Skopje really is the ass-end of everywhere, but man ... there is a vibrancy there that is intoxicating. This is the post-apocalyptic wasteland humanity will rebuild itself from when it all falls apart. It won't be legal, but there's always a guy named Mirsad or Dejan or Ivan that "knows a guy" and can help you out...
I did a weekend trip to Skopje. It's so bizarre. I assume you haven't been back since they started pouring millions into "rehabbing" its image (read: statues... statues everywhere). it also has better flight options than kosovo obviously so it has a lot of cheap flights in/out of the region
That brick building in the back right is more of what I remember... with tall concrete Soviet-era towers... and it always seemed to have snowed a few weeks earlier, and the snow was all shitty with smog and road grime... But there were heavenly pastries!!