From Mariovo to the World: Promoting My Homeland the Right Way

If you're looking for a destination in the Balkans where you can be completely isolated, our suggestion is to visit the Mariovo region this summer. Today, Mariovo is one of the least populated regions in the Balkans.

Mariovo is located in the south of Macedonia. It has always been home to Macedonians of Christian faith, and their traditions, costumes, customs, and cultural and folkloric heritage are widely renowned.

If you visit Mariovo today and encounter a local traveling along one of the rural paths, they will surely tell you the legend of Princess Maria, known as Mara Sultania, the daughter of a Christian ruler, who was given by her family to serve as the wife of the Sultan.

However, due to a twist of fate, she returns to live in Macedonia, in a region that today the Sultan names as Marina Zemja or "Mariovo."

You will hear many such legends, and they are best told by the local population, who still live and contribute to the Mariovo region.

One of the great local promoters of the region is Mitko Krstevski. He is now part of our list of local heroes who do small things with great significance in the development of tourism.

Mitko is always up for a good conversation. Despite the busy preparations for the upcoming summer season, he sat down with us for a coffee and shared the current developments and the direction in which things are progressing in the region.

He is the owner of an ethno restaurant and accommodation in the village of Zovic, which we call the new tourist magnet. The village of Zovic is located in the central part of the Mariovo region. It is situated on a rocky plateau right above the left bank of the Gradeshka River. Near the village is the famous Zovicki Bridge over the Gradeshka River, which originates and flows from the Nidze Mountain, entering the beautiful rocky gorge that today brings visitors to Mitko.

We found him at his ethno house and restaurant, "At the Bridge in Zovic Village," where he was preparing homemade sheep cheese. His first words, accompanied by laughter, were that there are around 2,500 sheep in the village, all ready to provide milk for many tourists in the coming months.

He spent a full four hours preparing the cheese, and he explained that the process starts with adding the rennet and continues with a 40-day aging process.

Mitko hopes that in the upcoming season, he will welcome a much larger number of tourists compared to last year, and that everyone will have the chance to taste the cheese he prepares. He has already received bookings from foreign tourists, which have encouraged him to plant gardens with local fruits so he can present the region in the way it deserves.

According to him, the tourists who started visiting were the main reason he focused on investing in and renovating the building, which in the past served as a local shop. He recalls the first day he opened the restaurant, when there was only a mountain dirt road leading to it.

Today, unlike before, Mitko says that things have changed. Foreign tourists are impressed by the organization, the climate, the pleasant altitude, the bridge near the ethno house, and most of all, the food.

The food is prepared exclusively in the old traditional way, just as his grandmother and grandfather used to make it in the past. Most of the ingredients are sourced directly from the garden in Zovic, while the meat comes from local farmers.

According to him, tourists particularly love the homemade yogurt, fresh cheese with garlic, macalo, salads, and other dishes that are authentic to the region.

In addition to the gastronomic experiences, Mariovo is a region with countless unique locations where many Macedonian feature films have been shot. Of particular importance are the films by Milcho Manchevski, which have been showcased at numerous international film festivals.

The Mariovo region, as Mitko puts it, is an excellent area for active tourism. Every year, a cycling and hiking tour passes over the old bridge as part of the Mariovo Off-Road Experience. These trails are 11 kilometers long, or about 3 hours of walking, crossing the Gradeshka and Satoka rivers. The village of Zovic is connected to the village of Manastir in the Prilep part of Mariovo, and there are many old churches and monasteries in the area dating back to the Middle Ages.