If you were to experience the Radika River and its "wrestle" with the 40km long canyon, one of Macedonia’s most picturesque areas, you would need more than a day.

This area's population is a religious and ethnic mix, consisting of Macedonians (Mijaci), Macedonian Muslims (known as Torbesh), Muslim Albanians, and Orthodox Albanians (known as Shkret). You will therefore come across both churches and mosques and both Macedonian and Albanian folk costumes, but all of them united under the common denominator -- Radika -- a wild emerald beauty. Its upper flow is frolicking, wild, and narrow, because it shapes its bed through the rocks of Mt. Korab. Its lower flow is somewhat wider and calmer, as the terrain allows it.

Head towards Tresonce, which once had a village and now a restaurant that offers, as its specialty, the best hominy with thick home-made yoghurt. Further uphill, towards Nicpur and Strezimir, the narrow asphalt road will stretch amid breathtaking scenery on both sides of the Radika. Even further up from Strezimir, towards the pastures, there is a mountain dairy that produces the famous and pricey Korab yellow cheese in a traditional way. Coming down the hill towards Rostuse, Bituse, Zirovnica, and Velebrdo, you will see Radika’s lower reaches. In the vicinity of Rostuse is the picturesque waterfall Duv, which you can now reach through new access roads and little wooden bridges. Across from Rostuse is probably the most beautiful Macedonian monastery -- St. Jovan Bigorski. Further on towards Debar, near the village of Kosovrasti and its thermal springs, the Radika flows into the turquoise of the man-made Lake Debar.

Following the lake shore, you will reach the lake’s deepest point of 90 meters at the Spilje dam, behind which is the border with neighboring Albania. Not far from here is a tavern, built on the very shore and ideal for vacations. This is precisely where you can see the Radika and Crn Drim Rivers join and leave Macedonia together, through the dam.

On the left-hand side of the road, before Debar, is the nuns' monastery of St. Gjorgji the Victorious, or Rajcica, which offers an unrepeatable view of the lake. There is a motel near the restaurant in Tresonce.    You could also try getting the
blessing of Father Partenij, an abbot in St. Jovan Bigorski, to stay in the monastery lodgings. With his blessing, Rajcica is available for accommodation only to women. The villagers are hospitable, too.

Source: Zena