Hey there :) It's me again, back to the little Mediterranean island, Malta.
During this post, I will be taking you on a journey towards a small region of Macedonia called Berovo and Canyon Matka. I had never thought of going to Macedonia until one of the airlines connecting from Malta added them to their trip list and so the planning began. This time round we decided we needed a relaxing trip rather than an
adventurous one. After some research I came across this small town of Berovo and this amazzzingg hotel called
Aurora resort and spa, which is heaven for peace and tranquility.
The flight from Malta is rather short a two hour flight. As soon as we where getting of the plane, we realized that we had taken the first trip from Malta to Macedonia, as we were greeted with a red carpet, sparkling wine and nibbles. The journey from the airport to this resort is a long drive of three and a half hours. The first bit of the drive is a great drive with some amazing views. Half way during the drive we made a small pit stop to stretch our legs and buy some nibbles. Berovo is not a town where you find the hustle and bustle of a city center, on the contrary it is a calm and quiet town.
The resort is about a 10 minutes drive away from Berovo center and is situated in a very tranquil area overlooking Lake Berovo and the surrounding forest. Upon entering the gates of the resort you are welcomed with endless amount of tress, peacefullnes and that feel of serenity. The resort covers five hectares of natural landscapes and gorgeous views wherever you look at. All the rooms are surrounding an impeccable infinity pool with breath-taking mountain views, some of the rooms also enjoy the views of Lake Berovo. The pool is also heated, which is perfect for when it is a bit chilly. This creates an affect with mist coming up from the pool. The views surrounding the pool definitely make it one of a kind and something not to miss. Right next to the pool, there is also a pool bar which serves a different selection of cocktails. The resort is a five star resort which also shows in the rooms, the rooms are well sized and nicely decorated. The only downside with the rooms was that there are no AC's. It being a five star resort, Macedonian people is considered to be for the wealthy ones, however it is roughly the normal price of a hotel in the Western Europe. The food of the hotel is also delicious and with a large selection of different Macedonian traditional food. Obviously since you are eating in a five star hotel the price of the food is almost triple then what you pay for when eating out in the town center. The resort also owns some horses which kids can ride at a small fee and adults can pet. There are also other things which you can enjoy like a nice spa massage, a table-tennis and renting a bike.
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| Gorgeous infinity pool |
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| 360 degrees mountain views |
Since the resort is hidden in the mountains, we had some unexpected rains and thunderstorms on several days, with it this brings some great scenes of cloud formation and the mist movement around the mountains and hills, which was a great to see and also for me very relaxing, since I do love this kind of weather.
Lake Berovo
From the resort there are ample of ways where you can go, the obvious one is to go for a walk near the lake. Lake Berovo is 7km long and surrounded by forest trees and plants. Many locals go swimming and kayaking along the lake. We walked for over 3 hours and didn't even walk half of the lake. It is perfect for hiking. From the hotel you can also rent bicycles which you can ride and enjoy breath-taking views. You can cycle either towards the town or else cycle around the lake from the road, which is a rather quiet road with very few cars. Along the road while cycling we came across two vendors which where selling traditional liquors and jams, if you come across any, I do suggest buying one of their jams it is really delicious.
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| Lake Berovo |
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| Around Berovo with the bike |
Not far away from the resort lies a little town called, Berovo Town. People here are known for there skills at wood crafting works. Even some of the houses are nicely built. Unfortunately most homes are in an abandoned. While there we had the opportunity to talk to one of the locals who could speak English and explained to us that all the youngsters are moving out of this town since there is not much which one can do and the town is left with a small population, where most of them are elderlies. In Berovo there is also a very nice monastry, while entering you pay a small donation fee. All women must wrap around a piece of drape to make it look like wearing skirts as it is tradition that ladies do not wear trousers. While walking around Berovo there was a number of cafetieres, pubs and restaurants. Food is very cheap and their meat is also good. They have these kebabs called kebapcinja like small kebabs which are really good, most of there meet is grilled like you find in Bulgaria. I also would recommend their roast potatoes as they add some additional ingredient which are super delicious. The taxi trip from the Hotel down to Berovo town center is around 2.50Euro round trip.
Not so far away from the resort there is an amazing place called Pehčevo waterfalls, which is close to the Bulgarian border. This is roughly 30mins away from the resort. Pehčevo waterfalls are found within a forest called the Maleševo forest. To arrive there we rented out a cab driver to take us there and wait for us while we walked around. It was a good thing we asked the cab driver to wait for us as there is no mobile receptions there. There are a number of different waterfalls in Pehčevo, around 7, all of different sizes. The walk is really great,surrounded by long trees and the sound of water running which makes it more relaxing. There are also a lot of tables set up which make it the ideal place for picnics. Walking through it we came across several signs of wild boar, we didn't see any boars walking through the forest.
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| Maleševo Forest |
After 6 beautiful relaxing days in the Auror resort, relaxing by the pool and touring some other places we then moved to
Canyon Matka. Canyon Matka is on its way to Alexander the Great Airport, roughly 40 minutes drive. You can visit this place for a day or for a couple of days. I do suggest at least three days. If you plan on staying there for more then one day there is the Canyon Matka hotel, nothing extraordinary but it is comfortable. The restaurant is great, with a little feel of silver service. Food is excellent with a nice choice of refreshing drinks and cocktails for during the day.
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| Canyon Matka |
This place is made up of a beautiful gorge and there are some beautiful things to see like monasteries (BE worn...long, steepy walk ahead), churches and caves. Along side the Canyon there is a nice long walk with breathtaking views. They do say you can go for bike rides but I do not suggest any bike rides here specially in the peak season (summer) as there is a lot of people walking and the walk way is very narrow.
There are several number of caves along the gorge one of them is underwater and considered to be the larges in Europe. One of the caves is accessible via a short boat trip. The cave is not that big but it is a pretty nice thing to see and while on the boat you continue to explore the gorge and see different views. In the cave on can hear a number of bats who actually live in it, in-face most of the cave is not light up. The tour is roughly an hour long including the boat ride. You can also hire a kayak or canoe and ride along the gorge.
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| Kayaking along the gorge |
Apart from the bike rides, kayaking and boat ride you can also go hiking right across the canyon Matka hotel. You need to get a boat or swim to cross on the other side of the lake. There is a steep uphill walk which is roughly around 30 to 40 mins (depending how fast or slow you are ;p) Once you manage to walk it you will arrive at the most beautiful and peaceful place, where yo find the Matka church called St. Nikola Shishevski, which is dedicated to the Holy Mother of God. This church once formed part of a monastery called Sveti Andrea. At this point you can either keep walking or else go back down. We decided we wanted to get a bit higher so we kept on walking up a tiny narrow windy uphill road, but the walk and fatigue was all worth it as as you arrive to the highest part of the mountain you see endless amount of views surrounding you 360 degrees.
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| Amazing views |
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| Far far away |
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| Step Narrow passage way to make it up |
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| Dead tired |
I never thought Macedonia was such a beautiful country and after speaking to some people and showing them some pictures they were also surprise about it and said "I would have never picked Macedonia as my holiday destination". I hope after seeing this blog I changed your mind. Macedonia has some amazing places to visit and is also considered as a cheap county.
Anyone of you visited Macedonia? What other places surprised you?
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