Bitola

(Macedonian: Битола)

Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia.

It is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonija valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidze mountains, 14 km north of the Medžitlija-Niki border crossing with Greece. It is an important junction connecting the south of the Adriatic Sea with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe. It is known from the Ottoman period as "the city of the consuls", as many European countries had consulates in Bitola. According to some sources Bitola is the second largest town in the country and by others the third. Bitola is also centre of the Bitola municipality.

The city is dispersed along the banks of the Dragor river at an altitude of 2,019 ft (615 m) above sea level under Baba Mountain. Spreading on an area of 1,798 km². and with a population of 122,173 (1991), Bitola is an important industrial, agricultural, commercial, educational, and cultural centre. It represents an important junction that connects the South of the Adriatic Sea with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe. Bitola has one of the oldest and most prestigious theatres in the country.

Traditionally a strong trading centre, Bitola is also known as the city of the consuls. At one time during the Ottoman rule, Bitola had consulates from twelve countries. During the same period, there were a number of prestigious schools in the city including a military academy that, among others, was attended by the famous Turkish reformer Kemal Athaturk. Bitola was also the headquarter of many cultural organizations that were established at that time.

Baba Mountain overlooks Bitola from the east. Its magnificent Pelister mountain (2601 m) is a national park with exquisite flora and fauna, and a well-known ski resort.

• Number of inhabitants: City 122.173 in 1991
• Area: city 422.39 km, municipality 1.798 km²
• Geographic position: 41°01′55″N 21°20′05
• Altitude: 615 m
• Climate: Continental
• Average temperature: highs around 30°C, lows around – 4.5 °C, extremes well known for this region, sometimes - 25°C in the winter or over 45°C in the winter
• Time zone: Central European Time (GMT +1)
• Postal Code: 7000
• Local area code: 047

If you’re a fun of “good kitchen” you’ll certainly find it here.

Plenty of restaurants along the main street “Sirok Sokak” (Wide street), will offer you all kind of specialities, people have tradition to prepare and serve a nice dish for you. Even today Bitola has “a brotherhood relation” to many cities from all over the world (Epinal from France, Rijeka from Croatia, Bursa from Turkey, Rockdale from Australia are just some of them), so you may order every kind of food that you like, you’ll have it soon in front of you.

You don’t have to walk so far to find all this beauty, just take a look around you, hotel Epinal is in the centre, not far from it, you’ll meet several Traditional Macedonian houses, a lot of pizzerias and many other restaurants in a small central circle will wish you welcome.

The Bitola area is very rich in monuments from the prehistoric period. Two important ones are Velushka Tumba, and Tumba Bara near the village of Porodin. From the Copper Age there are the settlements of Tumba near the village of Crnobuki, Shuplevec near the village of Suvodol and Visok Rid near the village of Bukri. The Bronze Age is represented by the settlements of Tumba near the village of Kanino and the settlement with the same name near the village of Karamani.

There are important metal artifacts from the ancient period, from the necropolis of Crkvishte near the village of Beranci. Heraclea Lyncestis (City of Hercules upon the Land of the Lynx) is an important settlement from the Hellenistic period till the Middle Ages. It was founded by Philip II of Macedon by the middle of the 4th century BC, and named after the Greek demigod Heracles, whom Philip considered his ancestor. As an important strategic point it became a prosperous city but the archaeological remains of this period are not widely researched. The Romans conquered this part of Macedon in 148 BC and destroyed the political power of the city. The prosperity continued mainly due to the Roman Via Egnatia road which passed near the city. Several monuments from the Roman times remain in Heraclea, including a portico, thermae (baths), an amphitheatre and a number of basilicas. The theatre was once capable to house around 3,000 people.

In the 6th and 7th century the region around Monastiri experienced a demographic shift as more and more Slavic tribes settled in the area. They also built a defence fortress around the settlement. Monastiri was conquered and remained part of the First Bulgarian Empire from late 8th to early 11th century. The spreading of Christianity was assisted by St. Clement of Ohrid and Naum of Preslav in the 9th and early 10th century. Many monasteries and churches were built in the city.

From late 14th century to 1912, Monastir (now Bitola) was part of the Ottoman Empire. Strong battles took place near the city during the arrival of Turkish forces. Turkish rule was completely established after the death of Prince Marko in 1395. For several centuries, Turks were a majority in this city, while the villages were populated mostly with Macedonian Slavs. Evlia Celebia says in his Book of Travels that the city had 70 mosques, several coffee-tea rooms, a bazaar (market) with iron gates and 900 shops. Monastir became a sanjak centre in the Rumeli eyalet (Ottoman province).

n 1912, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece fought the Ottomans in the First Balkan War. According to the Treaty of Bucharest, 1913, the region of Macedonia was divided in 3 parts among Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians. Bitola was to be in Bulgaria, according to a pre-war alliance agreement between Bulgaria and Serbia. But on 18 September 1912 the Serbian army entered the city and refused to hand it to Bulgaria. From that moment, the city started to lose its importance and the population started rapidly decreasing, emigrating for Bulgaria and the New World.

During World War I Bitola was on the Thessaloniki front line. In 1915 Bulgarian forces took the city and the Serb forces were forced to either surrender or try a dangerous escape through the Albanian mountains. In 1916, Bitola was occupied by the Allied Powers which entered the city from the South fighting the Bulgarian army. Bitola was divided into French, Russian, Italian and Serbian regions, under the command of French general Sarrail. Until Bulgaria's surrender in late autumn 1918, Bitola remained a front line city and was almost every day bombarded by airplanes and battery and suffered almost total destruction.

During the World War II (1941-1945), the Germans and later Bulgarians took control of the city. But in September 1944, Bulgaria switched sides in the war and withdrew from Yugoslavia, and Bitola was occupied by Macedonian Pro-Tito Partisans. On 4 November, the 7th Macedonian Liberation Brigade entered Bitola victoriously. After the end of the war, a Macedonian state was established for the first time in history, within Yugoslavia. This had cost about 25.000 human lives. In 1945, the first Gymnasium (high school) "Josip Broz Tito", using the Macedonian language, was opened in Bitola. After the Expulsion of 1492, Spanish-speaking Jews harassed and persecuted by the Inquisition, arrived in waves from the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal). A majority settled in Thessalonica, but a large community grew in Monastir and made up over ten percent of the city's population in 1900. The local Jewish population referred to themselves as Monastirli, and a Monastirli synagogue exists to this day in modern Thessalonica.

There was little evidence of anti-Semitism among other local communities. The Jews and the Aromanians were the only communities who did not make a national claim on Macedonian territory and were generally seen as neutral in these disputes.

Most Jews of Monastir were murdered during the Holocaust, and few remain in the city.

Well, Bitola is not a sport centre of the world, although it had very nice pre-dispositions to become that in “former times”. You may meet a lot of courts and places for sport in poor condition, although there are some new, which were built recently.

If you are a bike-man the satisfaction for you will come when taking a look over the town and see the Baba mountain and Pelister, the highest top on it. You may ride your bike up to the hotel Molika, placed on 1.400 metres above sea, take a deep breath there and make some nice circles in the National park. And, as you ask them what “Molika” means, they will explain you about this very rear pine tree with five needles (leaves) on the end of the branch (usually they have four), you will feel the smell of the untouched nature here.

And if you decide to take a walk up to Pelister on 2.601 metres, you may make your choice by taking the trace leading you to the mountain house Kopanki first, and then the “rocky trace” will bring you to the top. “Only” 17.5 km nice mountain walk, meeting the two Pelister Eyes (two glacier lakes under the top), and you can take a glance on Prespa Lake under you. The alternative is to engage some of the jeeps in hotel Molika, which will shake your kidneys but safely bring you to Pelister. And still, the ski terrain that needs some “little” repairs will attract your attention.

Just like Skopje or Ohrid, Bitola can offer you a “night excitement” which is not so far from many west European cities, may be not in that number, but the night bars are on that level for sure.

• By car: 185 km far from Skopje (about 3 hours drive),
• By plane: www.airports.com.mk (Skopje)
• By bus: www.sas.com.mk (Skopje)
• By train:

You’ll be certainly surprised when you come here and notice how many places are good to be seen and visited. First of all, the ancient Heraclea Lyncestis – touch some roots, The Wide Street, The Small Monmartre - a unique place in the world, you’ll meet so young and so great painters in this old little house, the Church of St. Dimitrius with its wonderful icon-stage, a number of things that will keep you here.