Lazaropole - Mavrovo & Rostuse

Lazaropole, Mavrovo & Rostusa municipality, Macedonia - When traveling from Skopje via Tetovo and Gostivar and continuing to Mavrovo, you are entering a picturesque canyon of the river Radika leading to Debar. Passing by the impressive monastery St. Jovan the Baptist the road reaches to the crossroad known as Boshkov Most, only several kilometers near Debar. Here turning left by well asphalt road at approximately 5 km you start mounting by winding road leading you to the heights of the mountain Bistra.

Already feeling like you have reached the skies, at a height of 1.350 meters above the sea level, a vast plateau widens in front of you, where at its rocky components, two and three floor houses appear, build of stone and reminding on middle-aged fortresses.

In the heart of such precise architectural organization welcomes you Kalin Hotel in Lazaropole.

Lazaropole (Kalin hotel on the right)

Lazaropole (Macedonian: Лазарополе) is situated on a plateau at Mount Bistra and is a mountain heaven in Macedonia. The mild mountain climate due to the thermal influences of the Mediterranean which extend along the river of Radika is a reason for Lazaropole to have over 2000 sunny hours per year. The abundant forests as a natural filter purify the air to the level of crystal clarity. As a result, Lazaropole is officially registered as a location with the freshest air on the Balkan Peninsula.

The village is named after a local medieval hero, Lazar, who according to legend was the sole survivor of a Turkish attack on his village. The rest of the townspeople were killed in a cave where they had sought refuge, while Lazar, the only survivor, crawled outside and built a new town.

There are about 400 houses in the village. The older ones reveal the traces of the Mijaci highland building style. The village was the birthplace of numerous authors, educators, carvers, teachers, fresco and icon painters, and constructors.
The village church of St. Gjorgi as unique landmark accompanies the pictorial sight of the village of Lazaropole. It is built in 1841 with colossal dimensions and surrounded by fortress walls of carved stone four meters high. The interior of the church is a masterwork of the famous local Dimitrie Perkoski (Dicho Zograf), from the mijach village Tresonche.
The traditional Macedonian folk dance Teškoto (The hard dance) is from the area of Lazaropole.