Summertime and the livin’ is easy, runs the famous George Gershwin song. And nowhere more so than in Skopje, Macedonia’s small but buzzing capital. Except that here the summer vibe lasts well into autumn. And temperatures still hitting 25˚ Celsius well into October.

The city’s vibrant bar and café scene, long appreciated by locals, attracts increasing numbers of visitors from elsewhere. They are also drawn by Skopje’s intriguing cultural heritage.

The Ottoman Turks held sway here for over 5 centuries. Macedonia’s growing reputation as the Balkans’ best-kept secret helps as well.

Exploring Skopje

An obvious starting point for any exploration of Skopje is Macedonia Square. Here you'll find the enormous and controversial Warrior on A Horse statue. Standing 22 meters high and surrounded by synchronized fountains and larger-than-life carved lions on sentinel duty, the statue is a thinly veiled representation of Alexander the Great, Macedonia’s famous son.

Whether the hero actually hailed from here or from the neighboring part of Greece, as the Greeks claim, is a continuing source of debate. But his iconic status in both countries is beyond dispute. The city has a great local cuisine though, which reflects the complex cultural influences here.

The trick is to know where to go for the local specialties. Head towards the banks of the River Vardar, which bisects the city center, and settle into one of the riverside restaurants.

Skopje’s Ottoman heritage is immediately clear in the appetizer offerings. Luscious salads and freshly baked flatbread. Afterward, stroll along the riverside, where new buildings and bridges are springing up seemingly overnight.

Re-vitalizing Skopje

The city center is undergoing an architectural renaissance, part of Skopje 2014, an urban revamp that has already seen the statue's installation, along with a triumphal arch, a string of brand new Neo-Classical buildings and an army of statues commemorating famous Macedonians.

There’s a bit of everywhere in this project – Budapest’s waterfront, Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, and London’s Trafalgar Square all spring to mind. And now, with the completion of Skopje’s new Bridge of Art, complete with statues dotted along its length, Prague and its famous Charles Bridge have become part of the mix.

The scale and cost involved are not without their critics, but there is no denying that the result will be a dramatic new face for Skopje. That Skopje is changing in other ways becomes clear when you go for a walk around Debar Maalo, an up-and-coming area near the city center.

Skopje’s lively nightlife concentrates in 3 main areas: the Old Bazaar, Debar Maalo, and around the city park. A cool place to visit is "The Shell", a free stage venue in the park where various acts are going through their moves.

Old women with small dogs are as much a part of Skopje’s alfresco nightlife as their grandchildren, and entire families are enjoying homemade picnics on the grass around the stage.

After this, it’s time for a great late-night Macedonian tradition. Go for a small family run bakery where a wood-fired oven produces delicious flaky pastry pies known as burek. Filled with meat or cheese, baked and then cut into wedges, they are delicious. It’s a sort of high-octane pizza, Macedonian style.