The second largest city of Macedonia Bitola as if teleported to our days straight from the Middle Ages .Here you can walk for hours on the narrow streets with a slender series of mansions of the 18-19th centuries, and without realizing that the rest of the world is going through the 21st century .Bitola for Macedonia - that St. Petersburg for Russia: the cultural capital and "evidence of authenticity" of the Macedonian intelligentsia - $ .During the Ottoman rule, diplomatic institutions of different countries were located here, for which Bitola was called the city of consuls .And it's a very lively and immediate city, where it's so nice to contemplate the imperial past of Macedonia, sipping real Turkish coffee in a cozy coffee house..

How to get to Bitola

From Skopje to Bitola you can get there by bus or train. From the Macedonian capital, about every hour, intercity buses leave for Bitola. On the way, they also stop in Prilep and Veles. The journey will last about 2, 5 hours, the ticket will cost about 350 MKD. Four trains leave from Skopje railway station to Bitola, they also travel through Velez and Prilep. Even in Bitola you can arrive by bus from Ohrid, as well as from Sofia and the nearest Greek city of Florina, located just 30 km.

Transport in the city

Attractions Bitola are easy to explore during the walking. They actually lined up in a straight line: the old bazaar, the main city square, the central Broad Street, the city park and finally the ruins of the ancient city of Heraclea.

Longer distances make sense to cover by taxi: a trip within the city will cost no more than 2-3 EUR. And for those who would like to save money and join the "people", you can advise to use municipal buses: in just 0, 30 EUR you will pass the city from end to end. The most necessary route from a tourist point of view is № 1.

Weather

March 1, Sunday Overcast, light rain +9 ° С in the day +7 ° C at night ° С water	March 2, Monday Overcast +13 ° С in the day +3 ° C at night ° С water	March 3, Tuesday Overcast, light rain +10 ° С in the day +2 ° С at night ° С water
Bishkek weather forecast for 10 days

Hotels in Bitola

Bitola is a major city and a popular tourist destination, so there are enough options for accommodation here with a plus of .Guesthouses, private hotels and Bitola hotels are located in the city center .On the outskirts of the city and in the nearby villages you can also stay in private villas, converted into guest houses - a great way to relax on nature near the city's attractions..The cost of accommodation in guest houses starts from 25 EUR ."Dvushki" and "treshki" will cost about 40-50 EUR for a double room, and accommodate with chic can be for 90-100 EUR .

Kitchen and restaurants

The main traffic artery of Bitola Broad street serves as a place for the deployment of numerous cafes, bistros and restaurants. A quick snack can be a general Balkan puff pastry with a filling - burek, as well as grilled roasted meat cutlets in Turkish style. And of course become international pizza, burgers and a variety of sandwiches.

For a real dinner in the Macedonian style, go to one of the most pompous restaurants of Bitola, the Belvedere, located in the Glass House. Everything here is orderly, noble and old, and the prices are not at all ruinous: from 4 EUR for snacks and up to 25 EUR for hot dishes of local specialties. Among the best democratic institutions - pizzerias "El Greco" and "Bure", restaurants "Art Cafe", "Kus Kus" and "Manaki."

Shopping and Stores

The shops of everything that only the tourist in Bitola can want to buy, stretch from both sides of the Broad Street. It makes sense to look in boutiques of clothes and shoes, bookshops, wine and antique shops, art salons. Here you can find an excellent choice of souvenirs - textiles and embroidery, embossing, ceramics, wood carvings and various small items for memory: magnets, key chains, etc. Another place that must be visited is the Old Bazaar, one of the most charming, neat and the ancient markets of Macedonia.

Entertainment, excursions and attractions Bitola

Start acquaintance with the city stands with the main street Bitola - Broad .It is a pedestrian street, on both sides of which there are buildings of neoclassical and romantic styles - private mansions and municipal buildings of the 18-19 centuries .Also here you should see the Catholic cathedral and the old barracks, where today the city museum is located, and a little further away there is a picturesque and well-kept city park .Architectural dominant Bitola - 30-meter Clock Tower, built in the 17th century and received the current look two centuries later .

Mansions of the consulates are another attraction of Bitola. All of them are pieced together at the beginning of the Broad Street and the adjacent alleys. Among the most beautiful buildings - Russian, Serbian, British, French, Greek and Austrian consulates.

The legacy of the Ottoman era is the Old Bazaar mentioned above, several mosques and the Turkish Hammam. The old market once numbered more than three thousand shops and was considered the largest in the Balkans; today there are about seventy of them left. Among the most interesting mosques is Novaya, built in the middle of the 16th century, with a 40-meter-long minaret and an imposing central dome 19 meters in diameter. Now there is a city art gallery. Also worth seeing is the mosque of Isak-bek and Adjara-kadi and visit the Turkish hammam of the 17th century.

The main temple of Bitola is consecrated in honor of Saint Demetrius. It is a three-nave basilica with five chapels and large choirs, interesting above all with a magnificent iconostasis of the 19th century, rich in frescoes and skilful wood carvings. A miniature church of the Holy Virgin (19 in) is famous for its fantastic beauty with a carved wooden iconostasis.

Ruins of Heraclea

Ruins of ancient Heracleia are on the outskirts of Bitola .The city was founded in 4 BC, but most of the surviving buildings date to the Roman and Byzantine periods .Here you can see the ruins of the theater, two fountains, administrative buildings, a therma, a priest's house and two early basil .The pearl of Heraclea is a magnificent 5-th century mosaic depicting the world map according to the version of that time .It uses natural stones of 27 shades .More colors can be seen only on the mosaics of Pompey .In a small museum exhibited artifacts from excavations and the layout of Heracleia during its heyday .