Magarevo to Jorgov Kamen in Pelister National park

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This is a pleasant and relaxed hike of 10 km with about 700 m climbing on Baba Mountain in Pelister National Park. It starts in the village Magarevo and takes you to the Jorgov Kamen peak (1734 m), which is more a viewpoint than a peak.

What made this hike so nice in the hot summer of 2023 was the cool pine forest and the beautiful “rivers of stone” that are so characteristic for Pelister National Park.

Super coincidentally, we met the person who made the original GPS track that we were following during this hike (https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/magarevo-jorgov-kamen-133277877#)! Vasko, thanks for your nice company and enthusiastic stories about mushrooms and your many bear encounters in Pelister National Park!

Magarevo is a village about 10 km from Bitola. Magarevo was on the front line in the First World War and badly burned and damaged during this time. On Baba mountain many remains in the form of trenches and ruins from the First World war can be found. There are two churches from the 19th century in the village that we visited after the hike.

After about 2.5 through good smelling pine forest and following a small stream you reach the first and most beautiful “stone river”.

You steadily climb your way up to the peak Jorgov Kamen. From here you have a nice view of Bitola, although I must say seeing all this civilization so close by slightly disturbed the “nature bubble” we were in.

When you walk downhill again after Jorgov Kamen you’ll pass numerous trenches and ruins from the First World War, including a bomb near the end of the hike.

Back in Magarevo we were lazy and took the car to the Church of St Dimitrij (St Demetrius) which was built in 1834. In terms of dimension and time of construction the church is similar to the Church of St Dimitri in Bitola. During the First World War the church was destroyed and nothing of the interior remained. The inventory and valuable iconostasis were dismantled by the Bulgarian army in an unsuccessful attempt to take them to Bulgaria. The iconostasis was placed in the Church of St Bogorodica in Bitola.

The Church of St George (Sveti Gjorgji), including a small chapel with a spring is at walking distance of the Church of St Dimitrij. St George was built in 1871 and used to be a female monastery (nunnery). The dormitories were destroyed during the First World War.

On our way back to Bitola we drove through the village Trnovo where we visited the Church of St Bogorodica. In 1837 a church was built in the yard of the present church. During the First World War, in 1916, the church was completely destroyed. The present church was built in the period from 1926-1934, the iconostasis is from 1936.

All three churches were closed when we visited them.

This enjoyable hike gets 4 out of 5 stars.