Things to see and do Matka Canyon

This elegant Orthodox monastery (Манастир Матка/Manastir Matka) is occupied by nuns famous for their textile workshop: liturgical vestments for the clergy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, embroidered icons, but also handbags with folk or modern designs. Founded around 1337, the complex is dedicated to the dormition of the Mother of God. It consists of a large, well-kept garden and buildings from different periods, including a beautiful little church dating from 1497. The church contains remarkable frescoes from the ^15th and ^16th centuries.

This small Orthodox church (Црква Свети Андреја/Crkva Sveti Andreja) preserves its beautiful frescoes painted shortly after the building's construction in 1389. The most remarkable are those of the Passion of Christ cycle: the Last Supper, the Descent from the Cross and the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. Dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, the church was built for the Serbian lord Andrijaš Mrnjavčević (c. 1340-1395), brother of Prince Marko, who ruled Greater Macedonia at the time.

Matka Canyon is part of this nature reserve (Резерват Јасен/Reservat Jansen). Created in 1958, this one covers 31,127 ha (311 ^km2) along the Treska River with superb scenery between the artificial Kozjak lake and the Matka canyon. It includes several entrances and marked hiking trails in the mountains on either side of the river. However, the website of the organization in charge of the reserve is in Macedonian only.

This beautiful artificial lake (Езеро Матка/Ezero Matka) extends over 50 ^km2 and 10 km in length in the Matka canyon. This owes its name to its narrowness, which evoked for the ancient inhabitants a... womb(матка/matka in Macedonian). It was created on the river Treska with the construction of a dam and a hydroelectric plant in 1937. The Treska river has its source in the small Stogovo massif, near Mavrovo and the Albanian border. It then joins the Vardar north of Skopje, after a 132 km run. It forms here a lake with superb landscapes. This one is enclosed between impressive cliffs falling sometimes on more than 1 000 m height. If the place is very touristic, it is also an important biological reserve, not so much in the water itself but on the banks and on the edge of the cliffs where live for example astonishing lizards with the blue neck. The area around the lake is also home to 77 endemic species of butterflies and 20% of the flora is also endemic, meaning that certain plants and flowers are found almost exclusively here. The ten or so caves in the canyon are home to several colonies of bats.

Canoeing, boat touring or hiking. The northern part of the lake is easy to discover by water or on foot. Rental companies offer canoes, kayaks or paddles. Most visitors are satisfied with a short crossing to picnic areas not far from the tourist area. There are also excursion boats to the Vrelo cave, a natural wonder rich in stalactites, stalagmites and bats... which are constantly disturbed by groups of tourists. After this cave, the waters are suitable for swimming: the lake is quite cool, but it is much cleaner here than downstream, near the tourist area. Finally, the lake can also be discovered on foot by paths along the cliffs. These are quite steep and require good shoes, but they allow to visit medieval churches and small orthodox monasteries perched on the heights. There are also beautiful views of the canyon and the two small mountains that surround it: Mount Osoj (1,401 m), to the north, and Mount Suva (1,857 m), to the south. There are also trails under Mount Osoj. These are not marked, but in theory they allow to reach the other end of the lake of Matka 10 km to the southwest. Here the Treska forms another artificial lake, the Kozjak lake (13 km2), located 39 km east of Gostivar.

This museum (Изложбениот Центар Матка/Izložbeniot Centar Matka, Matka Exhibition Center) is housed in the former Matka Dam power plant commissioned in 1938. Managed by the private power company EVN AD Skopje (a subsidiary of the Austrian EVN Group), it presents in a didactic and interactive way the operation of the power plant, the history of the country's electricity network and the process of electricity production in general. Great visit with children.

Dedicated to St. Nicholas, this Orthodox monastery (Шишевски Манастир/Šiševski Manastir) is located at about 480 m above sea level, 160 m above the lake. Occupied by a monk who sometimes offers coffee or a glass of rakija, it was built around a Serbo-Byzantine church built around 1345, probably by Prince Marko. Some original frescoes remain (hermit saints and warrior saints), but most of the decoration dates from the ^16th century. Among the scenes of the life of St. Nicholas, note the female characters with particularly generous breasts.