Today we headed for Lake Ohrid which is west of Bitola. It was a beautiful day for a drive but dark clouds eventually caught up with us. Bright skies alternated with threatening clouds.
Lake Ohrid lies between Macedonia and Albania. It is over 3 million years old - and is one of the deepest if not the deepest lake in the Balkans. The town of Ohrid is one of the oldest human settlements in Europe. A fortress may have been built there by Macedonian King Philip II. Tsar Samoil/Samuel of the 1st Bulgarian Empire built another fortress on those earlier ruins when he made Ohrid his capitol during his fight against the Ottoman Empire. Ohrid, like Bitola, was situated on the Roman Via Egnatia which linked Rome with Constantinople/Istanbul - thus making it an important city for trading.
Probably because it was situated on that trade route to Constantinople, Ohrid was early exposed to Christianity. The South Slavs had moved into and populated southeastern Europe and the Balkans. St. Cyril and his brother St Methodius plus their disciples were sent by the Roman Catholic Pope to teach the Slavs in their own tongue - they translated the Bible and other religious books into the Slavic language.
Upon their deaths, their disciples St Kliment/Clement and St Naum were teaching the Slavs and establishing schools in Ohrid. It is said that at one time there were 365 churches in Ohrid!
We stopped for a look at the Bay of Bones before going to Ohrid. There is an archeological site of the same name as the Bay of Bones.
Above is a reconstruction of pile dwellings and platforms. The website
"The surrounding settlements were cities made on platforms, which stood on wooden piles stuck at the bottom of the lake. On those pile platforms were the houses of prehistoric people, that were connected to the shore by a movable bridge. The inhabitants of these settlements dealt mostly with fishing, but also with agriculture and hunting. This is indicated by the various vessels and items of ceramics and stone found in both on the ground and under water."
Dating back between 1200 and 700 BC, the original prehistoric settlement occupied 8500 square meters. Lake Ohrid, quite shallow around this period, allowed for a massive wooden structure to be erected above the water.
We next stopped at the Monastery of St Naum/Sveti Naum who was a contemporary of St Kliment and a disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius. His Church of the Holy Angels built about 900 AD was destroyed by the Ottomans in the 15th century. It was rebuilt on the ruins between the 16th and 17th centuries as a multi domed, Byzantine-style monastery on a cliff overlooking Lake Ohrid. The monastery was always an educational center.
Entrance to St Naum Monastery from parking lot.
I think the sign above the arch says Monastery of St Naum
I'm not so religious these days - a doubting Thomas perhaps - but I was really aggravated with all the tour groups that jammed into the small area inside the chapel and gathered around the tour guides to listen to the story of St Naum. There were many people who had come as pilgrims and who were trying to pray. There were signs stating no photography was allowed but several people were walking around taking pictures. The inside was very beautiful and the policy is no photos to try to preserve the mosaics and frescoes.
Inside the church is very small and dark - the frescoes are frayed but beautiful. It was difficult to look around because of all the tourists - I was trying to get a good look at the iconostasis. An iconostasis in Eastern Orthodox churches is a large screen separating the altar where the Eucharist is performed - the Holy of Holies - from the larger part of the church where the public is allowed. The iconostasis is covered with icons and religious paintings. I read that a comparison can be made to the Temple in Jerusalem which was designed with 3 parts - the entrance hall, the main part of the temple, and the holiest and innermost section where the Ark of the Covenant was kept - the Holy of Holies - this was separated by a curtain - only the high priest was allowed to enter this section. The iconostasis inside this church dates to 1711 and the frescoes to the 19th century.
You walk into a side chapel where St Naum's stone coffin is located - if you kneel down and put your ear to the coffin, you can hear his heart beating. Of course everyone wanted to listen except me and perhaps JB and Tina - it was so crowded in that chapel that I couldn't tell if they had listened or not - I was too busy looking at the frescoes.
We lit candles outside - I prayed for my special intentions.
Lots of people taking selfies and pictures.
The stone walkways were uneven and difficult to walk on despite wearing sturdy sneakers.
Walkway to exit - very slippery when wet.
A pause as we were leaving the Monastery.
You can't really see how uneven this is.
St. Naum of Ohrid (Sveti Naum in Macedonian), was a medieval scholar and writer, who together with Saint Clement/Kliment continued the task of spreading Christianity among the Slavic speaking people of the region. Building upon the work of the sainted brothers Cyril and Methodius, St. Naum is associated with the creation of the Cyrillic scripts.
Walkway to a restaurant - can you see the 2 large fish below? Lake Ohrid is known for its clear water and biodiversity.
Entrance to the Venec Restaurant.
The area around the Monastery is commercialized - there are restaurants, seaside bars, stalls selling souvenirs and trinkets - I think there is even a hotel.
We had a table on the water. We saw small boats taking people to the natural springs that spill into Lake Ohrid. We were going to go but you needed 5 people - we were only 3.
Time for a coffee break but it was hot and humid so I opted for ice cream!
Boat heading for the springs.
Turtle was walking along past the sleeping dog.
We left the Monastery and headed for Ohrid.
Roadside shrine - these are all over Macedonia - small, large, larger.
We were driving into Ohrid and spotted these people in native costumes - they must have been performing somewhere.
We arrived into Ohrid and JB drove up the very, very narrow twisting street to Tsar Samoil's fortress at the top of the highest hill.
As we saw, during the Byzantine period, Ohrid became a significant cultural and economic center, also serving as an episcopal centre of the Orthodox Church and as the site of the first European university, run by St.Kliment and St.Naum, at the end of the 9th century.
At the beginning of the 11th century, Ohrid briefly became the capitol of the great Tsar Samoil's empire and this is his fortress.
Ohrid was built mostly between the 7th and 19th century. Beside the lake, Ohrid is most famous for its ancient churches, basilicas and monasteries, where Saints Kliment and Naum wrote their teachings and formulated the Cyrillic alphabet.
View of Lake Ohrid from outside the fortress.
Ohrid and Lake Ohrid are both UNESCO sites for natural, cultural, and historic resources.
The little Turkish/Ottoman style light hanging from the balcony - the streetlights are all in this style.
We saw more national costumes in Ohrid - turns out there was a concert in the arts center this evening.
Statue of Saints Cyril and Methodious - brothers who came to teach the Slavs in their own language.
Walking along the harbor.
"Saint Naum Miracle Worker"
We walked along the lakeside in Ohrid - found a place on the lake for dinner - 2 tables down a couple were either celebrating getting married or celebrating an anniversary - there was a big cake on the table. There was another couple and their 3 children also with them - the little boys got a basket of stale bread from the kitchen and were feeding the seagulls who were swooping over and over for a morsel of bread.
We walked around the waterfront and stopped for ice cream - the 2 waitresses were not very friendly or helpful. Above is the turnstyle to the restrooms. You needed a token from the staff to get in. Once people got the token, they couldn't figure out how to use it - the waitresses seemed perturbed when they had to explain or show people how to use it - Tina showed a couple of people how it worked. Then when people were exiting the bathrooms, they couldn't figure out again how to get out through the turnstyle. It might have been funny except that the waitresses were ignoring them.
A small chapel in the middle of Ohrid - this is more elaborate than most roadside chapels.
The hotel where we stayed was outside downtown Ohrid and had a picture of Napoleon in the dining room - too bad the TV is covering it! It made me think of Danno and Amanda who had watched the movie about Napoleon before their trip to Paris in April.
Tomorrow we head to Struga which is north of Ohrid. We are meeting up with Ilce and Violeta to meet Violeta's brother.
