Bitola & Heraclea Lyncestis

Roman mosaics and the city of consuls

Bitola was the 'city of consuls', the Ottoman Empire's diplomatic hub in the region, and it still carries itself that way — Širok Sokak, its long pedestrian street, runs between neoclassical façades to a lively old bazaar. This is Macedonia's café culture at its most confident.

On the city's edge lie the ruins of Heraclea Lyncestis, founded by Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC. Its Roman theatre still stages summer performances, and its early-Christian basilica floors hold some of the finest preserved mosaics in the Balkans.