ÎLE DE GOLEM GRAD
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This small island, whose name means "big city" (Голем Град), is one of three islands in the two Prespa lakes. Covering an area of 18 ha, it is the only island in North Macedonia. Also known as Snake Island (Змиски Островou/Zmiski Ostrovou) or Saint Peter's (Свети Петар/Sveti Petar), it is a formidable nature reserve home to exceptional flora and fauna: snakes, turtles, birds... 750 m long and 450 m wide, its summit rises 50 m above the lake. Today uninhabited, it boasts important historical remains. Golem Grad was inhabited for two thousand years, and monasteries were active here between the 10th and 14th centuries. In addition to a Roman necropolis, six churches have been discovered. Of these, St. Peter's, built in the 14th century by the Serbian lord Volkašin, is the best preserved. It features a fresco of Mary's flight into Egypt, a theme rarely depicted in the region's medieval churches. There's also an early Christian basilica (4th-5th century). But to admire all this, you mustn't be afraid of snakes. There are an estimated 50,000 of them on the island. In other words, they're everywhere, in the water and in the trees. CNRS researcher Xavier Bonnet, who has carried out several missions there, is reassuring: "The two most common species are not dangerous: tesselated snakes are not venomous and ammodytes rarely bite. These animals are very timid, not the type to jump at your ankles."
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