Project description
With the aim of spreading the culture of reading, the local private library organizes a competition of children literature works and a local party at which rewarded works, traditional crafts, skills, and traditional meals will be presented. The library will be equipped, some of the valuable books are going to be conserved, and the library stocks will be categorized and systematically arranged so as to make it more easily accessible to readers. Through the library, local people will be promoting, as well as some traditional handicrafts and the culture of reading.
Contact
Readers’ Club “Albi”, Babino Selo, Stevo Stepanovski, 070/443-539, 02/3117-207
 Location
Babino Selo, southwestern Macedonia.
About Babino Selo
Babino Selo belongs to the Demir Hisar municipality and is located at 45-kilometre distance from Bitola and 35-kilometre distance from Kicevo; it is linked to both towns with an asphalt road. It is situated on both banks of the Mala River, a tributary of the Crna River. The village is located at a height of 700 metres above the sea level, and has mild climate. The village is famous for its library used by local schools and various institutions from Skopje and from other towns.
 How to reach Babino Selo?
You can reach Babino Selo by car, via Bitola or Kicevo. There is a direct bus line from Skopje to Kicevo once a day (buses depart from Babino Selo to Skopje at 6 in the morning, and from Skopje to Babino Selo at 15.30 hours). From Bitola to Babino Selo, there are buses at 6, 11, 15, and 18 hours, and from Kicevo at 7, 14, and 16 hours
Where to stay overnight?
To stay overnight, you can use the B-category motel “Mladost” in Demir Hisar, or the inns at the monastery of St. Jovan Preteca at the village of Slepce. There is an initiative raised by the Institute for Agriculture and Food Technology, whose main office is going to be located in the nearby village of Sopotnica, to adapt village houses for the purpose of private accommodation in the villages of Babino, Bazernik, and Velmevci, as a pilot-project.
 Local specifics
The richness of flora and autochthonous species such as raspberry, plums, bilberries, cherries, sour cherries and other fruits, and of medicinal herbs of thyme, moss, and chamomile represents of the local specific features. Kind local people from the village will offer you several specialties: the “zelnik” pie made of leek baked under the “vrsnik” (a stone plate), “bakrdanik” with “prski”, dried peppers in various ways, fried meat on coals, river trout, sour cabbage with beech cane, and many others. You can try some of these specialties in a nearby restaurant with a fishpond. Local people are skillful in the processing of wood, weaving, embroidering and in other traditional skills. There is a restaurant with a fishpond in the village where you can try delicious fish specialties but also pies, salads, and other traditional dishes.
What can you see in the surroundings?
The Demir Hisar region is historically known for the Slepcevo literature, painting, and woodcarving centre including the monasteries of St. Nikola Toplicki near Babino Selo, and St. Antonij Aleksandriski next to the nearby village of Zurce. In Demir Hisar, you can visit the monument of fresco painting from the XVI- XVII century. |
