Ohrid

Ohrid, tumbling down a hillside to the shore of its shimmering lake in the country's southwest, is North Macedonia's greatest treasure and a UNESCO World Heritage Site of both cultural and natural importance. This ancient, beautiful town, once said to hold 365 churches, one for every day, is a maze of steep cobbled lanes, terracotta-roofed houses and Byzantine chapels rich with frescoes. Crowning it all is the postcard-perfect church of Sveti Jovan at Kaneo, perched dramatically on a cliff above the blue water, alongside Samuel's Fortress and an ancient theatre.

History

The earliest people of the lake region were the Illyrian Enchele and Dassaretii, and tradition says Cadmus founded the town, called Lychnidos in antiquity, the capital of the Dassaretii; excavations show a town here by the time of Philip II of Macedon, with an earlier fortification of the 4th century BC beneath Samuel's Fortress, and in Roman times it stood on the Via Egnatia between Dyrrachion and Byzantium. South Slavs arrived from the 6th century, Bulgaria took the town around 840, the name Ohrid first appears in 879, and the Ohrid Literary School founded by Clement of Ohrid in 886 became one of the two great cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire, of which Ohrid was the capital from 990 to 1015 and the seat of its patriarchate until 1018. After Basil II's reconquest in 1018 the patriarchate became the Archbishopric of Ohrid under Constantinople, lasting until 1767, and at its height in the early 16th century it reached as far as the Orthodox of southern Italy, Venice and Dalmatia. Once said to have 365 churches and called the Jerusalem of the Balkans, Ohrid became a World Heritage Site in 1979-1980 (Wikipedia, Ohrid).

What's there

• Sveti Jovan at Kaneo - the iconic clifftop church over the lake.
• The old town - the cobbled lanes and terracotta houses.
• Samuel's Fortress - the medieval fortress above the town.
• The Byzantine churches - the frescoed chapels and Sveta Sofia.

When to go

May to September, for warm weather and lake swimming, with July and August the liveliest and busiest, including the Ohrid Summer Festival; spring and early autumn are quieter and lovely. The lakeside town and its churches are atmospheric year-round, though many lakeside businesses slow in winter.

Before you go

In peak summer, Ohrid and its lakefront can get crowded and the shore quite developed, so late spring and early autumn reveal its quieter charm. It is a small town best savoured slowly rather than rushed. The beauty of the frescoed churches, the iconic clifftop chapel and the setting above the ancient blue lake, though, make Ohrid genuinely enchanting and the highlight of the country.

Nearby

Lake Ohrid, the Sveti Naum monastery and the town of Struga are close by.

Key facts