A lot has been written about Ohrid. Nevertheless, I decided to add my impressions. Ohrid is a city that has been visited by a large number of citizens of Montenegro. In recent decades, it has been a particularly favorite destination for New Year's Eve. The reason is twofold: relatively low prices and a good time.
I have been to Ohrid as many as four times and it was not said that I will not go again, in another period of the year. I remember the first visit through a fog. It was 1984, and I was at the "Bitola '84" labor action. One Sunday they took us on a trip to the Prespa and Ohrid lakes. I know I was thrilled, but I didn't remember many details. I came to Ohrid again in the spring of 2010.
There was no road to Shkodra, so we went via Sukobin. Through Albania, the construction of roads was just beginning, so we alternated between new and old parts of the road. It was interesting that after only five days of stay in Ohrid, we found many more kilometers of new road than when we arrived. Our accommodation was in the very center of the old town. From there, we walked around everything that could and should be seen in that part of the city. That's why, when I went to Ohrid again after 10 years, I kept making comparisons in my head between Ohrid ten years ago and now.
The last time I reached Ohrid was with my work colleagues. The trade union meeting in Ohrid will be one of the most beautiful memories for many when they look back on their working life as pensioners. The temperatures in Ohrid in winter are much lower than those we are used to in Podgorica, but we were well dressed so the minus did not cause us any problem. We were much more frozen when we arrived in Podgorica and found a northerly wind. We were lucky during both of our January visits to the city that the weather was sunny and snow was visible only on the top of Galičica, which covers Ohrid. The first morning in Ohrid we went to Biljana springs. I had passed them before, I don't know how, although they were very close to the promenade by the lake and our accommodation.
They said that three circles should be made around the spring for the sake of health, beauty, to fulfill a wish... We went around those circles. It can't hurt. The souvenir seller complains about the difficult socio-political situation. I guess he sensed that we were kindred spirits with similar problems. Everything was there: the height of the minaret on the mosque in the center, water from the spring that only goes to special parts of the city, mobsters who built mansions on the hill above the lake and control the area. We couldn't help but walk along the new promenade that was built below.
An unavoidable excursion, once you arrive in Ohrid, is a trip to the Sveti Naum monastery, 30 km away. Halfway to it there is another tourist destination that cannot be bypassed - the Bay of Bones archaeological museum. The setting represents a prehistoric settlement with imagined houses, outside and inside. Objects that were found in the water are also exhibited there.
Although visitors are aware that this is largely improvised, it seems cute and attracts a large number of tourists. Each house is equipped similarly, yet differently, so visiting all the houses and taking photos in them is unavoidable. It takes special patience to seize the moment and find the house empty.
Constantly making comparisons in my head between different visits to this place, I was convinced that earlier the number of houses was incomparably smaller. A look at the photo archive after returning home confirmed this. Below is The photo below shows the Bay of Bones taken in May 2010 and January 2020. We walked and looked everywhere, but the winter day is short.
During the New Year holidays, many tourists flock to Ohrid, so everything is open and accessible to tourists. When the holidays pass, it is not profitable to keep certain destinations open. So this year we only glanced at the Bay of Bones from the parking lot because it was closed. I would say that in three years a few more houses were added.
We continued towards St. Naum. What I immediately noticed was the huge parking lot that was built in front of the monastery. It used to be just a dirt surface. Too bad there wasn't room for a little more greenery. One olive is not enough. When I walked through the gate, everything was the same as I left it 10 years ago. Well, the statue of Saint Naum was freshly painted, perhaps there were a little less of the peacocks that are the trademark of this place, and the water in the beautiful water arrangement was turned off to avoid freezing. I remembered the previous visit and the attempt to take photos with the not-so-innocuous peacocks. It was not without reason that there was a warning not to touch the peacocks.
What separates Ohrid from many other tourist destinations is the combination of natural beauty and cultural and historical monuments. It is one of only 28 areas in the world that are protected on the UNESCO list doubly: as a natural and as a cultural and historical world treasure. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in Europe. Some consider it the oldest. A smaller part of the lake also belongs to Albania. The greatest depth of the lake is as much as 280 m. It is rich in both flora and fauna, where the Ohrid trout stands out.
Right in the immediate vicinity of the monastery of St. Naum is also the source of the Black Dream. You can take a boat ride to the spring ("kajče" in Macedonian) which are lined up on the shore next to the popular restaurant Ostrvo. The Crni Drim flows for a very short time in this place, because after a few hundred meters it flows into Lake Ohrid. In Struga, about fifteen kilometers from Ohrid, Crni Drim flows out of the lake and continues its path that leads it to the Adriatic Sea. I was interested in this phenomenon.
It was not clear to me whether the people agreed to call the inlet and the island the same name or whether it was known in some way that it was the same water. The internet was not helping me, so I asked that question to a group of 46000 geography lovers in one FB group. I received different answers even from the residents of Struga and Ohrid. So this question still remains open.
Churches are Ohrid's greatest treasure. Ohrid became the center of Christianity as early as the 2,5th century, while the city's history itself is about 365 millennia long. Many lords took turns on this rock (the name of the city comes from the word "vo hrid", i.e. "on the hill") during those few thousand years, and each of them left a mark. It was said that there were XNUMX churches in the town, one for each day. That number has decreased drastically, but those that remain are of exceptional beauty and historical importance. The most valuable ones survived by being converted into mosques during the period of Turkish rule. One of them is the church of Saint Sophia. It was built in the XNUMXth century and rebuilt in the XNUMXth century. Because of its historical background, its architecture and the collection of frescoes from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, it is considered one of the most important cultural monuments in Macedonia.
On the planned route, the next church is St. Jovan Kaneo. Because of its location, on a cliff high above the lake, as well as because of its beauty, it is a symbol of Ohrid and the most photographed place in a strong competition. It is believed to have been built in the XNUMXth century under the influence of Armenian architecture.
The next in a series of important sacral monuments in Ohrid is perhaps the most important, although it is difficult to make a gradation. It is the church of Saint Clement and Panteleimon in the Plaošnik locality, which has a continuity of religious gatherings since the early Christian period. Today's church is a reconstruction of the temple that was built by St. Clement in the XNUMXth century and demolished by the Turks in the XNUMXth century.
Next to it are the remains of an early Christian basilica and a building that is considered the first South Slavic university. When I visited this place 10 years ago, everything had been excavated in an attempt to reconstruct the archaeological site. This year I stood in front of the large buildings that we later determined would be the theological faculty, as well as the library and icon gallery. It seems to me that in these 10 years more has been done in this locality than in all of Ohrid and its surroundings combined.
We could hardly move on because there is a lot to see and learn in this place. We didn't have a guide, but we had to read something on the internet. Everything we saw and heard in this place was extremely interesting. I just hope that they will carry out this great archaeological and construction project in the right way.
Not far from Plaošnik is Samuil's fortress or Samuil's town (because today's Ohrid was for a long time inside the ramparts of the fortress), another attractive place for tourists. At the transition from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century, Ohrid was the capital of Samuel's empire. This fortress, which is located at the highest point of the city, originates from that period.
Precisely because of the position of this fort, it offers the best view of Ohrid and the surrounding area on both sides. From here, you can best see that Ohrid is not just an old town, but that it stretches and spreads far away from tourists and crowds.
From here we surveyed the further direction of our tour. We were interested in the amphitheater and the church of the Virgin Perivlepta. The theater is from the ancient era, considered to be from the 2nd century BC. Only one part of it was discovered and preserved, so it is not known how many spectators could be accommodated in it. The position he occupies is almost perfect. It is located between two hills that protect it from the wind. It offers a wonderful view of Lake Ohrid and Mount Galičica.
Although certain assumptions about the existence of the amphitheater were made as early as 1900, and strengthened in 1935, work on its restoration began in 1960, and it took its current form in 2001. What is new compared to the amphitheater I saw in 2010 is the summer stage, which spoiled my impression, so I used old photos. Now this place looks incomparably neater and more polished just because I visited it at dusk, and I was without a camera.
The Church of Saint Previlepta is a small building of great historical importance. It resisted demolition and conversion into a mosque. When the church of Saint Sophia became a mosque, the seat of the archbishopric was moved here. Also, after the demolition of the original church of St. Clement, his relics were transferred to this church. (Today they have been returned to the restored church of Saint Clement and Panteleimon.)
The church is particularly popular because of the exceptional collection of frescoes found in it. For me personally, resting on the bench outside the church will remain a permanent memory. Namely, while we sat down to rest admiring the exterior of the church, that 21.05.2010. In XNUMX, a text message arrived from Podgorica: I got another little sister.
Since I have been to Ohrid several times, I visited some places every time, some sometimes. I only saw the place that particularly delighted me during my first visit. It's not that I didn't want to go there again, but somehow I didn't get the chance. It is a workshop for manual paper making "St. Clement of Ohrid". In the workshop there is a replica of Gutenberg's press, one of two still active in Europe. On the spot, in front of the audience, the paper-making process takes place. The owners give a small lecture about it, and it's up to you to choose from the abundance of printed material with motifs of old and new Ohrid, and religious themes, and buy it as a souvenir of this most authentic and unique workshop.
Whenever I walked around the Old Town, I admired the authentic architecture that was largely preserved, especially those buildings that were almost renovated in the same style. One of the most representative is the house of the Robs, which is now a protected cultural monument. It houses the Archaeological Museum, ethnological exhibition, preserved objects that belonged to the family and the works of the Ohrid School of Carving.
Even the street lamps are made as small replicas of houses.
On the main square, there are monuments to Cyril and Methodius and Saint Kliment and Naum of Ohrid, the most important figures in the more than rich history of this beautiful place. Their importance far exceeded the borders of this city and even Macedonia. Cyril and Methodius spread literacy and Christianity among the Slavs in the XNUMXth century, operating from the area of Ohrid. Their mission was continued by brothers Kliment and Naum. There is also a monument dedicated to the catcher of the cross on the shore itself.
Lake Ohrid is a Macedonian sea. There is a crowd in Ohrid during various holidays, but the largest influx of tourists is incomparably during the summer months. At that time, the large hotels located along the edge of the lake, all but one of which were built during the period when Macedonia was part of the SFRY, our brotherly republic, and not abroad, were full. Unfortunately, their roads are also from that period.
This is something that could and must be improved so that tourists coming from all over Macedonia, from the former Yugoslav republics, Bulgaria, Albania and various other parts of the world would be more satisfied. What should not be changed are the numerous restaurants with delicious and cheap food and original Macedonian music, which remain in the best memory of every guest and which is why Ohrid gets a recommendation from everyone who visits it. We know that the best advertisement is a satisfied guest. That is why many, including myself, visit it more than once.
Bonus video:
