Contents
Europe is an example of pedantry, clean, beautiful and well-groomed streets, clear blue skies and azure beaches. Avid tourists every year visit one or another European country with beautiful architecture. However, in the EU countries there are many cities, problems in which annually cause an outflow of tourists. No one wants to face discomfort, dirt, bad air, poor water quality, garbage and other attributes of dirty cities while traveling. To avoid spoiled impressions, we advise you not to visit some European cities, which this year were recognized as the worst in terms of ecology and comfort.
10 Kiev, Ukraine
Recently, the situation with ecology and cleanliness on the streets of the Ukrainian capital is getting worse. In winter, tourists note dirty gray snow on the central roads of the city, which no one is in a hurry to clean up. Frozen icicles can fall on anyone’s head, but they are knocked off the roofs with great reluctance. And all year round, Europeans notice piles of garbage on all the streets of Kyiv, which are stubbornly ignored and not taken out on time. In the summer of this year, the strongest formaldehyde air pollution was recorded in the city for several days.
9. Plovdiv, Bulgaria
The main problem of Plovdiv is the concentration of many industrial enterprises in the city, which greatly pollute the air. Exactly 10 years ago, the city was the worst in Europe in terms of air quality. Then a number of measures were taken to eliminate this problem, and the situation improved slightly, but now everything is repeating itself. And since it is Plovdiv that is an important economic component in Bulgaria, it is almost impossible to completely eradicate the problem of environmental pollution with hazardous industrial waste.
8. Krakow, Poland
Krakow is one of the largest cities in Poland, it is the real university capital of the country. The charm of a beautiful city with charming architecture is overshadowed only by very polluted air and poor water quality. But we must pay tribute to the authorities, they are well aware of environmental problems and are trying to do everything to rectify the situation. Krakow recently bought a large number of buses that run on electricity instead of fuel, increased the number of trams and made the tram lines longer. The city is also implementing programs to switch to water and central heating instead of traditional coal heating.
7. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
In harsh winters, the level of air pollution in pure Sarajevo becomes very high. The fact is that almost all houses are heated exclusively with coal or wood. Environmentalists say that if this continues, air pollution will eventually lead to health problems for citizens. Harmful substances released in large quantities can enter the bloodstream through the lungs. This problem is inherent in many cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
6. Bucharest, Romania
Bucharest is a city of incredible contrasts. Gothic buildings with insanely beautiful architectural solutions coexist here with devastation and abandoned houses staring at tourists with their black broken windows. But this is not the saddest thing that can be found in the Romanian capital. The fact is that everywhere, even in the very center of the city, you can find mountains of garbage. People throw cigarette butts right at their feet, not bothering to carry them to the nearest trash can. Empty plastic bottles mixed with used paper and vegetable peels can fly straight from the windows of residential buildings onto the asphalt. This annually pushes people away from visiting this amazing city with a gloomy fairy-tale atmosphere.
5. Turin, Italy
The dirtiest city in Italy is, of course, Turin. The amount of fine dust particles PM10 here exceeds the norm by several thousand times. And people are forced to breathe this dust every day. The concentration of dirty streets is concentrated around one of the central metro stations called Rebaudengo. One has only to move a little away from the polished central streets, and you will find yourself in gray dusty neighborhoods, where you can even meet rats feasting on waste that are not cleaned up on time on packed bins.
4. Tirana, Albania
Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Ruin and lack of money are already felt at the entrance to the country, when you see very bad dilapidated roads. In the capital itself – Tirana – it is always very hot and quite dirty. Dust, a huge amount of exhaust gases and garbage everywhere spoil the impression of a city that, if properly maintained, could become very cozy and pretty. But we must pay tribute to the Albanians, they are very careful about homeless animals – all stray cats and dogs are microchipped and look well-groomed.
3. Skopje, Macedonia
Skopje is truly a cultural phenomenon. Walking around the city, you can enjoy excellent food, incredibly beautiful hotels, memorials and monuments, a colorful market. And everything would be great, only against this background, any tourist will notice a huge amount of dirt and debris. Various graffiti, overflowing trash cans and dirty houses are the most common thing for Skopje. You can meet garbage at every step, and this does not add to the attractiveness of the city, but raises many questions from pedantic travelers.
2. Naples, Italy
Many avid tourists already know that even the inhabitants of Naples themselves jokingly call it “the city of dirty”. Despite the fact that the city center is a rather attractive place for travelers, the authorities do not bother to clear the central roads from mountains of garbage. Therefore, a walk around the neighborhood can be greatly spoiled by the sight of endless bottles, wrappers and other dirt. In addition, the residents themselves suffer from dust and exhaust gases, but none of the environmental problems have yet been finally resolved.
1. Tetovo, Macedonia
Before you is an unusual city. Tetovo looks nice, however, there are no bright sights in the city. However, there are sad statistics that significantly distinguish Tetovo from a number of other European cities – this city breaks all records in Europe in terms of air pollution. Cleaning, which is periodically carried out by the authorities, does not work – dust particles are so tiny that they easily pass through all the barriers that are installed. This is their danger to human health, so this year it is worth refusing to travel to Tetovo.