Keen to explore North Macedonia more widely Bridget and I had pre-booked a private tour from Skopje to Lake Ohrid, said to be one of the treasures of this small Balkan country.
Our driver Micky picked us up at 08:00 from our Skopje hotel and we set off in the sunshine and in high spirits.
Lake Ohrid is 2 – 3 million years old meaning it is the oldest lake in Europe. It’s also North Macedonia’s largest lake and at 288 m it is the deepest in the Balkans too. Lake Ohrid was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980.
Micky drove us through incredible mountain scenery and then had a treat for us. He stopped at a cafe called Mekicite od Straza as he wanted to extend his Macedonian hospitality by buying us breakfast. We munched our way through mekici’s which are large flat freshly fried doughnuts, a proper Macedonian staple, traditionally eaten with plain runny yogurt!
We continued to drive through more green and picturesque mountains and arrived in Ohrid at around 11:00. Here we met Naumka our guide who proceeded to lead us through quaint and colourful cobbled streets on a walking tour of Ohrid.
Above are 3 brightly decorated meter cabinets!
Naumka said it is tradition to make a wish as you walk through this tunnel while holding your breath.
We visited the Church of Saint Sofija which was surrounded by immaculate gardens.
And 7 little tortoises roam around the gardens of the church!
We paid 3 euros each to enter the Church of Saint Sofija and Naumka explained the meanings of the colourful frescoes. This time it was permitted to take photographs inside the church.
Continuing on our way…
Actually Ohrid has 365 churches! This is a tiny one.
We arrived at the Ancient Theatre of Ohrid was built in 200 BC and it was later used by the Romans as a site for Christian executions. In the summer, it is used for festival performances and in 2019 Vanessa Mae performed here at the Ohrid Summer Festival.
We continued our walking tour with Naumka leading the way…
Just before we got to the Church of Saint Mary Perivleptos we came across this tiny church with a spectacular view!
We went inside the Church of Saint Mary Peribleptos which was built in 1295 and is one of the oldest churches in Ohrid. We saw more amazing frescoes which showed images of the life of the Virgin Mary and the life of John the Baptist.
The stone city wall forms part of the fortifications of the Fortress of Tsar Samuel.
We climbed higher through the village to the highest point which was the fortress. This was closed however Naumka had taken us there so we could see the panoramic views across Ohrid and the lake.
The former medieval palace was expanded by Tsar Samuel as part of his empire between 992 and 1018.
We were fortunate to have had a sunny day and temperatures of around 25 degrees so it was lovely to walk down towards the lake through a shady pine forest.
Perched on a small cliff above the lake was the Church of St John the Theologian, also known as Saint John at Kaneo. This church is dedicated to John of Patmos, the author of the Book of Revelation.
This sounds very grand… Naumka had ordered a small catamaran to take us the short distance along the coast to our lunch venue. The catamaran driver took us a little way along the coastline so we could have stunning views before we reached the restaurant.
The catamaran dropped us off straight onto the little lake edge platform at our lunch restaurant.
The Momir Restaurant had a wonderful view of the lake.
I sampled some delicious crisp dry local white wine.
Keen to try a traditional Ohrid lunch I ordered ‘plashici’ which are small fishes from the lake.
Intrigued by ‘Ohrid cake’ on the menu we thought it best to try some. We were not disappointed by the delicious caramel and walnut cake served with a small dish of syrupy figs.
We had already said goodbye to Naumka as we had finished our tour with her just before we had lunch. After lunch we walked back to meet Micky who drove us for 2.5 hours back to Skopje.
Summary
With stunning views at every turn we had a wonderful day visiting Lake Ohrid and it was well worth the 2 – 3 hour drive there and back from Skopje. It was great to have Naumka as our private guide for the day as she gave us options and flexibility to tweak the tour as we wished. As a local having lived in Ohrid all her life, Naumka was very knowledgeable and we learned a great deal of interesting things about beautiful Ohrid.
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