Bitola - "Monastery"

Short Description of City of Bitola

After Skopje, Bitola is the biggest town in the Republic of Macedonia and today has 77.500 inhabitants. This beautiful town, where the architecture of its numerous buildings is real attraction and makes Bitola one of the most attractive towns in almost whole Balkans peninsula, is located in the southwest part of Macedonia, or more precisely in the central part of the largest plain of Macedonia called Pelagonija.

The town is widespread on the northeast slopes of the bottom of the mountain Baba, on the both banks of the river Dragor and on altitude between 570 and 700 meters. This extraordinary situation was one of the basic reasons for many civilizations to pass through and to settle here.

Throughout Bitola's history, different civilizations and nations have left their marks and in this regard surely the most attractive one is the already mentioned Heraklea Lyncaestis. Here there are fragments from the 4th century BC as well as numerous excavations of architectonic objects from many periods, amongst which the most attractive are: early Christian basilica in the northeast and southeast sector, Roman bath, early Byzantine three nave basilica and archbishop's court in the western sector, the large Roman theatre in the northern sector as well as number of very good preserved floor mosaics with various contents.

The historic cites that dominate in Bitola today are as follows: Ajdar - Kadina Mosque with its minaret more than 40 meters high, the Bezisten which still has the function of a covered market, the churches St. Dimitrija and Holy Mother of God-both from the 19th century with dominant iconostasis made in massive woodcarving, the memorial houses of the national hero Stiv Naumov and of the first Balkans' cameraman Milton Manaki.

From the natural tourism values the most beautiful one is the mountain Baba with its highest peak Pelister-2.061 meters high. Ever since 1948 one part of the mountain was protected and national park "Pelister" was founded. This park expands on territory of 12.500 hectares and the altitude is between 700m and 2.061m.

The biggest attractions of the park are: the endemic five-needle pin named Molika, the Large and Small glacier lake of Pelister, the rare specie of the European lynx, bearded eagle and others. It should be stressed that here exist more than 88 kinds of tree-plants as well as 62 kinds of animals, out of totally 135 kinds that exist in the whole territory of Republic of Macedonia.