Bitola

Bitola stands on the Dragor River at the edge of the Pelagonian plain, beneath the heights of Baba Mountain. Its Slavic name is related to the word for a monastery, recalling the religious houses of the medieval town. Under Ottoman rule it was known as Manastır and grew into a center of commerce, with mosques, inns and a busy bazaar serving the surrounding country.

In 1506 the judge Ishak Çelebi endowed a mosque near the market and the river. His foundation also mentioned the shops of the covered market, or bezisten, where merchants traded valuable goods. In the 17th century the traveler Evliya Çelebi described a substantial town with hundreds of shops. Its merchants and craftsmen drew on the roads through Pelagonia, linking the plain with other cities of the Ottoman Balkans.