Golem Grad (), meaning ''Big City/Town'', also known as Snake Island or Pelican Island, is an island in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
. The island covers an area of more than 20
hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...
.
It is located in
Lake Prespa
The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greec ...
, a few kilometers from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
n border. Golem Grad is home to several ancient ruins and churches. It is also home to several different communities of animals, especially
snakes
Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...
. In August 2008, the island opened to
tourists
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
.
Description
Golem Grad has an area of 20 hectares and is 600 meters long and 350 meters wide.
The island is currently uninhabited and has been so since the mid-20th century, when the small monastic community left the island.
The island can only be reached by boat. The village of
Konjsko is closest to the island with about two kilometers of water between the two.
See also
*
Lake Prespa
The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greec ...
*
List of islands of North Macedonia
*
Maligrad
References
External links
*
Website about Golem Grad island
{{Authority control
Islands of North Macedonia
Archaeological sites in North Macedonia
Resen Municipality
Lake islands of Europe