2024 Balkans Overland Adventure, Ohrid, North Macedonia, Day 2

Early this morning, I went for my normal walkabout…  Caught so lovely swans swimming in the Lake.  Just a lovely place, love just walking around.  Once back at the hotel, we were picked up by our guide Marina and driver for a tour of Ohrid and the surrounding area. Our first stop on our way to Saint Naum was the Bay of Bones, an archeological site on Lake Ohrid. In prehistoric times, Lake Ohrid was home to a settlement of pile dwellers who lived on a platform supported by up to 10,000 wooden piles anchored to the lake bed. The remains of the settlement were discovered at this spot and were excavated by an underwater team between 1997 and 2005…Marina our guide is an Archaeologist and was part of this team. After driving through Galicica National Park, with amazing views of the lake, we came to Saint Naum Monastery. This monastery was founded by the first Archbishop of Ohrid, John of Debar. The monastery is renowned for its beautiful architecture, the church has intricate frescoes, woodcarvings, and icons. The church is a multi-domed, Byzantine style structure built on a cliff with wonderful lake views and a resident peacock. We returned to Ohrid, had a stop for coffee and visited the Fortress. Samuel’s Fortress, towering above the town and Lake Ohrid, is probably the best viewpoint you can find in Ohrid. It gave me the chance to get lots of exercise, climbing everywhere on the fortress walls.. The first fortress was built in this place already in the 4th century BC but the current fortification dates to the 10th century when Ohrid was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire. Leaving the Fortress, we walked downhill to the Ancient Theatre that dates back to the year 200BC and is the only remaining Hellenistic theatre in North Macedonia and accidentally discovered in 1980. From here we arrived at the Plaosnik archeological site with the foundations of a 5th century basilica, numerous other excavations as well as the beautiful St. Kliment Church. We then made our way down to the Church of Saint John at Kaneo. This stunning 13th century church is set on a cliff over the lake, and is one of North Macedonia's most photographed structures. We decided to admire the incredible beauty of Lake Ohrid from yet another perspective…we took a small boat tour on the lake. The boat ride gave us a panorama view of this stunning place in the Balkans. We were dropped off not far from the center of Old Town and close to the Cathedral of St. Sofia. St. Sofia’s was built in 9th century, on the foundations of an early Christian basilica from the 5th century….this church had a number of exquisite frescoes in excellent condition. Once back in the heart of Old Town we visited an Ohrid Pearl Jewelry shop and paper making factory. Ohrid has been printing paper since the 16th century and this museum/shop has one of only two copies of the Gutenberg press in the world…we received an interesting demonstration of the paper-making process. Marina was a fantastic guide, Lake Ohrid a beautiful place and we are so blessed to have visited Macedonia…  Tomorrow, we are off to Greece, making our way eventually back to the Oosterdam…