Bitola | |
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State | Pelagonia Region |
Country | Macedonia |
Capital | |
Population | 74550 |
Postcode | 7000 |
Bitola (; Macedonian: Битола [ˈbitɔɫa] (listen)) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, 14 kilometres (9 miles) north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing with Greece. The city stands at an important junction connecting the south of the Adriatic Sea region with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe, and is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It has been known since the Ottoman period as "The City of The Consuls", since many European countries had consulates in Bitola.
Damascus | |
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State | Maryland |
Country | United States |
Capital | |
Population | 11430 |
Postcode | 20872 |
Damascus ( də-MASS-kəs; Arabic: دِمَشْق, romanized: Dimašq [diˈmaʃq], Syrian Arabic: [dɪˈmaʃʔ] Syriac : ܕܰܪܡܣܘܩ) is the capital of Syria; it became the country's largest city in the early 2010s, following the decline in population of Aleppo during the battle for the city. It is colloquially known in Syria as aš-Šām (الشَّام) and titled the "City of Jasmine" (مَدِينَة الْيَاسْمِين Madīnat al-Yāsmīn). Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. The city had an estimated population of 2,079,000 as of 2019.
In south-western Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.7 million people (2004). Embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea level, Damascus experiences a dry climate because of the rain shadow effect.