One of the things I was most excited to do once I knew we were returning to the Balkans was to visit North Macedonia (my 75th country!), which is located to the north of Albania. This little country has a fascinating history, but I was especially surprised by just how incredible the architecture and ecclesiastic history is. I decided to join a tour to Ohrid, North Macedonia, which is known for its UNESCO World Heritage sites, including several beautiful churches (truly among some of the most incredible I’ve personally seen!).

Our guide, Ilir, picked us up bright and early and we were off, battling Tirana traffic as we drove to the northwest (thankfully there wasn’t much snow on the roads, although we skidded a bit on ice once). On the way, Ilir introduced us to some interesting facts about North Macedonia, including:

• North Macedonia is a relatively “new” country, receiving its independence in 1991 from Yugoslavia
• The term Yugoslavia itself refers to the federation of “southern Slavs”, aka the Slavic countries in the Balkans (northern Slavs would include Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus)
• The term “Balkans” itself stems from a (“relatively stupid”) German geographer who visited the region and asked a local what the region was called; the local replied, “Balkan” aka “mountain” (the entire area is quite mountainous)
• North Macedonia (or Macedonia, as locals call it) considers itself ethnically distinct from the eponymous region in Greece; in fact, this has led to conflict over the country’s name and right to independent statehood
• North Macedonia also claims to be the birthplace of Alexander the Great, which is highly contested in the region; Greece, of course, considers Alexander one of their own, while Albania claims that Alexander’s mother was Illyrian (which Albania considers itself the descendents of) and therefore Alexander is an Albanian hero

Ohrid itself is located to the southern part of North Macedonia, and was so named when an individual stopped and cried, “Oh, rid!” (“Oh, hill!”). The big feature of Ohrid is Lake Ohrid, which is also known as the “Lake of Light” (which very much held true throughout our entire trip, it was practically glowing and sparkled in the cold wind).

Upon arrival, the first order of business was trying a byrek, which is only slightly different in North Macedonia (no spinach, just cottage cheese or meat).

We then began our walking tour of the old town, meandering through the hills. In addition to our Albanian guide, Ilir, we had a Macedonian guide, Mustafa. Over the course of the trip, Mustafa took a liking to one of the women in the group, who kindly deflected his affections. Later, Ilir would quip, “Ignore him – he always does this. The women he pursues are never interested, and when a woman likes him and he isn’t interested, I just tell him to close one eye!”.

Mustafa also had many cousins – including one who could give us a great deal on the local “pearls” (I asked how the pearls were produced and, in very broken English, Mustafa told me they are made using the scales / skin of a local fish; some of the other tourists who have been in region longer said they heard the same thing, although none of us have ever heard of such a method of pearl creation before).

As we made our way into the old town, we started to pick up bits of the local history. Macedonia claims to be the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet, which was created by St. Clement (a student of St. Cyril, for whom the alphabet was named). It’s clear that the Bulgarian kingdom was using an earlier proto-script for Cyrillic before this, but an interesting claim to fame nonetheless. We also saw a pillar in a church later in the day that has Cyrillic etchings dating back to ~900 CE, so the language was certainly in use here early in its development.

While none of the museums were open, the old down does have lovely Ottoman-style architecture. Interestingly, the town lamps are shaped like Ottoman-style homes, which essentially have larger upper levels to make the most use of the available space given how narrow the streets are.

The first incredible sight in town is Црква Св. Софија, or the Church of Saint Sophia. It’s one of the most important sites in North Macedonia, claiming to be a sister church of the Hagia Sophia in Turkey. As the story goes, there were actually 7 churches dedicated to Saint Sophia throughout the Balkans and Turkey. Of course, during the Ottoman period, it was converted to a mosque (as with the famed Hagia Sophia in Istanbul) and then later to a munitions storage before being restored.

From there, we walked (via the “Ohrid boardwalk” – a gorgeous lakeside path) to the church of Црква Свети Јован Богослов, or Church of Saint John the Theologian. There isn’t much remaining in the church itself, but the location offers stunning views of the lake.

On the walk over, we also saw a good example of “original” Ottoman architecture (that has now fallen into a state of disrepair).

After that, we continued our trek higher into Ohrid’s lovely hills, entering the historic old town area. First up was the Антички македонски театар од Охрид, aka the Ancient Macedonian Theater of Ohrid. It was pretty bland, but apparently is still in use for the Ohrid classical music festival that happens every year (Mustafa made sure to invite his unwilling paramour back for a return visit!).

The real treasure – and highlight of the entire trip for me – was the church located just a few steps away: Црква Богородица Перивлепта or Church of Holy Mary Peryvleptos. This church, while small, is among the most beautiful I’ve seen throughout the world and features a unique series of frescoes that date back to the 13th century and have never been repainted (only painstakingly restored; thankfully they were preserved under a layer of candle wax!).

The art is absolutely breathtaking and truly shockingly well preserved. This alone was worth the long day in hours of traffic.

It also includes a couple unique features – you can see how black the walls were before restoration (left-hand side) and a mural of Jesus actually climbing his own cross (right-hand side).

I could have spent hours taking in all of the incredible details – also of note is the amount of blue used in the coloring, as that suggests that this was an incredibly expensive undertaking.

The views of the old castle from the church were also lovely as we wandered back to the lake for lunch.

Of course, Mustafa knew a restaurant and didn’t seem inclined to accommodate Ilir’s request that we have “free time” and the ability to choose our own lunch destination. Fortunately, Ilir was able to separate out the woman who had received a bit too much attention so she could “go shopping” while the rest of us obediently allowed ourselves to be shepherded to Mustafa’s restaurant of choice, Restaurant Kajche. To his credit, the restaurant views were lovely and the food was good! Sadly, the family I ended up sitting with decided to share a cheese platter between the three of them, so I felt awkward ordering a whole entree for myself and instead ordered the shopska salad (tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, and green peppers) ostensibly to share. The cheese to vegetables ratio lifted my spirits, at least.

There were some amusing items on offer – I will always wonder if I should have tried the Delicatessen Wardrobe.

Ultimately, the folks I was sitting with were great company and we opened up after sharing a bottle of wine. We ended up wandering the central town square area together during our free time, taking in the shops and looking for a place to quickly buy souvenirs.

I noticed a couple amusing translation errors, and to duck out of the cold decided to grab a coffee – immediately upon entering the indoor portion of the cafe realized that it was either heat and a cloud of cigarette smoke, or cold and fresh air. I opted for a chilly, al fresco coffee experience.

Before we left downtown Ohrid, I paid a quick visit to the shrine.

Our final destination in North Macedonia was the Манастир Свети Наум, or Monastery Saint Naum, located along the southern side of Lake Ohrid (we quite literally circled the entire lake on our adventure). Along the way, we briefly stopped at the Ploca Mikov Grad, or “Bay of Bones” which is a replica of a floating village dating back ~3000 years. Apparently, thousands of bones from this settlement have been discovered in this part of the lake and there has been quite a bit of archeological work to understand the village. Sadly, we were too late in the day to visit, but it was nice to see from above.

The Monastery Saint Naum was beautiful, especially with the fading light.

The structure itself dates back about a thousand years, while most of the interior of the chapel is from ~900 CE until about the 14th century. As with the other churches we’ve seen, the decor is ornate.

As mentioned before, this is the monastery where they found the early Cyrillic writing (graffiti, essentially) on the pillars dating to ~900 CE. We also learned a couple interesting facts about Eastern Orthodox churches, including that typically, you can tell who the church is “dedicated” to by looking at the second left-most panel on the altarpiece (in this case, two archangels). Additionally, the placement of prayer candles can help you determine whether the person they’re intended for is alive (top tray) or deceased (bottom tray).

Lastly, we saw something somewhat unique in this church – most of the eyes of the depictions of saints had been scratched out. A couple explanations for this were given: 1) back in the day, villagers believed that you could “steal” the saints’ eyes and then “drink” them as part of healing elixirs; 2) the Ottomans did it, just to deface the church. Either way, it was a slightly unsettling element.

We also learned that as a sign of respect you are supposed to back out of the church and that each country has its own branch of Eastern Orthodox religion (unlike Catholicism, where the Pope governs the church worldwide).

I can definitely see why Lake Ohrid was perceived as such a wonderful place to create churches and to practice a life of monasticism. Overall, I’d highly recommend visiting Lake Ohrid and would love to see more of North Macedonia in the future!