Struga (Струга) city, Macedonia

Struga is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia with 16,559 inhabitants (2002).

It lies along the northern shore of the Ohrid lake, where the river Crni Drim flows out of the lake, at an altitude of 696 m. Struga occupies an area of 510 ha.

The highway M-4 connects Struga via Kicevo and Gostivar to Skopje and with the main road M-5 with Ohrid and Bitola. On 7 km from Struga the Ohrid Airport St. Apostole Paul is located.

The climate is temperate continental with an average annual air temperature of 10.9 ° C (50 F), and an average annual precipitation amount of 812 mm.

Struga was an old fishing settlement since ancient times. Its original name was is “Enhalon” which means eel.

Slavs renamed the city in Struga meaning “hunting” or comes from the word “straga” which means crossing.

Under the name Struga, the city is first mentioned in the Byzantine monuments of the XI century. Then the city was visited by the traveler Anna Comnena, which named the settlement “City of 100 Bridges,” because at the time of Tsar Samuel the flow of Crni Drim river was regulated and many crossing bridges were built.

Struga at the time of the Turkish rule was known as a marketplace for grain, which was exported in Albania.

In the area “Panagyurishte” in Struga, twice a year was held the famous Struga Fair. Between the two world wars, as border place, Struga lost the previous functions and in 1931, 3.587 people lived in it.

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The city starts its faster development in the second half of the last century.

The town of Struga is the seat of the Municipality of Struga, which covers an area of 48,300 ha, has 51 settlements with 63,376 inhabitants.

In economic terms, the city is considered a major tourist destination with more modern hotels and restaurants. It has developed textile, metal, and food industry. Struga also has a gymnasium, health center, Museum of Natural History and modern home culture, which maintains the international event “Struga Poetry Evenings”.

Struga is the birthplace of the brothers Dimitri and Konstantin Miladinov and academic painter Vangel Kodzoman. In their honor in the city, there is a Memorial house of “Miladinov Brothers” and the art gallery “Vangel Kodzoman”.