy9010@reddit

Sofia

Reply

[-]

lorenc2@reddit

My own subjective opinion...Pristina

Reply

[-]

Lazy-Sun-6594@reddit

I’ve seen some ugly places in my life, but nothing—and I mean nothing—prepared me for the visual assault that is Pristina. I spent a week there recently and I’m still trying to process how a city can be so aggressively, unapologetically hideous. It’s not just "not pretty," it’s like the city itself is actively trying to confuse and irritate your eyeballs. First of all, there is zero urban planning. It feels like 500 different people were given a brick and a bag of cement and told to build whatever the hell they wanted, wherever they wanted. You have a shiny glass skyscraper next to a half-finished brick house with rusty rebars sticking out of the roof, which is right next to a socialist concrete block that looks like it survived a nuclear winter. It’s an architectural Frankenstein. Everything is covered in dust. Everything feels unfinished. It’s a city of permanent construction but zero progress. There’s no greenery, just the constant drone of generators and the smell of coal smoke and cheap macchiato. It’s a place where aesthetics went to die and were buried under a pile of illegal extensions and chaotic electrical wires hanging like spaghetti over every street. Honestly, Pristina makes Skopje look like Paris and Podgorica look like Vienna. It is the undisputed heavyweight champion of Balkan urban disaster.However, to be fair, the locals are friendly and welcoming, and the food is ridiculously cheap and tasty that it almost makes you forget you're surrounded by all that grey concrete.

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

I'm from Prishtina, and I must say you described it very well. Here is a song that I associate with a rainy day in Prishtina, it vibes very well with the place. https://youtu.be/hZCzLcAlntw?is=RvU9fKJUGeBUlWkF

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Pristina, hands down.

Reply

[-]

flywix@reddit

It's only autonomous province capital

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Depends who you ask. Serbia treats it as a foreign country for example. No Serb institutions anywhere, let alone police or army.

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

How long you think you can keep it that way?

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Considering how the status quo has changed in our favor, ethnic composition in our favor, overall lack of people on both sides, I think for a very long time actually :)

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

i heard half people of province (more than 50%) left it because of great economy you have, so we only have to wait until you collapse from within how many of you are in Germany, Swiss, Italy, Slovenia etc.

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

True, many of us have left. But then I've heard you haven't had kids for a long time, meaning the boomers are already the majority of the population, with 1/4th being pensioners. I think you call it Bela Kuga, right?

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

you're not better than us anymore those who left Kosovo are young so majority of your population are pensioners as well on the other hand our economy is on the rise so things looks promising in the long run, thanks to our great president

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

We are much better than you on that front. Not even 10% of our people are pensioners. It will get there, to your levels, but it needs some time, and by that time your age distribution will get even worse. Yes your economy is on the rise, which is a good thing for us, since even more Serbs in Kosovo will migrate to Serbia like they have done for ages, thus becoming even more insignificant than they are, hence making the entire Kosovo issue less attractive than it actually is.Funny Trivia - Did you know that the most common Albanian sentence that Kosovo Serbs know is "Toka Shitet" (Land for Sale)? On the other hand we also have a mini army which is getting equipped with Javelins and other defensive equipment and an effective police force now (look at the Banjska incident, how the wanna be Serb Guerrillas got treated), a lot of weapons in private hands and we would be waging a defensive war, which is a totally different set up from the 90' where a couple of hundred of peasants started a revolt.

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

hahaha even you don't live in Metohija hahahahaha https://preview.redd.it/pye8n0mdm2rg1.png?width=2919&format=png&auto=webp&s=aadf6497c21eafc7d6a69c6ba773200c789539ce

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Did my comments hurt you enough to make you do detective work? It doesn't matter if I live in Prishtina or not, never said I live. Nothing I said is connected with me being there or not. Happy bombings day ❤️

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

wanna sell me your flat in Prishtina bro?

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Literally a few comments up there I said "it's true that many of us migrated". It's not something I hide, and you didn't discover anything. You should just learn to read and understand a bit better :). And no, I won't sell either the house we built on land owned by a Serbian before 1999, nor the apartment I grew up in. You know, I have family there and I spend half of my holidays back home :)

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

thanks for admitting crimes, hope our services read this

Reply

[-]

Smooth_Passenger9291@reddit

yeah army of pensioners will help you we don't want war, we just need to wait and you will eventually return it back yourselves as for the houses, nobody would sell them if they were not threatened by your terrorists who sell organs

Reply

[-]

Siduch@reddit

> Serbia treats it as a foreign country Not because they want to. What else can they do? That doesn’t mean they don’t believe it’s still their country that was hijacked from them. > No Serb institutions anywhere, let alone police Gee, I wonder why…

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

That's how life is. Some people just outsmart you sometimes.

Reply

[-]

Downtown_Log_7380@reddit

It's not a capital at all, Belgrade is.

Reply

[-]

AskBalkans-ModTeam@reddit

Your post/comment was removed for violating Rule 3 of r/AskBalkans "No agenda pushing". We want this subreddit to be an inclusive space and no chauvinism, bigotry or insults towards national, ethnic, religious etc. group will be tolerated. Depending on the severity of this violation, you may be banned. In any case, refrain from posting or commenting in such a manner.

Reply

[-]

Nearby_Professor_785@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/qwppye6yttqg1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=144234f59ff4667385a2a5577605d93b8c340d98

Reply

[-]

AskBalkans-ModTeam@reddit

r/AskBalkans does not allow hate

Reply

[-]

AskBalkans-ModTeam@reddit

Your post/comment was removed for violating Rule 3 of r/AskBalkans "No agenda pushing". We want this subreddit to be an inclusive space and no chauvinism, bigotry or insults towards national, ethnic, religious etc. group will be tolerated. Depending on the severity of this violation, you may be banned. In any case, refrain from posting or commenting in such a manner.

Reply

[-]

slow2low@reddit

![gif](giphy|qd0VlZ9VCvY8hbkMfq)

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

likewise for Crimea. (:

Reply

[-]

Pokestoppp@reddit

Congratulations! You have just woken up from a coma after 18 years! That being said, I got to inform you...

Reply

[-]

Appropriate-XBL@reddit

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.

Reply

[-]

Suspicious_Habit_781@reddit

I thought that Beograd is a capital city of Serbia

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

It is.

Reply

[-]

Suspicious_Habit_781@reddit

So why then you've mentioned this city whilst being not a capital city

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Because it's the capital of a different country. Look at your soldiers saluting it's hymn: https://preview.redd.it/n7c2dwgi12rg1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b74e2ae6dd22405051b8ca444ebf8099f9a3809

Reply

[-]

Suspicious_Habit_781@reddit

It doesn't count. They've crossed fingers and imagining in their heads song "Oj Kosovo,Kosovo zemljo moja voljena Zemljo slavnih vitezova Lazara i Miloša..."

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

Yeah I'm sure they did :)

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

It is.

Reply

[-]

joking_around@reddit

1000 % this. Prishtina is an absolutely artificial city and a concrete desert. It doesn't even have a river! Have you ever seen a big city without close to water??

Reply

[-]

Im_cosmical@reddit

Skopje?

Reply

[-]

ednorog@reddit

Sofia. No sea, no lake, no river. But it does have mineral springs right in the center, and that's why it was founded there. Well there are a few tiny rivers going through city center, but they're like 2-3m in width except when there's flooding.

Reply

[-]

Nearby_Professor_785@reddit

We do

Reply

[-]

Confucius3000@reddit

Brussels. They covered it

Reply

[-]

DardanianGOD@reddit

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Top tier comment

Reply

[-]

dead97531@reddit

Yep, Debrecen (second biggest city) in Hungary.

Reply

[-]

Nearby_Professor_785@reddit

No

Reply

[-]

Barbak86@reddit

It used to have two streams, but they are part of the sewage system now :D

Reply

[-]

Admirable_You_9573@reddit

Pristina isnt a capital, they were saying capital city, just a random city in Sebia.

Reply

[-]

ClNNAMONROLL@reddit

how much fragrance do you need to mask the smell of asshole?

Reply

[-]

YesNoYes__NO@reddit

The city of 1001 roundabouts...

Reply

[-]

Putrid_Passenger_839@reddit

If only people knew how to use them

Reply

[-]

DardanianGOD@reddit

Spo te vjen marre venin tan me shajt bre

Reply

[-]

Outrospect@reddit

Well, it ain't Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Athens, Sofia or Belgrade. I've lived in Podgorica, and it's likely the "ugliest", though it is improving.

Reply

[-]

Realistic-Leek1597@reddit

FR

Reply

[-]

eferalgan@reddit

Is Bucharest?

Reply

[-]

Koo-Vee@reddit

I don't get this. Bucharest is a fascinating mixture of diverse type of architecture. Brasov these days is choking with its Disneyland air. Is that supposed to be pretty?

Reply

[-]

eferalgan@reddit

What do you mean by “Disneyland air”?

Reply

[-]

Professional_Fun839@reddit

I thought bukurest was the paris of the east 🤣

Reply

[-]

eferalgan@reddit

I asked because it wasn’t in his list

Reply

[-]

Outrospect@reddit

Depends who you ask, but if Romania is in Balkan, Bucharest would be on the list above. Though I've never been there 🤔

Reply

[-]

paulstelian97@reddit

Bucharest isn’t the prettiest but it isn’t that bad. I haven’t seen Belgrade much but I feel like Bucharest looks better, but I could be proven wrong. Narrow ass roads in Belgrade though (plus a nuts taxi driver) Bucharest is also one of the _less_ pretty cities in this country. You want to see pretty in Romania? Go Timișoara, Cluj, Oradea, Sibiu (not necessarily in this order) and a bunch of others. Bucharest might end up like the 15th or 20th most beautiful out of the biggest 43.

Reply

[-]

RogerSimonsson@reddit

Bucharest is so big that it has bad areas the size of other cities. I personally hate the whole south, but they did some nice effort in Berceni lately.

Reply

[-]

paulstelian97@reddit

That is very fair. I have lived a bit in Regie as a student (sector 6), which was a decent looking place, and some places relatively close by are quite pretty. I’ve seen kinda bad around sector 2 during brief visits.

Reply

[-]

RogerSimonsson@reddit

I can see Regie(the part on the south of the river) out of the window right now. Regie is acceptable. Sector 2 is wildly random, but nothing is more random than sector 5 having both Cotroceni and Ferentari.

Reply

[-]

eferalgan@reddit

Apparently geographically only Dobrogea would be in Balkans, but we have been historically and culturally tied to the region, especially through our Aromanian family members.

Reply

[-]

mrgreenthoughts@reddit

No

Reply

[-]

Esdoorn-Acer@reddit

Ljubljana is in Balkan?

Reply

[-]

Outrospect@reddit

Well I count all of the ex Yugoslav countries in Balkan by default, though Ljubljana is arguable like Bucharest

Reply

[-]

Esdoorn-Acer@reddit

Why by default?

Reply

[-]

Outrospect@reddit

Because, being from Montenegro, we were all a part of Yugoslavia once. So I put Slovenia in the same basket as other Yugoslav countries.

Reply

[-]

Esdoorn-Acer@reddit

Well true yes for 69 years..but Yugoslavia was not just a Balkan country, even tho it is true that most of its territory was indeed in Balkan.

Reply

[-]

Outrospect@reddit

Balkan as in Balkan peninsula, yeah. But Balkan as a geopolitical term (rather than just geographical) was used more and more precisely because of Yugoslavia and its political influence as separate from the west (USA/EU) and east (USSR).

Reply

[-]

Esdoorn-Acer@reddit

Well Yugoslavia was both Central European and part of the Balkan (Peninsula). Yea during the time of Yugoslavia Balkan was often used in a broader/different sense. That’s what created the misconception we still see today…people using Balkan as a synonym for Yugoslavia.

Reply

[-]

Known_Hat_2415@reddit

Burek King

Reply

[-]

Dimdelnito@reddit

Tirana

Reply

[-]

Cautious-Food-7887@reddit

I'm in this picture and I don't like it

Reply

[-]

godlessdogtr@reddit

The best thing about Ankara is the road back to Istanbul.

Reply

[-]

-RichardBenson-@reddit

Athens is ugly

Reply

[-]

Dry-Dog-2867@reddit

Best to Worst Ljubljana Bucharest Belgrade Sarajevo Zagreb Sofia Ankara Athens Skopje tirana Pristina podgorica

Reply

[-]

ave_tenebrae@reddit

Belgrad

Reply

[-]

Mou_aresei@reddit

I'm gonna nominate Belgrade 😬 (I'm from Belgrade) Because of investor-led construction. Too much concrete, too few green areas, absolutely no care about quality of life from decision-makers. Bangladesh-level polluted air in the colder months, 40+ degree summers, completely dysfunctional public transport, rush hour is all day, every day, even on weekends. Crazy prices for basic necessities including food and real estate.

Reply

[-]

wolfsa46@reddit

Why are you so harsh on Belgrade? Everything you mentioned could be said for pretty much all Balkan cities in post communist era. However, I do agree that investor-led construction is what is destroying many citites here. On another hand, Belgrade is at least in flat area so architectural wonders of last 30 years are less visible. My town however is surrounded by hills, and all those wonders are like on a plate to be seen. It’s been a while since I visited Belgrade, but there was quite a lot of greenery in the city then.

Reply

[-]

Mou_aresei@reddit

When were you in Belgrade last? If it's been more than 10 years, you'll be shocked by how much it's changed for the worse. The original skyline of the city is gone. When crossing Brankov most, I still have to force myself to look straight ahead instead of at that architectural tumour called the Belgrade waterfront. The greenery is rapidly disappearing, what with the intensive construction and compouned by the crazy summer heat and drought. Investors and money launderers hate greenery, you can't make money off of it!

Reply

[-]

wolfsa46@reddit

I was in Belgrade 6 years ago, moran than a half a decade ago. At the time, it was still okay. I was saddened by the fact that centrail railway station was remkved from the city center and relocated to the outskirts. Thats something that will prove to be a major issue in the town. Also, I heard that tram lines are being removed which is also sad. Especially considering that Belgrade metro is being postponed again and again due to corruption. But at that time(when I visited) it was still nice, especially the city center and New Belgrade. So much greenery and human friendly planning in that city area. I saw that hotel Jugoslavija is gone as well, I hope the new thing in that place would be as nice. Its kinda sad that Belgrade is being destroyed by “investors” and politicans who out personal interest before public interest. I really loved it there

Reply

[-]

Mou_aresei@reddit

That city is gone, it's nice you have the memories.

Reply

[-]

wolfsa46@reddit

That’s depressing, man.

Reply

[-]

NoPlisNo@reddit

Different people see it very differently. I like Belgrade Waterfront, for example, and I despise the government. My controversial take is that Belgrade Waterfront would be liked generally if it wasn’t built by SNS. It was a completely undeveloped part of Belgrade and it became essentially what we want urbanistically: high density, mixed use, fairly walkable and it will have good access to public transit some day when the metro happens (it has good transit for BG standards already). I also like that BGH2O is renovating old buildings around it, which I think is a recent thing. New facades and such, the old Post building will be rebuilt to look beautiful, etc. I think the new Sava bridge will be much better when it’s rebuilt because it will have separate lanes for trams and cars (+bikes). The riverside itself is also very nice. The neighbourhood is hated because SNS is in power during its construction. Also because rich people live there. And lastly because Serbian people think the buildings don’t look “European” or whatever, “fake Dubai”, etc. I’ve lived in North America and traveled across almost every continent (backpacked a bunch), and nearly every big city has neighbourhoods and buildings like the waterfront. I wasn’t thinking about it when I lived in Toronto…if they built a neighborhood there with the urbanist benefits I outlined before, it would be praised like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. We just hate our corrupt governments in the Balkans and see everything through a negative lens. I choose to think that Belgrade is becoming a better city every year.

Reply

[-]

Mou_aresei@reddit

It is. It's even worse when it's the city you were born in and live in, and you watch it unfold and there's nothing you can do about it.

Reply

[-]

wolfsa46@reddit

I know. It is hard for me to see a city with so much charm and potential be ruined like that and I am not from there. For you, it’s many times worse. I hope there are better days are near.

Reply

[-]

Mou_aresei@reddit

I doubt it. Which city are you from? What's the situation like there?

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

There's not a single city in the world where certain locals don't complain about a supposed lack of greenery. I sometimes think you people want to live in the forest, and I don't understand what's stopping you.

Reply

[-]

Vesko85@reddit

You probably need to go to Singapour to see how greenery can be a lot together with skyscrapers.

Reply

[-]

CattleGreedy4352@reddit

This. I'm from Belgrade, born and raised. I have memories of it having a soul, much cleaner and greener than now, it was quite enjoyable with decent prices and lots of underground mouthwatering restaurants, plenty of hidden gems in terms of culture and architecture. Unfortunately Belgrade survived a lots of bombing throughout the history, the worst ones were during the ww2 where most of it's history was literally erased, then '99. And now it's struggling to survive the greed of construction mafia and our own government and slowly but surely losing the battle. Everything is being turned into concrete and some modern awful soulless concept of a metropolitan city. Like trying to create Dubai over the foundations of a city that had beautiful alleys and rich architecture from various periods. Hurts to see :/

Reply

[-]

teomees@reddit

Podgorica. Nothing interesting. Full of neglected buildings.

Reply

[-]

Glittering_Job_1573@reddit

I'd say Bucharest is the same

Reply

[-]

ClNNAMONROLL@reddit

y-y-you’re f-f-full of neglected buildings 🙁

Reply

[-]

Leticia-99@reddit

I actually did a Balkans trip last summer and I have to say Podgorica. Ugly city, nothing to do, we couldn’t find any open restaurant after 10pm and we almost starved to death. People drive extremely fast and cars don’t stop at crossings. The whole experience was a disaster

Reply

[-]

Glittering_Job_1573@reddit

I thought more people would say Bucharest. I've been there and I wouldn't go even if you paid for the train ticket.

Reply

[-]

bleta_punetore@reddit

For me Skopje takes the first places for the urban massacre they did there, considering it was a very liveable city until 2005 but as ugly capital I'd put: Podgorica Skopje Pristina Sarajevo Tirana Belgrade Sofia Bucharest Zagreb Ljubljana

Reply

[-]

Outrospect@reddit

I am sorry but Tirana is in no way more beautiful than Sarajevo 😅

Reply

[-]

bleta_punetore@reddit

Well, here it's matter of tastes, but again for once I'm from Tirana, second I visit Sarajevo every year 6-7 times, where one beats the other it's in it lifestyle, people and thriving urban area.

Reply

[-]

ExtremeProfession@reddit

Sarajevo is richer than Tirana, greener than Tirana and the people speak better English. Tirana wins in urban planning of new neighborhoods and that's about it.

Reply

[-]

bleta_punetore@reddit

Whatever suits you. I can make a list of what's better or worse there and there, but it's not that kinda post.

Reply

[-]

TinyAsianMachine@reddit

Tirana is likely a nicer city than Belgrade and Athens but uglier than Sofia, Zagreb is uglier than all of those and goes between Sarajevo and Tirana imo. Bucharest Ljubliana Sofia Tirana Belgrade Athens Zagreb Sarajevo Pristina Skopje Podgorica My opion

Reply

[-]

ExtremeProfession@reddit

Sarajevo is definitely above Sofia and Tirana and u less you like metropolises more, probably above Bucharest and Belgrade more.

Reply

[-]

klmzx@reddit

Why is Ljubljana on the list of ugly cities, lol. It's not only pretty, but also very clean.

Reply

[-]

TinyAsianMachine@reddit

Someone hasn't had their morning coffee yet.

Reply

[-]

Plenty-Daikon1240@reddit

I've only been to Sofia nd Bucharest and I find Sofia profoundly ugly. I'm almost curious to visit the worse ones on the list just to see how bad it is - but not curious enough to spend time and money.

Reply

[-]

bleta_punetore@reddit

Sofia has a lot of options in terms of diverse environment, has a lot of beautiful monuments ancient and not, therefore can't be that ugly, in fact I like it to some extent, but I understand one might not like it that much. Also having an easily reachable mountain near by for me is always a plus.

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

I like Skopje!

Reply

[-]

SlinkyAvenger@reddit

If it weren't for all the fuckin' statues.

Reply

[-]

HumanMan00@reddit

Me too actually but people tend ti be so mad about hownit was rocnstructed but homestly it looks ok and i like that they are not afraid to show Macedonian Albanian Serbian Bulgarian and even Greek history all around. Im not joking here its my homest opinion.

Reply

[-]

Outofspite_7@reddit

So all of them lol

Reply

[-]

HiggsKamuy@reddit

I think it's a rating of worst to best in their opinion.

Reply

[-]

Outofspite_7@reddit

Ahh I see you might be right

Reply

[-]

Conscious-Map6957@reddit

Yeah Skopje is constantly devolving and is polluted to high hell, but still has plenty of beautiful parts which make this very debatable.

Reply

[-]

Macedoniansun@reddit

Sounds like everyone. Who's left?

Reply

[-]

BuffaloFree8939@reddit

Athens

Reply

[-]

Macedoniansun@reddit

And then?

Reply

[-]

Macedoniansun@reddit

And then?

Reply

[-]

Icy-Engineering9912@reddit

Sorry but Pristina.

Reply

[-]

Glass_Test_9944@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/l1jc7p3r3tqg1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9018e8ae287d353ecfd75e2b2f717272cd3c54b Wtf is this? After I saw this pic I vote for Pristina too.

Reply

[-]

Sticks-and-flowers@reddit

That’s HIlARIOUS is what it is! 🤌 Peak madness of the senses! Someone give that poor misunderstood building a prize. I’ll take this baffling vision any day, over boring matchbox brutalism.

Reply

[-]

Full-Rice-9287@reddit

Noo! That is such a wonderful building! So amusing we all have such different perspectives. That is the best of Prishtina for me. Brutalist architecture with a hint of Byzantine one. A gem!

Reply

[-]

vegancorr@reddit

I agree. It's an awesome building. I don't remember seeing it 8-10 years ago :( Pristina just went up one position in my top, sorry Podgorica.

Reply

[-]

Glass_Test_9944@reddit

>That is such a wonderful building! I like brutalist architecture, but this building is one of the ugliest I’ve ever seen. It reminds me more of Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan than Kosovo. The whole vibe, especially with the unfinished church next to it, feels off to me.

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

Wait til you see the University of Skopje.

Reply

[-]

vegancorr@reddit

The University of Skopje looks like a grain storage facility.

Reply

[-]

heretic_342@reddit

I like it too. It's unique and experimental, not like the regular bland commie building.

Reply

[-]

Serdar_Janko@reddit

That is university building and on the left is Serbian Orthodox church which is not finished and just stand kike that for 27 years now

Reply

[-]

vegancorr@reddit

The catholic church is in the center. Ngl, it's like a middle finger to the Serbians.

Reply

[-]

Dreadscythe95@reddit

This is probably the only decent thing in that awful city.

Reply

[-]

Happy-Hour88@reddit

I've only been to Bucharest and Athens and live in Sofia so I can say out of these 3 Sofia is the cleanest. Bucharest looks too commie and grey, Athens is also overbuilt with identical 4-6 floor flats. Though for nature I'll say Athens is the prettiest - it has the mountains and the sea with surprisingly nice beaches. Sofia only has a mountain. Buchrest isn't even that close to the mountains and just slightly closer to the sea than Sofia so out of the 3 I'll rank it the worst so far lol. The language is the prettiest to me, though.

Reply

[-]

CypriotGreek@reddit

If I had to rank them from worst to least bad: Sarajevo, Podgorica, then Skopje. Sarajevo is easily the worst for me. To be fair, I stayed in a rough area (Alipasino) with my girlfriend at the time, so that definitely affected the experience. But even beyond that, the city just felt off, and the fact that there were areas I was told to avoid because of ethnic tensions doesn’t exactly help its case. That kind of division is a pretty big downside for a capital. Podgorica comes next. It’s not terrible, the people were great and the country overall was nice, but the capital itself is just… bland. It feels like any random Eastern Bloc-style city with nothing that really stands out. Then Skopje. On the surface it looks decent, but a lot of it feels like a facade. You can tell much of what was built isn’t being maintained properly, and it ends up looking like a weird mix of styles, Ottoman elements next to this pseudo grand, Parisian-inspired architecture that’s already falling apart, with it being next to grand Greek statues and pillars, it just doesn’t fit right.

Reply

[-]

ExtremeProfession@reddit

There's no division in Sarajevo, East Sarajevo exists but it's a totally new settlement made after the Bosnian War. In a way extends on the city's urban area from one side, but Sarajevo is in no way a split city. Going there is pretty common and there are no tensions, people from East Sarajevo work in Sarajevo without any issues and many Sarajevans go there for cheaper produce and services. Alipašino is indeed among the worst neighborhoods aesthetically as it's basically a concrete hellhole and the only place where brutalist architecture can be observed in full. But Sarajevo still offers an unique mix of Austrian and Turkish influences, strong tourism infrastructure and a very laid back look at life, unlike Belgrade, Buchsrest or Athens where it's sped up like in Western Europe. Hope you come again and understand what the hype is all about.

Reply

[-]

Mii18@reddit

And you were in Sarajevo when? 1994?

Reply

[-]

Increase-Tiny@reddit

Is there like a secret meme bout podgorica im not balkan enogh to know or is it really that ugly?

Reply

[-]

ExtremeProfession@reddit

It's a planned city mostly built under Yugoslav rule and lacks historic charm basically.

Reply

[-]

dittreo@reddit

Those who say Skopje here keep parroting the same corrupt city center restoration but like, I don't see why people hate the look of it. It looks fine, definitely much better than the shitty commie blocks that were there before. The rest of the city is also pretty nice, green and not maybe the prettiest but also definitely not the ugliest Balkan capital. The bazaar also looks very nice.

Reply

[-]

PurpleDrax@reddit

Skopje. If you put aside the massacre that is the city center, then it just looks like any other ex-yu city

Reply

[-]

LirianSh@reddit

It doesnt live up to its name

Reply

[-]

stuyvesant1@reddit

Skopje is a good city though. I dont get the hate from within Macedonia. Usually it's probably politics.

Reply

[-]

PurpleDrax@reddit

We hate it because they spent a boatload of money basically doing silly stuff. The city was ugly and needed restoration, but it needed the old look back. After the earthquake, most of the city center was in ruins. Not many people on here know this, but Skopje actually used to look nice, much like Belgrade and Sofija city centers, but it was ruined. They could've opted to restore the old look back, but they did whatever this is

Reply

[-]

dittreo@reddit

Eh, i dont think the end result is bad, at least. If every project in the Balkans has to have a corruption scandal behind it I'd much rather have it be that instead of doing nothing

Reply

[-]

stuyvesant1@reddit

Yeah, they were the only ones who actually did something in all the existence of the country.

Reply

[-]

stuyvesant1@reddit

Skopje did not look nice at all. Maybe it was comforting nostalgia for some, but it looked like shit. Yes, the government may did too much and went a bit too far like the two ships in the river, but generally they did a good job. It was necessary. How come putting old style facades on ugly communist buildings is okay everywhere except in Skopje? Also, there was a reason in doing so. They wanted to strengthen national identity and the average Joe to feel his identity and feel proud. Intelligent people know and read books, the less intelligent dont, but they feel it when they see it. It was important to do and people generally love it. Especially foreigners. The only ones who hate it are some Macedonians themselves who hate their own country (because everything foreign is always better in their eyes) and hate the political party that did it.

Reply

[-]

tomgatto2016@reddit

I've got to partly disagree. The parts designed by Kenzo Tange and the UN are very cool and almost a textbook city planning strategy

Reply

[-]

PurpleDrax@reddit

And the parts designed by Nikola shit on all of that

Reply

[-]

tomgatto2016@reddit

Absolutely. Foreign people say we're the capital of kitsch. What a fucking disgrace

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

I find it quite shocking that so many people in this sub hate Skopje. I’ve been there twice and I loved it.

Reply

[-]

stuyvesant1@reddit

It's probably politics. They're oikophobes, long for communist block times and hate the ones who improved it. Even if the city is the best, they'll never acknowledge. Foreigners do like the city though.

Reply

[-]

optionstrategy@reddit

These are self-hating idiots. You can safely ignore them and form and maintain yoyr own opinion.

Reply

[-]

DavidGrandKomnenos@reddit

Skopje wins on account of most statues per capita. Bonus points for corruption scandal behind them

Reply

[-]

vegancorr@reddit

Most statues with the biggest everything. Also the biggest flags I've seen. My eyes were bleeding.

Reply

[-]

Unicreatum@reddit

Only saving grace is the bazaar old town, otherwise its dystopian on one side, and utterly balkan-suburb on the other.

Reply

[-]

vegancorr@reddit

Do people still have photos with Erdogan in the bazaar?

Reply

[-]

ednorog@reddit

Except for the butaforic decoration, I thought it was really ok. Didn't strike me as ugly at all, tbf. Plus it has a mountain right outside, which always helps.

Reply

[-]

TinyAsianMachine@reddit

Tbf Skopje has significantly worse city planning than even Albania. Its the only capital that felt almost as bad as Athens. Only the old town is nice and then there is the main square which feels so cringe like something from World of Warcraft...

Reply

[-]

NoSync22@reddit

The bazaar alone sets it far above Podgorica and Pristina, though. Also, I rather like some former socialist area such as Karposh and Aerodrom, and the brutalist buildings (although they’ve seen better days). This is not to say that it’s a marvellous city, but it’s got something to show for it at least.

Reply

[-]

kontenjer@reddit

Skopje is like 5 cities in one

Reply

[-]

VegetableFormer6888@reddit

I am from Skopje and I will say: Skopje

Reply

[-]

Holiday-Step9703@reddit

I didn't hate Skopje in itself, but I didn't like the approach to it and the surrounding stuff.

Reply

[-]

Whole_Obligation_776@reddit

Skopje entering the chat like: https://i.redd.it/wz2uz94pgtqg1.gif (Tbh I really like the city)

Reply

[-]

optionstrategy@reddit

If you like it then shut the fuck up and pick another city.

Reply

[-]

Whole_Obligation_776@reddit

Dude I am from Ankara-Turkey, it is usually said to be the ugliest in the country's big cities. I like ugly cities.

Reply

[-]

Expert_Pie_5994@reddit

ANKARA ANKARA GÜZEL ANKARA

Reply

[-]

SinancoTheBest@reddit

Fine, I'll pick for him. Chisinau?

Reply

[-]

vegancorr@reddit

You mean Disneyland 😂 I was like, how is that those old buildings are looking so new?! It cannot be fake, right, right? 😂 And all the huge flags, statues with huge tities. Somebody had mommy / daddy issues.

Reply

[-]

Whole_Obligation_776@reddit

You should visit Tibilisi, Georgia. Skopje got nothing against it. It is like they wanted a cheap dubai, it is a mish-mash of experimental post-modern building designs and extreme soviet realism (though they put fake cover ups on many old soviet buildings to hide what they look like too).

Reply

[-]

Mr_WorldWide_DG@reddit

If we're talking about Skopje, then it's more like inferiority complex XD

Reply

[-]

Vertebruv@reddit

Prishtina and Podgorica are quite unremarkable imo, which would be my choice. Not truly ugly - but the ugliest of the list. Skopje is super kitschy which only makes it remarkable in a very bad way, so I get that as an answer as well. For Athens tho, it varies each minute I'm walking - I can be in awe of the views one second, then see a homeless junkie shooting heroin in his inner thigh the next. Belgrade and Tirana are very different but I consider both to be pretty nice - main streets are walkable, some bike paths, lots of green parks and pretty modern looking bars and cafes. Granted, if you move an inch away from the tourist spots you see the non-walkable streets, horrible parking situation and illogically stacked up living places, but that's just everywhere in the Balkans.

Reply

[-]

dittreo@reddit

Skopje and Belgrade are definitely not contenders for the ugliest.

Reply

[-]

pi4katimaterina@reddit

Ceasar's Palace Resort and Casino (aka Skopie)

Reply

[-]

QuietQueerRage@reddit

Lol what's the lore behind that?

Reply

[-]

SwedishFish123@reddit

Skopje 2014 Renovation. The city center got some fancy new museums and huge statues of historical figures that may or may not have anything to do with us depending on which neighboring country you listen to. It looks really nice but I have to agree it does give a strong Caesars Palace tone lol.

Reply

[-]

Wide_Juggernaut_5450@reddit

Based on the current ideology of NM, mostly all of them have nothing to do with NM, according to worldwide consent. Its a shame, bc Skopje has so much potential, but the people in power in NM are a different breed.

Reply

[-]

SwedishFish123@reddit

Most of the statues are either revolutionaries from 19th century that fought for our identity or for commemorating events that have occurred in the past such as the Skopje earthquakes and 2001 insurgency. Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon are just the biggest statues there lol

Reply

[-]

pi4katimaterina@reddit

>it looks really nice I beg to differ.. even putting aside the historically schizophrenic nature of the 2014 project, much of that infrastructure is already [falling apart and decaying](https://balkaninsight.com/2021/07/13/skopjes-face-lift-starts-falling-apart/bi/#:~:text=Eleven%20years%20since%20it%20was,the%20poor%20building%20materials%20used.), because, in typical balkan fashion, they used low-quality materials (greek/roman columns are still intact thousands of years later because they're made of marble slabs, not cheap plaster and styrofoam) so that those gruevski-friendly firms who won the contracts could skim money off the top. doesn't help that subsequent governments are reluctant to spend any money maintaining it. not a good look, tying the entire identity of a european capital city to a corrupt vanity project

Reply

[-]

holyrs90@reddit

Gruesky was a Genious since they will look old and therefore look original

Reply

[-]

QuietQueerRage@reddit

Wow, what a complete disaster, and a public safety hazard... And the price tag is absolutely insane.

Reply

[-]

chocolat-viennois@reddit

Spoken as Greek, Athens. Fucking urban hell

Reply

[-]

Delta-Primus@reddit

Beograd

Reply

[-]

wallygator91@reddit

As a guy from Belgrade i would say... Belgrade is probably ugliest

Reply

[-]

AssassinLJ@reddit

As greek I would vote Athens, that place is just fucking disgusting to look at.

Reply

[-]

casual_philosopher02@reddit

as a woman, walking in Athens is a nightmare, I felt ultra safe in Thessaloniki and Patra but Athens..... I heard the most disgusting shit about my body casually

Reply

[-]

Qoidt@reddit

weren't you boasting about being a tall woman aint no way you are scared that easily. Just fight them Also i see your comments a lot and always appreciated that u dont hide the activity but not anymore it seems. I loved to look up ur profile to see what u commebted😪

Reply

[-]

casual_philosopher02@reddit

Ι am 176 but no woman unless a professional will fight off a man with an adrenaline rush.... I was stalked by a crazy italiana, she would take pics of my one post and make alts to prove I am ugly (I know hillarious), once I found her ugly face she did stop

Reply

[-]

Qoidt@reddit

Im surprised u were stalked by a girl i expected men but i dont know women rivalries well. Yes ur trolling is entertaining plzz open back ur comms🙁

Reply

[-]

AssassinLJ@reddit

Every guy I know that lives on Athens say how scared they are going home alone at night.

Reply

[-]

Ethereal_Calanthe@reddit

I am Czech but I have been in Athens with a friend who is local. I could have seen bad and good parts. I like Athens, it is pure chaos but I really liked it there. Only thing that shocked me were streets full of junkies, homeless and prostitutes, I believe that it was in Omonia or Exarcheia. It was bright day, so this was something that I have never seen before.

Reply

[-]

Affectionate-Bug3085@reddit

as greek and probably from Thessaloniki?.. anyway it's obvious you're not travelled in Balkans.

Reply

[-]

Agis-Spartan-King@reddit

You must be the most dump Greek I've met in the internet.

Reply

[-]

Pipimer@reddit

Athens is a shit hole

Reply

[-]

Agis-Spartan-King@reddit

Greece is the most beautiful country in the world. The only shithole,is on haters heads.

Reply

[-]

AssassinLJ@reddit

Μαλακα ζωο στη κρητη, η Ελλαδα ειναι πανεμωρφη ακομα και αν ειμαστε σκατα, αλλα η Αθηνα ειναι για το πουτσο.

Reply

[-]

Agis-Spartan-King@reddit

Είναι η πιο άσχημη πόλη στα Βαλκάνια? Αυτό ρωτάει... Να είσαι καλά εύχομαι!

Reply

[-]

Alkmeister@reddit

σκασε ρε μαλακα φασισταριο.

Reply

[-]

Pipimer@reddit

Το να λες ότι η Αθήνα δεν είναι σκατό πόλη είναι πρόβλημα στον εγκέφαλο όχι ότι είναι δεξιός

Reply

[-]

Pipimer@reddit

With that logic you will never improve

Reply

[-]

nerdyHyena93@reddit

I’m married to a Greek, we both agree that Athens is a dump.

Reply

[-]

SnoopCheesus@reddit

If you're Greek and you think Athens is beautiful you're deluded

Reply

[-]

SuspiciousShock8294@reddit

I mean Athens is magnificently decaying and straight up falling apart, but in its essence it is really not the ugliest of cities. Nothing a good scrub and some good ol' fashioned elbow grease couldn't fix

Reply

[-]

Pipimer@reddit

Same parts need to get burned

Reply

[-]

Agis-Spartan-King@reddit

Thats my point. You can't call any Greek city the ugliest. All cities are ugly but lets be serious ..

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

Gurl puhlease, it ain’t that bad.

Reply

[-]

CandidDebate6827@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/1f4ib40pxsqg1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=baaf96b72de595ce771e3a5f69d6ee0bb6700cbc

Reply

[-]

lilian_moraru@reddit

I have lots to complain about the capital I am originally from(ex: ugly communist buildings), but this image feels stressful to me. For reference, I am originally from this Eastern European capital: https://preview.redd.it/zdiogiuc5tqg1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7f4a1bd4ad85c5674781783698316a0f0778b7e

Reply

[-]

Hot_Distribution_131@reddit

This is Chisinau. How was life there?

Reply

[-]

lilian_moraru@reddit

Nice when it’s warm outside(like summer - get to enjoy the greenery, the parks\[like Valea Morilor\], the people, restaurants, wineries, etc…) and unpleasant during winter(gets polluted and all the unpleasant communist buildings can be seen again). You go from “love” to “hate” every season, in a loop.

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

Sarahan dust event.

Reply

[-]

Several-Zombies6547@reddit

You've not been to the rest of the Balkans, have you?

Reply

[-]

AssassinLJ@reddit

I have been to serbia and albania

Reply

[-]

Arbaces420@reddit

I just wanna say I love Athens. I've been to places like, Miami, Barcelona, whatever... I'd just go with Athens anytime, I love the place and love your people.

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

Pls, Athens has so many historical sites. Among all the mid capitals in the Balkan, both in terms of metropole feeling and historical significance, I would never consider Athens.

Reply

[-]

gougim@reddit

For the first time in my life I googled images of Podgorica. Why does it look like an average city someone would build in Cities Skylines?

Reply

[-]

Alone-Menu-5505@reddit

Sofia you ask why cause I live in it.

Reply

[-]

mjukpandaaa@reddit

Rome

Reply

[-]

Novel_Ambassador_395@reddit

As someone from Podgorica, i agree. Mostly cause the city has nothing for tourists. Sadly montenegro, when we started to develop, we just developed the capital, everything else is poor, in terms of having stuff to see, living situation. So everyone had either to move there to work so that they could be paid better then in their hometown, or travel to Podgorica to work. So yeah Podgorica became like a place for everything, and wasnt built on like a capital. Though, its improving. Many new parks, new things, but sadly the thing we need is something they dont try to improve. Also parking situation is out of control

Reply

[-]

stuyvesant1@reddit

Podgorica, Belgrade, Sofija, Pristina.

Reply

[-]

JimbosBalls@reddit

Tirana and Athens are messy

Reply

[-]

Real_ZeusR@reddit

Sofia. Not too much to see, ugly soviet buildings. People are very polite tho

Reply

[-]

dwartbg9@reddit

Lmfao, Sofia is much better, cleaner and safer than Athens (apart from the obvious things, like lack of beaches and climate).

Reply

[-]

NoSync22@reddit

Athens’ climate today is hell on earth for a good part of the year, though. I’d pick Sofia’s any day lol.

Reply

[-]

This_Lion5856@reddit

Sofia has never really been a touristic city and I don't understand why we are trying to brand it as one It was mostly developed during communist times as an administrative center and although I don't think the city is bad per se, I would never go there as a tourist. Varna, Tarnovo or Plovdiv are much more interesting to explore from a tourist perspective

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

Sofia used to look like a Central European capital before WW2 and has been a regional capital since the early Roman Empire.

Reply

[-]

AltruisticAd9507@reddit

Sofia was already 500-thousand city before the Soviet occupation, while Plovdiv at that time was barely above 100 thousand inhabitants. To understand the difference in scale is the same thing like to compare today's Plovdiv with Pazardzhik. A lot of damage caused the fierce bombardments consisting of both incendiary and explosive bombs that damage large part of the old city and after the war little was reconstructed in the old posh way.

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

You're overstating the effect of the bombings. The central streets from St. Nedelya to the Tsar's Palace were damaged but historic areas in Poland, Lithuania and Czechia have been rebuilt from less. The reason Sofia didn't rebuild shit was because the communists preferred to bulldoze the affected areas (and then some) to build the current Largo complex. They also stripped ornamentation from many buildings, such as statues, façade features, doors, fences, lamps etc. and used them for their own villas. The money excuse is pure BS, they had plenty of money to build the Largo in the 50s and later NDK.

Reply

[-]

Real_ZeusR@reddit

Agreed 100%. I visited Plovdiv and I really loved that city!

Reply

[-]

WorriedGap6983@reddit

1000 times better than Athens tho, Sofia looks like Singapore compared to Athens

Reply

[-]

New-Weekend-8189@reddit

Bucharest hands down! no country i ever visited managed to make its cities as ugly as communist Romania! I dont mean parts of the city...i mean the city as a whole. there is ugly Sofia but the city is nice. there is nice Bucharest but the city is ugly

Reply

[-]

gazeuze@reddit

Entering the chat fearing I would see Bucharest :))

Reply

[-]

resident-117@reddit

everyone is saying podgorica, but what about prishtina?

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

>*everyone is saying podgorica, but what about prishtina?* It ain’t a capital city according to 1/6th of the viewers. https://preview.redd.it/uvtx5i3eysqg1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a74b14ec04b503ea0e4464e658ffd8e9de45688d

Reply

[-]

KPlusGauda@reddit

I am sure some Serbs recognize KS, and also that some non-Serbs don't

Reply

[-]

Boring-Paramedic267@reddit

You can only find those on reddit.

Reply

[-]

elsavic@reddit

1/4 since romania is at 10% lol

Reply

[-]

resident-117@reddit

oh i see lol

Reply

[-]

Soleplain234@reddit

From the ones I've visited so far, Sofia easily.

Reply

[-]

oN_disordeR@reddit

From the point of view of the "ugliness" of the city, given that we had one man in power for 30 years, it is not surprising, considering how much money was stolen. But let's ignore that. I, from Podgorica, would never move to live in a bigger metropolis/city, when I want that kind of party, I go to a big city for two weeks and that's enough for me, and the noise and chaos are already starting to bother me. I have a shopping center and a green market in Podgorica, 5 minutes' walk from my apartment. I also have the main bus station and the main train station 5 minutes away. It takes me 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the center of Podgorica. Ljubović hill is 10 minutes away, Gorica hill 20 minutes away, Morača river 10 minutes away. Kindergarten 5 minutes away, also elementary school 5 minutes away. Two high schools in 10. This makes a big difference. In big cities, something is considered "close" if it is half an hour's drive away. The second thing is that in an hour's drive from Podgorica, I arrive in the village, near Kolašin, there is the second or third largest rainforest in Europe, as well as Lake Biograd and many more beautiful mountains. That is, if I go north from Podgorica, if I go south, I'll be at the sea in an hour. You can have such a luxury in very few countries. While in big cities people go to work by car for an hour, in that time I arrive at one or another part of Montenegro where there are unprecedented beauties. This is the reason why I have never, nor will I go to live in a "big city" like many do. Podgorica is not "beautiful", but Podgorica is a center from which you can be on the mountain for breakfast in the morning, and at the sea for lunch, and back to Podgorica for dinner.

Reply

[-]

Organic-Practice8268@reddit

How the fuck did no one mention Skopje?

Reply

[-]

nightflightto2525@reddit

Well first of all, good point. But second of all, when you go past the fake marble kitsch parade, the pleasant parts are just really pleasant. Will they ever get rid of the kitsch parade though? Once you have that shite up it's so hard to get rid of it.

Reply

[-]

Organic-Practice8268@reddit

I don't even have such a big problem with that, it's more of a waste managment issues. Last time I was in Skopje there were piles of trash in the city center. The rural Macedonia is amazing and scenic, but the capital just reeks of garbage.

Reply

[-]

napoleon-von-pack@reddit

From what I can see on your map, Rome

Reply

[-]

ElectroBabiali@reddit

No doubt its sofia, bulgaria overall great country but the capital is s*it

Reply

[-]

rical8@reddit

athens

Reply

[-]

WorldsBestTroll@reddit

Sofia has two good streets and the rest is just dirt roads. Africa basically. Sarajevo is ugly and too Muslim and it doesn't feel safe nor comfortable. The rest is ok, I guess

Reply

[-]

UselessBot_@reddit

Let me guess, you're either Indian or Gypsy...

Reply

[-]

WorldsBestTroll@reddit

No. God. Disgusting. 🤢

Reply

[-]

Any_Cucumber8534@reddit

I love grace in general and you have some of the most betiful cities across the world, but Athens is pretty damn bad. Sure it's not as dilapidated as other cities, but it is a lot dirtier and unsafe.

Reply

[-]

Rough-Stress6885@reddit

Mate its not worse than Sofia or Bucharest

Reply

[-]

Any_Cucumber8534@reddit

It feel worse honestly. And not because I am the biggest fan of either of the cities. Just less crowded and more livable

Reply

[-]

Rough-Stress6885@reddit

dont like ahthes either, but come on you nevr went putside of a few etral athens blocks ans you pretend to know the city lol. whe i lived in bcharest and i can tell for sure it is a shthole. ave nothing persoonak with bucharest t it is

Reply

[-]

vanoitran@reddit

I agree on dirty - but it’s definitely not unsafe.

Reply

[-]

Any_Cucumber8534@reddit

Maybe you are right. I am just basing it off how I felt as a tourist. Tessoloniki is litteraly one of my favorite cities to visit and I never felt unsafe there

Reply

[-]

Lunatik_C@reddit

Although, Salonica is equally ugly. They destroyed a lot of amazing buildings, mostly in the 60's, to build all those concrete monstrosities...

Reply

[-]

Interesting-Ant-6726@reddit

I see Salonics as small Athens

Reply

[-]

Lunatik_C@reddit

A lot of those appartments are really bad on the interior too. They even used the ground floors of 6 and 7 floor buildings for markets, not parking space. All that mattered for them back then was greed... P.s. Thanks for the downvote, random, brutalist/kitsch enjoyer!

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

>They even used the ground floors of 6 and 7 floor buildings for markets, not parking space Ah, just like every city in Bulgaria then.

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

> "Tessoloniki is litteraly one of my favorite cities" we know... (1904/1912/1917/1944).

Reply

[-]

Any_Cucumber8534@reddit

Hey, hey, that's the old Bulgaria now when me and the boys go to Thessaloniki worst thing we do is to try and drink all your Ouzo XD

Reply

[-]

joking_around@reddit

Maybe unsafe in he sense of that you have to be really careful where you step. More than once I tripped on the streets and almost fell badly. Must be a nightmare for handicapped people.

Reply

[-]

vanoitran@reddit

I can’t even imagine being handicapped in Athens - even rolling a baby stroller is like playing a platformer.

Reply

[-]

Due-Meaning-6760@reddit

How do you feel unsafe in Athens? What happened?

Reply

[-]

Any_Cucumber8534@reddit

As I said based on vibes, a lot of areas felt quite unsafe an night. I have street smarts so I avoided them, but it felt too sketchy

Reply

[-]

nemmalur@reddit

If I had to sum up Athens in one word it would be “dusty”.

Reply

[-]

Big-Inspector-6370@reddit

Athens is huge and the biggest one. There are for sure dirty places but there are clean ans safer areas. In my opinion its the most beautiful in the balkans

Reply

[-]

Apolon6@reddit

Podgorica

Reply

[-]

HanDjole998@reddit

Podgorica durring summer months ![gif](giphy|XxzQCi70N4SX5ZcYvu)

Reply

[-]

beee420@reddit

Tbh Bucharest feels the same if you outside during summer

Reply

[-]

HanDjole998@reddit

Is Bucharest located in a valley made of limestone that absorbs all the summer heat, and together with the concrete and asphalt creat an fealing čike in a convection oven.

Reply

[-]

ImportantIncrease564@reddit

yes for the concrete and asphalt part

Reply

[-]

Next-Lobster4306@reddit

Perfect

Reply

[-]

Neat-Dragonfly-5658@reddit

Meni apsolutno nije, sta fali gradu? Nisam nikada zivela ali sam prolazila kroz grad

Reply

[-]

AccomplishedBig2043@reddit

Bro asked for an explanation and got downvoted.

Reply

[-]

FalsettoBalsamico@reddit

Ne bi rekla najruzniji al dosta je dosadan

Reply

[-]

Dreadscythe95@reddit

Bro it is not Podgorica when Skopje and Pristina exist. Podgorica is fine.

Reply

[-]

I_Am_Not_Joes_Mama@reddit

Only interesting thing I remember from Podgorica was that they had a burger king and that tells you a lot

Reply

[-]

Steel_and_Water83@reddit

I enjoyed Podgorica for it's randomness. Stayed in an old flat, and went roaming around.

Reply

[-]

minus_uu_ee@reddit

Why is there a Niagara Fall really close to Podgorica again?

Reply

[-]

Hagya_ant@reddit

Podgorica

Reply

[-]

subversivefreak@reddit

It's not the Balkans but Bratislava

Reply

[-]

Weak-Ad1716@reddit

Bratislava? I've been there 2 times, it's a very nice city. Small, nice people, good beer. Indeed, i saw some massive buildings being risen which have no connection with the rest of the city, but still very nice city. Better than most balkan capitals.

Reply

[-]

Jealous-Neck-9382@reddit

Athens is a shithole !

Reply

[-]

ionutavram84@reddit

I would say Budapest. It’s because it is inhabited by Hungarians. ![gif](giphy|xT9IgGQDMgTLMoeIoM)

Reply

[-]

AskBalkans-ModTeam@reddit

r/AskBalkans does not allow hate

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

This gif is iconic.

Reply

[-]

fk_censors@reddit

Any of the ones without palm trees. Any capital with trees that lose their leaves in the fall and with a sad population that hides indoors for half of the year is just sad.

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

Hmmm you’d probably feel very confused in Tirana 😬 We have a mix of deciduous broad-leaved trees \_(the ones u hate, very common), stone pines & palm trees *(especially Washingtonia)*. Like this: https://preview.redd.it/fckh23p3xvqg1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a0aa5b996b53279bd69b09b8c7679c03dd2ced2

Reply

[-]

FrontierXSR@reddit

Srpski Tokyo

Reply

[-]

mw2lmaa@reddit

Vienna is nice tbh

Reply

[-]

Sekalino@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/qeqc1jxnztqg1.png?width=225&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fd298baddd63a4dd00d8cd649b6bc75384ef7b8 We're lucky our capital isn't in the balkans.

Reply

[-]

Familiar_Divide1752@reddit

are you kurdish or never been to ankara ? this pic is from iran , Ankara is just nice city as it is

Reply

[-]

Sekalino@reddit

No I’m Turkish with family from Ankara You’re right that there are nice spots in Ankara but these apartment buildings together with the brown landscape are very common too. But again not all of Ankara looks like this. Plus it was a joke bro like relax I’m not saying free Kurdistan I’m just saying a lot of Ankara looks like ps1 hagrid in city form.

Reply

[-]

Familiar_Divide1752@reddit

those parts you say are the new constructed sides , they wil look more green and not unrelated in 10 years, Ankara is one of organized and developed cities in the region

Reply

[-]

Sekalino@reddit

I didn’t know that those places aren’t finished yet I’m glad to hear they will look better in the future. Ankaralı mısın kardeşim?

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

Omg it’s giving PS1 graphics and I’m obsessed. Is that a real picture?

Reply

[-]

Sekalino@reddit

No sadly I don’t think it is but it’s VERY close to the original. Ankara is literally just brown apartment buildings in a brown landscape.

Reply

[-]

ThomasArad@reddit

They all have their unique charms.

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

![gif](giphy|l2WCyM3qWovAEoijpm|downsized)

Reply

[-]

OfficeResponsible781@reddit

I’m from Montenegro and everytime I visit it feels like a speed run to leave Podgorica and not go back unless I need to go to the mall, visit one uncle or to leave the country. Preferably in the quickest time possible too.

Reply

[-]

feanor55@reddit

Athens center streets with ugly graffiti next corner junkies and syringes on the floor

Reply

[-]

Nothing_Special_23@reddit

Athens is literally one of the most visited and iconic cities in the world.

Reply

[-]

P-l-Staker@reddit

Yeah, but a lot of it is hideously ugly.

Reply

[-]

Antique-Army4569@reddit

Disagree

Reply

[-]

the_TIGEEER@reddit

M8. I really think you haven't been to the ugly parts of Athens if you belive that.

Reply

[-]

Antique-Army4569@reddit

Nah I've been from one side of the city to the other. From Kifisia to Piraeus iirc. Sure there are junkies on Monastiraki square and it's a bit of a concrete jungle generally but I found the city very charming and lively. Great people too.

Reply

[-]

P-l-Staker@reddit

Which is shocking to me as it doesn't take too much wondering around until you run into them.

Reply

[-]

the_TIGEEER@reddit

TBF Athens also has some pretty beutiful and all around vibe places. So I can see how a short touristy visit might lead to seeing that only.

Reply

[-]

fimari@reddit

They don't come for the junkies

Reply

[-]

Talithea@reddit

Same is Rome. And Rome has some areas that make Night City from Cyberpunk appear like heaven.

Reply

[-]

LucasRO123@reddit

cf

Reply

[-]

Putrid_Speed_5138@reddit

Athens is not one of the most visited cities in the world. Just check the stats.

Reply

[-]

kureysalp@reddit

Most visited and iconic ≠ not ugly.

Reply

[-]

Several-Zombies6547@reddit

That's just Omonoia and Metaxourgio, where many tourists pass by just because of cheap accommodation. It's cheap for a reason (it's filled with junkies and illegal immigrants), but many tourists don't research the area before booking their hotel.

Reply

[-]

vanoitran@reddit

The junkies situation has improved dramatically.

Reply

[-]

greekhop@reddit

City of 5 million has ugly neglected areas. Never expected that. Guess that means the whole city is irredeemably ugly and no other neighborhoods have any weight at all in this calculation.

Reply

[-]

varovec@reddit

sounds like average Slovak town lol

Reply

[-]

Comprehensive_Ad3399@reddit

I always found Athens lovely, great vibe, awesome weather, good people and so much life!

Reply

[-]

OhCanadeh@reddit

Berlin.

Reply

[-]

Unfair-Frame9096@reddit

I remember walking down Pogdorica and telling myself " once I get to the city Center, it will be nicer and not like a junk yard". I eventually got to the other edge of the city and turned back to my hotel.

Reply

[-]

Legal_Repair_4386@reddit

Jesenice 😀

Reply

[-]

a11891@reddit

Podgorica, I live there and it's so boring

Reply

[-]

Fat-worm@reddit

Tirana is the ugliest city I have ever seen. Only cement, traffic, no public transport and no identity al all.

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

Gurl puhlease, Tirana is everything. ![gif](giphy|VED6JureKXXBm)

Reply

[-]

hyperloba@reddit

if Turkey counts its definitely Ankara

Reply

[-]

RichDream7777@reddit

I never knew about Podgorica until I've read it in some comments and I was curious how it looks. So I visited 10 random places in Podgorica in Google street view. Yeah I agree.

Reply

[-]

GETOUTTHISAPPbehappy@reddit

Chisinau is cool, but i thought many people would consider it bad, instead they say Podgorica or Athens

Reply

[-]

iadaci@reddit

I’ve only been to Bucharest 2 times, in 2002 and 2014 and it was ugly as fuck from what I remember.

Reply

[-]

CandidDebate6827@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/98b1vdijxsqg1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfc0a97d23f3c8f8efa1eeda0e276f0bef7f1aa0 Athens is ugly. Looks like some Star Wars Desert Planet

Reply

[-]

Self-Bitter@reddit

Athens is the only remarkable world class historic capital in the Balkans, All the rest are irrelevant, footnotes at best in the context of history. So cope

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

Athens was a village 150 years ago homie.

Reply

[-]

Self-Bitter@reddit

So what? It has been a place where civilization reached a peak at some point in history and there are plenty of stuff to admire from back then

Reply

[-]

vbd71@reddit

just like Sofia

Reply

[-]

InjuryEmbarrassed532@reddit

Athens, the city and Greek people have nothing by to do with the civilization that built the ancient stuff.

Reply

[-]

CandidDebate6827@reddit

![gif](giphy|PCyab4IaYZv9vM6TH2|downsized)

Reply

[-]

Mnd3333@reddit

I mean, every city has its good abd bad sides.

Reply

[-]

CypriotGreek@reddit

I mean, if you take photos like this then every city is going to look ugly. Athens definitely isn’t the prettiest city in the Balkans, but it certainly has a charms. https://preview.redd.it/kf2myevz3tqg1.jpeg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec9e3502d999b7e1d25794ae7264fd208dec247a

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

u/CandidDebate6827 you really need to chill. https://preview.redd.it/sfu4doo23tqg1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25529a6501ae3e72a9c850dfed5be8309474fe43

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

Been there, I liked it. This pic is likely taken during a saharan dust cloud event.

Reply

[-]

CandidDebate6827@reddit

se di pse pe lun patjeter avokatin e djallit, shipec

Reply

[-]

Austria_fan@reddit

Podgorica hands down, it has some beautiful spots but i see no reason to go there (apart from living or working if you have to) Some redditors mention Skopje but tbh, i like the city, the story behind the 2014 renovations makes the city very interesting (but maybe not in the manner which the city hoped it would become) and quite unique Others mention Pristina which could really challenge Podgorica, but in my opinion Pristina has better looks and more „life“ inside the city (at least when i went there last year) apart from Podgorica

Reply

[-]

DemandNew8116@reddit

all of them

Reply

[-]

thephilosophaster@reddit

Skopje, hands down

Reply

[-]

Tiny-Mulberry-2114@reddit

It's unfortunate people pick Podgorica. It's a captial with lots of potential

Reply

[-]

eddieshack@reddit

Nemaš karticu ni do Prištine 80s Balkan music told us

Reply

[-]

kuzakuzakuza61@reddit

In terms of expectations vs reality, in my experience is Athens. Tourists romanticise Athens and go to the 5 tourist places and maybe even could have a nice view of it. In reality it is a traffic ridden concrete jungle with not even a sidewalk to walk on

Reply

[-]

StamatisTzantopoulos@reddit

Athens, a cement jungle

Reply

[-]

Inevitable-Theory901@reddit

Definitely Sofia. It’s dirty, unmaintained, junkies and homeless people everywhere..

Reply

[-]

MartinBP@reddit

>junkies and homeless people everywhere Lmao what

Reply

[-]

dwartbg9@reddit

Tell me you've never stepped foot outside Sofia, without telling me. Or better yet: - Tell me you're one of the typical Bulgarians from the provinces that despise Sofia, without telling me.

Reply

[-]

Inevitable-Theory901@reddit

Well take a guess

Reply

[-]

dwartbg9@reddit

No need, I just looked at your comments and saw the truth behind your words: ![gif](giphy|yVZLH5dbgUIK0W87YK)

Reply

[-]

oldyellowcab@reddit

Definitely not Sofia. I found it quite western compared to many Eastern European cities.

Reply

[-]

Vadelmayer44@reddit

You have never been to another big city if you think Sofia has a junkie/homeless problem

Reply

[-]

New-Willingness6105@reddit

Sofia, hands down. Because it does have: ugly communist buildings (blocks), the infrastructure is horrible and the streets look run down and broken (also muddy). Overall it is a disgusting place in my opinion.

Reply

[-]

Friday3333@reddit

I dont know, but the competition is taugh.

Reply

[-]

kvnstantinos@reddit

Pyrgos

Reply

[-]

BadBasik@reddit

Jacksonville, Florida, by far the worst moist hellhole in the world, and the true capital of American Balkans😋

Reply

[-]

Rough-Stress6885@reddit

Bucharest is a huge shithole.

Reply

[-]

AngryPeon1@reddit

Finally, someone who acknoweldges my coutnry's capital city! And yes, it's a shithole - in large part due to the communist dictator destryoing part of it to build a huge, ugly palace (officially called the People's Palace).

Reply

[-]

Tramagust@reddit

Romanians coming to complain about themselves but their opponents are balkans.

Reply

[-]

floare_salbatica@reddit

I disagree, Bucharest has a lot of charm and potential. Unfortunately a lot of mess to be fixed too.

Reply

[-]

Rough-Stress6885@reddit

Its a shithole mate the ugliest city in the Balkans for sure.

Reply

[-]

AngryPeon1@reddit

Parts of it are charming. But it's got horrible traffic problems and still a lot of abandoned or decaying buildings.

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

bruh. I read that as, "Budapest" (was like wtf!!).

Reply

[-]

KinookRO@reddit

quite decent compared to other capitals. Shithole, but there are Shitcraters in Europe

Reply

[-]

Icy_Huckleberry8893@reddit

Bucharest is very beatifule,clean,have good architecture and very greenery.

Reply

[-]

Rough-Stress6885@reddit

Its definitely not beautiful lol. Architecture is trash besides 5 streets in the center.

Reply

[-]

just_blaze310@reddit

Sofia!!!

Reply

[-]

No_Water2184@reddit

Athens

Reply

[-]

korto@reddit

in descending order: horrible tier: prishtina, podgorica, skopje, tirana liveable: sofija, belgrade, bucharest nice: ljubljana weird mix of good and bad, unsure of ranking: zagreb, sarajevo, athens

Reply

[-]

bandito_13@reddit

Podgorica takes the cake. No contest. It's just... there.

Reply

[-]

crylizz@reddit

People saying Podgorica is crazy when you got shitholes like Skopje, and I'm not even from Montenegro. Podgorica is beatiful!

Reply

[-]

AdamBerner2002@reddit

Podgorica. I’ve never been there, but everybody is saying that in the comment section, so… 🤷‍♂️

Reply

[-]

heatseaking_rock@reddit

All of them!

Reply

[-]

brickne3@reddit

What?! Bucharest is beautiful!

Reply

[-]

ImaginaryZucchini272@reddit

bucharest beautiful? what?

Reply

[-]

brickne3@reddit

I lived there for five years, I certainly find it beautiful. Not literally everywhere obviously, but that's true of anywhere. Also it's a very *unique* kind of beautiful, there's literally nowhere else that looks like Bucharest architecturally.

Reply

[-]

ImaginaryZucchini272@reddit

i find prague or budapest way better. there is no space for any comparison i think..

Reply

[-]

brickne3@reddit

We're talking about Balkan capitals here though. I do agree that those are both more picturesque, and I also lived in Prague for two years and certainly won't disagree that it's more beautiful, but Bucharest is pretty in its own way (as are most Balkan capitals).

Reply

[-]

ImaginaryZucchini272@reddit

You are right, but as an Italian we distinguish just as easy Europe, not balkans.

Reply

[-]

brickne3@reddit

The post literally says "which Balkan capital"...

Reply

[-]

mehdir_94@reddit

It has it's beautiful parts

Reply

[-]

StevenAdamsInDallas@reddit

Depends on the part of Bucharest. North and City Centre it's pretty unique, with a lot of different types of architecture, but the rest is just a communist mess.

Reply

[-]

kpax80@reddit

Only a roumainan can talk shit about his country or his city!

Reply

[-]

heatseaking_rock@reddit

Yeah, right :)))

Reply

[-]

adamgerd@reddit

Athens?

Reply

[-]

CHALKYYM4RS@reddit

podgorica . Everyone is asleep after 18:00

Reply

[-]

ninjaMNE@reddit

what a nonsense.. couldnt say something less true

Reply

[-]

rydolf_shabe@reddit

Skopje

Reply

[-]

Accomplished-Path622@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/dtu7oo7i9uqg1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=07819ed1376ea8330c46a80cd23514c491d4c90b Athens unfortunately is getting pretty bad . Only a couple of parks . Everything is getting gentrified , so no identity . In the summer it gets to almost 200 Celsius on the pavement , maybe even more . In the winter if it rains a bit more than usual , it's literally dangerous to go out , a woman died this year from rains . Snow just freezes everything . Subway , train , busses etc are really bad cause there are too many of us . Also everything is badly build so minimal traffic control and everything is almost always blocked most of the day . Anyway classic Balkan things , where corruption messes with the lifes of every day people but no one really cares or does anything . Haven't been to many other Balkan cities but for me Athens is getting pretty bad and it's sad to see . Especially now that rich people from China , Israel etc are buying everything and building even more ugly stuff .

Reply

[-]

Johndenver33@reddit

Absolutely Podgorica, it was a mistake to drive all the way from Kotor just to see the capital

Reply

[-]

crysty7776@reddit

If we don t lock in Bucharest might fight for top 3 in the future I mean honestly, i was born here and visited most of city's from Romania, i don t understand how we still are to this level Very polluted air, no side walks, less green areas, cars parked everywhere, besides metro the transportation is garbage because the amount of cars, our mayors are cutting green areas instead of creating new ones, we have maybe just one good bike lane in such big city Forgot about the absolute ugly commie blocks I mean if we are not making them stronger for the earthquake at least put some paint on it

Reply

[-]

andreimircea55@reddit

I get you, and you’re valid, that said, trust me when I say that it is a lot better now than a few years ago. Have you seen Rahova recently? It went from fugly to decent so fast. Everytime I pass Rahova I cannot believe my eyes because of the glow up. It is still far from perfect (and still needs improvement), but compared to before, it is unrecognisable in a good way.

Reply

[-]

Longjumping-Bag6547@reddit

Bucharest has the most public parcs in romania

Reply

[-]

crysty7776@reddit

So the biggest city by far in Romania has the most amount of parks... interesting

Reply

[-]

Longjumping-Bag6547@reddit

Cel mai mare număr de parcuri: București Datorită dimensiunii sale, Bucureștiul deține cel mai mare număr absolut de parcuri și grădini publice. Conform datelor statistice recente, Capitala are peste 90 de parcuri oficiale. Tot aici se află și unele dintre cele mai mari spații verzi din țară, precum Parcul Herăstrău (Regele Mihai I) sau Parcul IOR. Totuși, raportat la numărul uriaș de locuitori, Bucureștiul stă destul de prost la metri pătrați de verdeață per persoană.

Reply

[-]

crysty7776@reddit

Yep exact, avem nevoie de mai mult spatiu verde si sa nu mai taie sau se le arda pe cele existente Jumatate din IOR ii acum ars.....

Reply

[-]

idkWhatToPutHereHmm@reddit

bullshit, you just hate your country. Bucharest is not the best, yeah, but it's far far from being one of the worst.

Reply

[-]

crysty7776@reddit

i did not say it is, i just said that if we don t start to get our things together it can get worse It s called constructive criticism And i very much enjoy my country, that s why i visited so much of my country and can have a opinion

Reply

[-]

floare_salbatica@reddit

Actually there's a lot of renovation work ongoing. Maybe you should leave your house from time to time

Reply

[-]

crysty7776@reddit

Sorry darling, i was not referring the areas around the malls or boulevards where u go to drink your matcha Or maybe you are just delulu so don t mind me then Anyway i enjoy MTB and riding my motorcycle and still see no renovation to some buildings that are the same since i was a child

Reply

[-]

kastela_man@reddit

All of them

Reply

[-]

Capital-Driver7843@reddit

That is it! I have not been in some of the capitals (e.g. Sarajevo, Podgorica, Tirana), but all that I have been are pretty “meh”, except (to some extend) Ljubljana.

Reply

[-]

kastela_man@reddit

Ljubljana’s center is actually quite nice but everything around is definitely the same as the rest. Only less grafitti and trash.

Reply

[-]

Sure-Teaching-4100@reddit

Sarajevo because I don’t like mosques or bosniaks

Reply

[-]

andreimircea55@reddit

Up until 2022 or 2023, I would have answered Bucharest because of unpleasant the city is. But around then the city governance decided to put some pep into their step and Bucharest now is a lot more bearable (still awful, but nowhere near as much as before then), I can see people genuinely enjoying the city and its vibe with how much it has improved. Nowadays I would say Belgrade or Ankara (Türkiye is considered in the Balkans, so their country is fair game). The commie blocks got out of hand in Belgrade (at least if they were well maintained it wouldn’t be as much of an issue) and Ankara is just a car infested sewer, the North America of Europe. I cannot comment on other Balkan capitals as I have only been in Bucharest, Budapest, Belgrade and Ankara.

Reply

[-]

Dreadscythe95@reddit

There is no way people say Podgorica when Skopje and Pristina exist. Podgorica is fine. It's just kinda boring but it's pretty livable. Skopje is fake, ruined with the retcon it received. Pogorica feels post-apocalyptic.

Reply

[-]

Temporary-Ice751@reddit

Tirana and Sofia

Reply

[-]

AogamiBunka@reddit

I probably shouldn't comment because I kind of like "ugly" or grime (it's subjective, of course -- I love Napoli LOL) but I found Athens to be chaotic ugly. City planning looks to be based on a game of drunken darts. I don't think building/construction permits exist for the city.

Reply

[-]

blanarikd@reddit

Yes.

Reply

[-]

Username1213141@reddit

Athens. Could be much better

Reply

[-]

KlavirePrevoziOstoja@reddit

Skoplje

Reply

[-]

Hopeful-Box-7221@reddit

In parts of Skopje it’s like walking in late ‘60’s early ‘70’s. The funky architecture style after the earthquake. Almost groovy, almost eyesore

Reply

[-]

Acceptable_Run_3233@reddit

Belgrade sucks.

Reply

[-]

ThrowawayFuckYourMom@reddit

Why are you people always trying to start shit?

Reply

[-]

Embarrassed-Wolf-609@reddit

Belgrade. By far.

Reply

[-]

avdaxumaxu@reddit

Podgorica. Followed by prishtina.

Reply

[-]

blackrain1709@reddit

Tirana on Geoguessr was wild. Poor houses and dirt roads practically in the center wtf

Reply

[-]

PropJoe23@reddit

Podgorica is not really pretty gotta say. Neither is Belgrade, tbh, in a traditional sense. But I did love it living there (until o didn't anymore), and I am weird in that I like brutalist architecture.

Reply

[-]

mne1237@reddit

I lived in both and Belgrade is much prettier. Kalemegdan, Hram, Knez Mihajlova, Zemunski kej, Ada. Its not comparable imo

Reply

[-]

PropJoe23@reddit

Oh, definitely, Belgrade does have nice parts (I know PG much less so maybe it does as well, but my impression was not great). I just meant that it isn't what is traditionally considered a pretty city. However, if you renovated the facades of, say, Dorcol, it becomes much prettier

Reply

[-]

JignerdSaw@reddit

Nothing weird about liking brutalist architecture 😌😌😌 It just sucks that our governments mismanage funds and are corrupt so they don’t have coating and they look like we live in a poor grey state. Which you have to wonder how with what we know of the state of North Korea’s economy, why the fuck do they have so many brutalist buildings that are coated in virtually every colour in the pictures we get to see from tourists and journalists, but we here don’t lmao?

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

You are not like other girls

Reply

[-]

Pipimer@reddit

Athens overall is ugly yes it has spots that the best but overall it's awfull

Reply

[-]

Gemascus01@reddit

Question are you guys rebuilding that akropolis temple on the hill? Would be cool thoe like entering 300BC Btw do you know any best big source where and what to see of anceint Greece in Greece? Would love to make that road trip and am playing AC Odyssey so that I know around the places lmao but woul love to see it all in real life like how it is in the video game

Reply

[-]

radiusmac@reddit

You cannot put Athens as the worst from them all. I will not be biased and will say that Skopje/Pristina/Podgorica are fighting for the same place. Athens is nice but if you ask me personally, it has 2/3 areas (neighborhoods) that are very, very dangerous (especially for us).

Reply

[-]

triumfi@reddit

Why Podgorica though, I get it is hot as hell. But why is it on par with Prishtina?

Reply

[-]

radiusmac@reddit

Well if you compare to Belgrade, Sofia, Zagreb, Ljubljana... i think those 3/4 are way "uglier" then the others. I dont have a order, i just think Pristina, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Skopje are not on the same level as the others. Every city has its own beauty on its own way uf corse.

Reply

[-]

Pipimer@reddit

Even for Greeks it's dangerous,

Reply

[-]

Skiminox@reddit

Sofia. After an evening walk with the dog, my hair smells like I’ve been standing by a campfire for hours. Also, Bulgarians park like monkeys — absolutely all the sidewalks are taken up by cars.

Reply

[-]

Downtown_Ganache_254@reddit

Bucharest is shit mate. Serious talk. It’s ugly as f…even though your first instinct is to check it through Google (obviously), it is the ugliest. The most beautiful buildings were built by communists, and they’re still there, standing proud in 2026. FML. Everything else is shit, it’s a mess and chaos everywhere, the smell in particular, is something else. You want to go back in time? Time travel? Try Bucharest

Reply

[-]

Kioz@reddit

Zagreb is not the best. ManyCroatian cities outshine it

Reply

[-]

KPlusGauda@reddit

Well, that's not the question, is it

Reply

[-]

ZAFTKyran@reddit

Op thinking that most of people here have visited all capitals in the Balkans and they would be fair. Kinda cute I have to admit.

Reply

[-]

Mindless_Turnover883@reddit

Skoplje 1/1

Reply

[-]

Fun_Skirt_2396@reddit

Budapest

Reply

[-]

Usernamenotta@reddit

If you include Romania, probably Bucharest. Otherwise, I have never been to Sofia, so I cannot make an educated guess

Reply

[-]

dwartbg9@reddit

Neither Bucharest or Sofia can be classified as being the ugliest (or any other "worst" category) in the Balkans.

Reply

[-]

floare_salbatica@reddit

He's just one of those Romanians who think they're being cool and edgy with their self hate. You can find a few in this thread alone.

Reply

[-]

dwartbg9@reddit

Tell me about it... I'm amazed why my compatriots haven't crawled in this post. I know very well about this, nowadays Bulgarians became so self-loathing and pessimistic, 90% of the shit you may find on Reddit written against Bulgaria is actually written by Bulgarians themselves. It's like it's part of our DNA to always shit on our country. Even if things are actually good, people would still find something negative and something to complain about.

Reply

[-]

BillGR7@reddit

Podgorica follow by Pristina

Reply

[-]

SlavHeathen@reddit

Belgrade. Worst city ever

Reply

[-]

NBApundit@reddit

Since when are Rome and Vienna considered Balkan cities??

Reply

[-]

TheReal_Elite@reddit

Podgorica without a doubt, the entire city makes you feel like you’re in an Eastern-bloc nation.

Reply

[-]

Thin_Editor_433@reddit

The way i read it seems like all of them are ugly so you are looking for which one is the ugliest? The way i see it none is ugly but some might think to be be less beautiful as a preference.

Reply

[-]

superasna@reddit

I've been to all of them and I'd definitely say Pristina.

Reply

[-]

Max_ach@reddit

So pretty much all balkan cities are ugly but guys, we all got a good vibe 😎

Reply

[-]

Beautiful_Baseball76@reddit

Athens is trash. Its capital of a proper country with real economics. Podgorica and Pristina I kinda understand. The greeks have no excuse

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

> "greeks have no excuse" it's a Greek city. it's not to be a "tourist attraction" for foreigners. if people from there r fine w/ it, that's up to them. if u don't like it, simple. don't come.

Reply

[-]

nasosroukounas@reddit

voting rights for all adult men since 1844,here is your answer

Reply

[-]

Thodor2s@reddit

Tbh if you look at Olympics footage it looked way better before the crisis. That’s what happens to a city when it’s been struggling for 2 decades.

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

eh? it looked same (more or less) since like 60's.

Reply

[-]

gpetrov@reddit

I would vote for Skopje. The fake 'ancient' architecture they built in 2014 just feels totally out of place. Don't get me wrong, I love going there and always have fun, and walking around the Vardar is genuinely nice. But the vibe of the center never feels right, t’s pure *mutrobarok*.

Reply

[-]

LenaLena93@reddit

Fake ancient 😭😂

Reply

[-]

Deep_Land_4945@reddit

most of them are bad

Reply

[-]

zargug2@reddit

Pristina for sure. Been to every capital in balkans, this was the worst one. It feels just like it was packed with conrete without any planing.

Reply

[-]

Ill-Letterhead1833@reddit

Since I've never been to the USA Podgorica is the closest I've been to seeing what it would be like to live in an average American city. It's a car infested hell scape with 4 lane stroads going everywhere. I really hope I don't have to even pass through that city anymore. It just makes me sad. Apart from that Montenegro is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen, but they probably should invest more into public transit. There are a lot of traffic jams.

Reply

[-]

East_Country5869@reddit

Zagreb. It really pisses me off. It’s like we’re 40 years behind. Looks very depressing

Reply

[-]

ArthurScherbius@reddit

Jesi otisla ikad 500 km od kuce u nekom smjeru?

Reply

[-]

East_Country5869@reddit

Da, provela nekoliko mjeseci do nekoliko godina (što privatno što poslovno) u Nizozemskoj, Njemačkoj, Švicarskoj i Italiji. Da ne spominjem ostatak Europe gdje sam putovala čisto turistički. U Zagreb sam doselila tek sa 18 godina na studij i kupila tu stan u 31. godini, sad imam 35. Inače nisam iz Zagreba, prošla sam i Zagreb i Hrvatsku uzduž i poprijeko javnim prijevozom, autom, pješice, biciklom, u svako doba dana i noći, nema dijela mog života koji nije upoznat sa zg gradskom infrastrukturom. Bila prije par tjedana u Sarajevu, izgleda bolje i čišće od Zagreba i nudi daleko više sadržaja. U 7.mj idem na par dana u Istanbul, možda Zagreb bude br.najružnija metropola, javim

Reply

[-]

Beginning_Sweet_3095@reddit

Athens

Reply

[-]

BusyChillTwink@reddit

Skopje. :(

Reply

[-]

opal_23@reddit

I really really loved Skopje. I hated the heat cause I visited in fucking August 😆 But it was my first time ever seeing a huge statue of a pregnant woman, and of a mom with a child in her arms. I was in awe. :) It's a beautiful city, just needs more trees. 😁

Reply

[-]

dragonbab@reddit

Woah, woah, you wait a-- sigh. Carry on.

Reply

[-]

mne1237@reddit

I lived in Podgorica and it is ugliest. No special buildings, no special nature. Not even special planning. Some buildings are yellow, then some are white, it has no order. But people are nice and i had great time living there. I have some family there and im happy when i go to Podgorica, but the city is not pretty.

Reply

[-]

sotos2004@reddit

Mine , Athens . Athens isn't just Acropolis and a few more open space ancient monuments . The rest which is 99% of Athens is totally shit . Except some seaside places .

Reply

[-]

Mefhisto1@reddit

It's a tie between pristina and podgorica

Reply

[-]

True_Airport2595@reddit

As someone from North Macedonia ive never seen an uglier city than Skopje.

Reply

[-]

SOHONEYSAME@reddit

Greek one. ![gif](giphy|QQKbEn6oDlcQLZK6T7)

Reply

[-]

Naive_Size_3067@reddit

Athens. Disgusting.

Reply

[-]

Gold-Comment440@reddit

Istanbul

Reply

[-]

EarlGreyKv@reddit

Idiot, it’s not even the capital.

Reply

[-]

Gold-Comment440@reddit

Wow its a joke, im turkish myself, i should have assumed everyone would be autistic about it,its reddit afterall.

Reply

[-]

EarlGreyKv@reddit

It’s a stupid joke then, do better next time.

Reply

[-]

Gold-Comment440@reddit

There wont be next time

Reply

[-]

sussynarrator@reddit

Istanbul isn't even a capital. Educate yourself before hating.

Reply

[-]

Gold-Comment440@reddit

ben türküm mal

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

https://i.redd.it/rkxgdczhwsqg1.gif

Reply

[-]

BurgurluGenc031@reddit

İt said capital,maybe 200 years ago that would been a awnser.

Reply

[-]

muformoon@reddit

Istanbul isn’t the capital. What’s more, if you were to add up all the cities in the Balkans, they’d barely amount to a single district of Istanbul.

Reply

[-]

FortisPatria@reddit

athens or podogorica

Reply

[-]

Comprehensive_Ad3399@reddit

To me thats one of the most interesting and beutiful places in the world

Reply

[-]

Alarmed-Artichoke238@reddit

capital aynen knk

Reply

[-]

LookAtMyEyess@reddit

Athens, Podgorica, Skopje, Sofia There are some good candidates.

Reply

[-]

water_dog14@reddit

Belgrade with its vamous Karton City ( cardboard city )

Reply

[-]

Ok_Organization_935@reddit

Where si karton city ?

Reply

[-]

OverallPhrase4623@reddit

I have to say Prishtina :(

Reply

[-]

Full-Rice-9287@reddit

I would agree, but Podgorica and Skopje’s kitsch, are too strong contenders. 🫢 (Not that Tirana is too ahead however 🙌🏻)

Reply

[-]

triumfi@reddit

Bruh :'( 😢 what are you talking about. Unfortunately for me Tirana takes the first place the Prishtana and Skopje, It is a concrete jungle. So ugly.

Reply

[-]

Full-Rice-9287@reddit

Well, it is personal opinions after all. What makes Tirana better for me, is the more expansive feel of the city. It has some large avenues and boulevards. The lake park is great. And more than anything, within the small ring of the city, it is so full of life and movement. The other three, to me feel more like towns than capitals. Construction wise, Athens is also a concrete jungle, but because of the ancient part, and the life of the city, I can’t really put it within the ugly ones. I guess just different ways of judging cities. :)

Reply

[-]

Stellar_Synth@reddit

Podgorica.

Reply

[-]

Subject_Thorn@reddit

Mine.

Reply

[-]

muformoon@reddit

Tirana. I’ve never seen a worse city (you can’t even call it a capital) in my life. Podgorica is a paradise compared to Tirana.

Reply

[-]

mrvisi007@reddit

Fully agree. It’s an urban disaster

Reply

[-]

Magistar_Idrisi@reddit

Tirana seemed lovely when I visited a couple years ago. A bit dilapidated, but essentially nice.

Reply

[-]

Stverghame@reddit

>dilapidated Thank you for teaching me a new word today.

Reply

[-]

muformoon@reddit

Unfortunately, the city is poor and underdeveloped. There are very few places worth visiting. There’s nowhere decent to go out and sit in the evenings. There are few shops, and what there are are inadequate. The streets are dirty. The canal or stream running through the city reeks of sewage.

Reply

[-]

bejteeeeee@reddit

When it was the last time you visited Tirana? Because no way it is underdeveloped

Reply

[-]

muformoon@reddit

I went in August. My main destination was Seranda, and I really liked it. However, I spent a day in Tirana and I think it’s far from what it deserves to be.

Reply

[-]

bejteeeeee@reddit

I don’t thinks is far behind the capitals you find in the balkans, probably you are comparing it with some big names and its not that fair imo

Reply

[-]

ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit

Tirana is definitely not a beautiful city but compared to Podgorica is fckin New York😂😂

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

>*Tirana. I’ve never seen a worse city (you can’t even call it a capital) in my life. Podgorica is a paradise compared to Tirana.* https://i.redd.it/npd46ku1vsqg1.gif

Reply

[-]

ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit

😂😂

Reply

[-]

perakisg@reddit

Athens sucks ass and it might be the only city on this map that has no-go zones at nighttime. Athens police are some of the most brutal and militarised in the Balkans and they still don't have a good hold on that city.

Reply

[-]

Top_Giraffe_7740@reddit

No u

Reply

[-]

Wooden_Luck1890@reddit

Tirana

Reply

[-]

triumfi@reddit

Yup, sadly

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

https://i.redd.it/jq0oxn3svsqg1.gif

Reply

[-]

Jellyfish15@reddit

Tirana is kinda yuck

Reply

[-]

triumfi@reddit

Have to agree unfortunately 😭😭😭

Reply

[-]

Substratas@reddit (OP)

https://i.redd.it/qk03016ausqg1.gif

Reply

[-]

Winter-Bed-2697@reddit

Skopje feels ruined with all the kitsch half-built in the city center and the rest is just like any other provincial place. Podgorica is so small and not historic that it’s unfair to even take it into account. I haven’t been to Bucharest, but I have a feeling I’d either love it or hate it. Feels like Belgrade on steroids, and Belgrade has huge potential, but its entire story is about it never being fulfilled.

Reply

[-]

KA-FA_1500@reddit

In this matter, we accept that we are out of the context...

Reply

[-]

vukjuve@reddit

skopje definitely

Reply

[-]

Best_Lingonberry9778@reddit

Definitely Chisinau if Moldova counts as Balkan

Reply

[-]

Sufficient_Brick1@reddit

+1 for Skopje

Reply

[-]

Serdar_Janko@reddit

It must be Pristina, all you guys saying Podgorica didn't see that concrete ghost town.

Reply

[-]

CilpKonn@reddit

As someone who grew up in Athens but lives in Sofia, I have to nominate Athens for the ugliest capital. Greeks even call it τσιμεντουπολη, which translates to "cement city". Athens is vast, has very little green space or parks, and the infrastructure is abysmal. Most people live in apartment buildings, and depending on which decade they were built, they all have their own....."flair".There is a lack of sidewalks, and when you find any, they are overtaken by trees and parked cars. Half the country has gathered in Athens, making it overpopulated and overpriced. There are more cars than people, as reliably navigating this place with public transportation is not an option. Despite that, God forbid you decide to drive, as you are likely not going to go anywhere to begin with, much less find a place to park. Summer in Athens is its own miserable experience, as the lack of trees, cement buildings and cars create a uniquely suffocating environment.

Reply

[-]