Location: Strumica
Top Things to do in Strumica
Top Restaurants in Strumica
What to do and see in Strumica, Republic of Macedonia: The Best Places and Tips
Strumica (Macedonian: Струмица [ˈstrumit͡sa] ( listen)) is the largest city in eastern Republic of Macedonia, near the Novo Selo-Petrich border crossing with Bulgaria. About 100,000 people live in the region surrounding the city. It is named after the Strumica River which runs through it. The city of Strumica is the seat of Strumica Municipality.
Restaurants in Strumica
1. Kolesino Falls
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 20 reviews
Reviewed By Kemeny
Amazing nature, isolated and well preserved, popular among tourists and for picnik. There are a lot of benches, providing place to rest. Difficult to find, as not many signs are used to provide direction, but your GPS can help. I suggest to visit Smolare waterfall in the neighbourhood, what is a little bit nicer and more exciting (5star).
2. Monastery of Bogorodica
Overall Ratings
5 based on 9 reviews
Reviewed By ELear - Ancona, Italy
The name means the Holy Mother of God, the Merciful.
This small, ancient (11th century, I think) Byzantine monastery is famous all over Macedonia, and attracts many pilgrims. The frescoes and mosaics in the cool, dark inside are fascinating - one is of a twelve year old Jesus - and there's a breathtakingly beautiful icon of the Virgin and Child.
At least one of the nuns speaks fluent English.
The monastery Gardens are wonderful. To my mind the ancient decorative brickwork here is even lovelier than in Gracanica, perhaps because the building is so much more modest in size.
3. Monastery of St Leontius
Overall Ratings
5 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By ELear - Ancona, Italy
I went to St Leontius mainly to see the frescoes, but for some reason there wasn't anybody about and I didn't go inside. (The taxi driver would have gone in in any case, but I didn't think it would be right.) Anyway, it gave me more time to wander round the beautiful Gardens (more extensive than at Sv. Bogdorica, and even greener) and to enjoy the decorative brickwork on the older parts of the complex.
(If possible go when the sun is very low in the sky, bringing out the warmth of the bricks and stones and tiles, making the ancient walls and roofs glow.)
And I enjoyed the journey there too - the enormous storks' nests on the telegraph poles, the taxi-driver explaining how you could tell whether a church was Methodist or Orthodox (with one, the tower is detached from the main building, with the other not), the lanes of the Roma village just before we got to the monastery, another village where the postmaster opened the post-office to sell me some stamps....
I'll go again, and this time I'll see the frescoes.
4. Belasica Mountain
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 6 reviews
Reviewed By ELear - Ancona, Italy
Belasica - actually a chain of Mountains, on the border between Macedonia and Bulgaria - is an area of great natural beauty and interest - trees and wild flowers (wild strawberries too, if you're lucky!), bears, wolves, and pure air. The highest peaks, I believe, are above 6000 feet (only for the fit), but there are easy marked trails lower down.
Many people come to see the highest waterfall in Macedonia, Smolare Waterfall. Unlike the falls at Kolesino, Smolare is a single, dramatic plunge. There's a viewing platform at Smolare too.
Every visitor to Macedonia will have heard the story of Tsar Sasmoil's defeat by the Emperor of Byzantium. It happened on Mount Belasica. Next year will be the thousandth anniversary.
5. Strumica Museum
Overall Ratings
4 based on 5 reviews
Reviewed By ELear - Ancona, Italy
It's a modern museum, mainly covering the archaeology and history of the district, with material from prehistory, classical, mediaeval and Ottoman times and the Balkan wars, right down to the twentieth century. Well thought-out, well-lit, uncluttered displays, and friendly staff.
Appropriately, for a place with the amazing ethnic diversity of present-day Strumica, there's also a fascinating ethnological section.
If you'd like a guided tour, it might be best to give them a ring before (034 345925).
6. Monospitskoto Bog
Overall Ratings
4 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By ELear - Ancona, Italy
The Monospitovsko Blato is an area of wetland ("blato" means "marsh"), devoted to conservation, nature and eco-tourism, with distinctive long wooden jetty-like plank platforms built out over the marsh for bird-watching and fishing, and an incredibly rich variety of wildlife - insects, flowers, fish, birds, lizards, mammals, amphibians... - some I believe unique to this place. (I was told there are even spiders that eat fish.) Very highly recommended for anyone interested in nature - anyone at all in fact. Afterwards you can go and have a raki and a chat with the local people in the square in Monospitovo village, which is a pleasant, peaceful little place too.
(Monospitovo is where Boris Trajkovski, once the President of Macedonia, was born. He was a Methodist minister, I believe for a Roma parish. Methodism is quite strong in this area - there's a Methodist church in Kolesino too, for example, where I'm sure that anyone wanting to attend a service would be welcome. The hymns have Macedonian words, of course, but the same familiar tunes as in England.)
7. Jumping Clay
Unique combination of children's workshop and creative cafeteria for parents and young people, with the cause learn through play, where the emphasis is placed on socialization, networking and interaction between people, through various educational events, creative birthday parties, karaoke, co-working, workshops, meetings and board games nights in warm and pleasant atmosphere.
