Gostivar And Podgorica

Though Gostivar shares with other Macedonian cities a long chronology of conquest and reconquest by Serbs, Bulgarians, Ottoman Turks, Italians and Albanians, it has followed each cycle of destruction not by replacement, but by modernization. Full Macedonian independence has given the city new impetus the dusty main square is a green and pleasant park where people sit and chat or drink coffee in the cafes. Downatheel 18th and 19th century buildings have recovered their upper storey charm, and steel and plateglass windows at street level showcase Gostivar's success in marrying history to its trading future.

It's still a southern European market town, with the sounds, smells, flavours and sights of its multiethnic cultural and religious history. On Tuesday market days, the whole city fills with the villagers and produce of the local hills and valleys. The flashing colours, music and dancing that follow are evidence of Gostivar's leading role in keeping folkloric traditions alive, while still providing the modern infrastructures that enable visitors to see its regional treasures. Within Gostivar itself, the minarets and Orthodox church towers, wonderful 19th century Ottoman mansions and old streets, sit in harmony with the city's new sense of modern scale, space and materials.

Clever Montenegro, for getting its new capital so right, so quickly. The Mediterranean's newest republic only won its international spurs in 2006, and although it had been anticipated for some time, the dream's realization sent Podgorica into overdrive. The city had the glories of its own history to live up to, and a nation for whose future it needed to lead by example. With great charm, it is doing both. Less predictably, it's doing it with verve, imagination and, frankly, unexpected sophistication.

Location helps. Montenegro is a country of really beautiful mountains, but Podgorica is the only one of its cities built on the fiat; in fact, on the confiuence of the Ribnica and Moraca Rivers, where the fertile Zeta plain meets the rich loam of the Bjelopavlici Valley, and anything grows. It's been a major trade centre in its Illyrian, Roman, imperial Slav, Turkish and communist phases, but its significance as a modern crossroads is far greater. The highest mountains and best skiing lie just to the north; fabulous beaches and gems of historic towns are under 30 minutes away via the new Sozina tunnel to Bar, Montenegro's principal port; and in every other direction the latest technology is beginning to catapult both capital and country from Europe's most backward to most advanced.

Podgorica is demonstrating how to seize the best of the new while magnifying the riches of the past. Stara Varos and Drac, the oldest quarters, are largely Ottoman. Their narrow curves thread between ancient houses, revealing little market places, the two surviving mosques and the Turkish Clock Tower. Unostentatious restoration makes them glow, and the familiar thump of dominoes in the cafes is an invitation. Across the river, glass and steel temples proclaim the new investment, the outstanding success of the two stock markets and serviceindustries gleaming evidence of the taste that governs Podgorica's crazy ride into the unknown. Go quickly, if not sooner.