Alexander’s Homeland Overwhelms With History & Scenery
Most photographed church in Ohrid, North Macedonia - Church of St. Jovan Kaneo
“North Macedonia…? Where is that?” My friends who asked may be familiar with historical Macedonia and Alexander the Great. What’s this north thing, though? Well, I would explain, there’s a bit of irony in the answer. Back in Alexander the Great’s time (we are talking about the same area, by the way), the Greeks did not really accept his people as true Greeks. They were semi-barbarians, speaking an uncouth, badly-accented form of Greek. And when Alexander’s father, Philip II, conquered most of their city-states, that only made it worse.
Rugged mountainous terrain inhabitanted by the Macedonians in Ancient times, and now North Macedonia
In modern times, though, the Greeks feel completely different. They want to claim as their own the world’s greatest conqueror (in some folks view), and his subsequent spreading of Greek culture and ideas around the world. He’s a Greek, they will argue. So, when Yugoslavia began to split up and form new countries, the Greeks would be damned before they saw some upstart province of Slavs claim that name! The compromise (after a time being called, literally “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) was to add “North” to their country name. I may catch some grief from Greeks, but any that truly study their history know the Greeks were very particular about who was Greek and who wasn’t. The others were barbarians. Heck, they invented that word for people who couldn’t speak Greek, and sounded like sheep bleating when they talked, “Baa…baa.” Baa-barians!
Beautiful Old Town on a hillside above Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia
Anyway, my journey to Alexander the Great’s, semi-sheep sounding homeland was prompted by my love of History and the description of its gorgeous, mountainous setting on the Balkan Peninsula, north of Greece and east of Albania. And - of course - by the fact that I hadn’t been there, yet! North Macedonia would be country #104 for me. We landed in the capital of Skopje, home to nearly a third of the small country’s people and a city of half a million or so. From there, we rented a car and drove west to the UNESCO World Heritage town of Ohrid. It is a picturesque town perched on the shores of beautiful Lake Ohrid, which it shares with Albania. There is a LOT of history in Ohrid…well, really in all of North Macedonia. It is particularly known for its medieval churches and monasteries, their interiors painted with fading, but stunning frescoes by medieval artists. There are so many churches in Ohrid that the saying goes there is a different one for every day of the year.
Ohrid stretches along the lakeshore and its crystal clear blue waters
I did visit a number of churches in Ohrid, but not 365! We arrived as the sun was beginning to sink in a gorgeous blue sky towards the snowcapped mountains of Albania on the lake’s western shore. Our hotel room at Villa Dea had large windows revealing an amazing view of the lake’s crystal blue waters. We even had a tiny, breezy balcony which I immediately took advantage of before unpacking to snap my first of many, many photographs of it. The road in front of our hotel was a lakefront boulevard with a wide, brick promenade along the shore. Families walked along it, people were out exercising their dogs, and boats motored along its shore. A short distance away, the terra cotta roofs of the old town rose up onto a small hillside, which was crowned by medieval fortifications. It was hard not to be smitten with love at first sight with beautiful, beguiling Ohrid!
Statues of the Byzantine missionaries, St. Cyril and Methodius, who created the alphabet for the Slavic language
We didn’t have enough daylight hours left to begin our sightseeing, but couldn’t resist a stroll along the lakeshore. The breeze had worked up the waves enough so that they slapped against the promenade, sending splashes high into the air and causing nearby children to shriek. I even saw a few perturbed ducks waddle away from the edge of the promenade, shaking their beaks at the unexpected shower. The colors of Ohrid deepened as evening arrived, with a swathe of orange sherbet along the horizon as the sun sank beneath the mountains. Being from mostly flat Ohio, the sight of snowcapped peaks is always a thrill. I would see many mountains crowned with snow on this trip. The green of spring had yet to fully arrive lower down on the slopes, so the rest of their color was more of an olive blur, with bare limbs of trees mingling with the darker green of pines.
Sunset on the Lake Ohrid coastline silhouettes a medieval monastery
Our real sightseeing began the next morning. Our goal was to explore the Old Town of Ohrid and its historic sites. We started where we’d left off the day before, in the harbor. North Macedonia is big on statues (particularly in Skopje, we would find out towards the end of the trip). Here were three tall statues in a park area. One was of Cyril and Methodius, two Christian scholars from the Byzantine Empire who were sent as missionaries to preach to the Slavs who had settled in much of the Balkans. Together, they took the Slavic language and created an alphabet for it that would become Cyrillic, which is still used in much of Eastern Europe and Russia, today. Another statue was of St. Naum, whose monastery we would visit tomorrow. The third one was of St. Clement, the patron saint of Ohrid. The fourth I never really understood. It was of an athletic, naked man (ancient Olympic athlete?) holding up a cross.
Tiny Church of St. Nikola Bolnicki near the entrance of the Old Town
I had found a walking tour online of Old Town Ohrid and we followed it, step by step. We traced its course and read its commentary and up down the cobbled streets. Remember the 365 churches - one for each day of the year? It should comes as no surprise that our first stop was a pair of tiny churches, St. Bogorodica Bolnicki and St. Nikola Bolnicki. Unfortunately, the first was locked and apparently undergoing renovation. I was disappointed because it was supposed to have nice, medieval frescoes on its walls. We peeked through the windows and could see barely see them. Jenny had the idea to use her iPhone to getter a better view. We discovered that you could move the camera lens to a point where it would see through the metal screen and even snap images of the frescoes. I had experienced the iPhone “seeing” something better than the naked eye, before. Besides using it to zoom in and see something very tiny better, it also works well in dimly lit museums, and even in picking out an aurora borealis in the sky. The IPhone’s built-in, image enhancement seems to bring out the colors more than your eye can see. The same seemed to be happening here.
Colorful medieval frescoes on the walls of the interior of St. Nikola
Thankfully, the second of the Bolnicki churches was open. In fact, no one was present at the cashier window. We saw no signs restricting photography, so merrily captured images of the gorgeous frescoes that seemed to cover every inch of the wall and ceiling. Ever since a visit years ago to Cyprus, which had stunning medieval frescoes on its monastery walls and ceilings, I have always felt a certain thrill in seeing the inspired work of medieval monks and artists. When the woman who was supposed to be manning the cashier window showed up, we happily paid the entrance fee of 150 Macedonian dinars ($3). As I went to take a last photo, she said those dreaded words, “No photo.”
Colorul icons attached to the Iconostasis in the Orthodox Church of St. Nikola
Interestingly, only about half of the churches or monasteries displayed signs prohibiting photos, while many did not. Now, I realize that among hundreds, thousands, or millions of tourists visiting a site, there are always doofus’s who don’t know how to turn the flash off on their phone or camera. So, to protect the colors of ancient paintings or other works of art from that harmful flash of light, many museums or churches prohibit photography. Heck, some doubtless prohibit it to try to sell more books of photos in their gift shop! “Here, buy this book where we do the thing we’re telling you NOT to do”…ha,ha! However, I am fairly confident that I am not a doofus. In fact, I DO no how to turn off my iPhone’s flash - it is how I always keep my camera. So, I tend to base my following of those rules off how closely they are watching me. In other words, if I can take a surreptitious image with my iPhone, I tend to do so. Judge me as you choose, but I know I am not harming these great works of art. And if my photos and words about these amazing places encourages more people to come and admire them, well then I feel I have had a net positive effect. I am bringing more to appreciate their beauty than actually doing damage.
Expecting simply a refurbished late Medieval home, the Robecvi was a pleasant surprise
The next stop was the biggest surprise of the day. We stopped by Robecvi House, which has been partially refurnished as it was when it was occupied by two wealthy merchant brothers and their families during the later Middle Ages. The house was divided with one family on one side and the other opposite. A couple rooms were shared, like the top meeting room. I have been to restored houses and ethnographic museums, before. They are usually not my thing. Looking at old furniture and clothes gets, well, old for me after awhile! However, this was both house and general museum, with all kinds of categories of items and artifacts. There were 6th century bronze helmets, weapons, coins from a range of Macedonian rulers and Roman emperors, tombstones, jewelry, and more. Floor after floor of amazing, cool relics of the past. The family also had an amazing view from its upper story windows looking out over the town, lake, and mountains beyond. I was so glad Jenny had this on her list - it was easily an hour well-spent!
Stunning bronze helmet from the 6th century BC, part of the Robecvi collection
Next, it was on to the Church of St. Sophia in the middle of Old Town Ohrid. Once again, admission was incredibly inexpensive. During the day, we remarked that in France or Italy, attractions of this quality would typically cost $20! We were paying about $3 each for entry, and could use out credit card or cash. In fact, very few places in North Macedonia didn’t take credit card! I think I ran into more sites that wouldn’t take credit cards in Germany a couple years ago than Macedonia! St. Sophia was the largest of the churches, and also the only one in Ohrid that had a person selling their services as a guide. We declined his 20 Euro fee and used my walking guide for information. I wasn’t crazy about his approach or attitude. Plus, with him hanging around, it would likely mean no photos. I enjoyed having most of these sites to ourselves! We encountered very few other tourists in our wandering that day. The walls and ceilings were covered in medieval frescoes here, as well. The church was much more restored than many of the others. However, I didn’t understand why they had the apse (curved end) of the church unnterior blocked off with decorative panels. There were gaps between the panels, though, and we used the same trick we had at the first, closed church to view the frescoes and apse, itself. Nothing really looked much different in the closed off section, except one of the frescoes had semi-naked men depicted. It was possibly depicting a scene of Hell and damnation and maybe that offended more conservative people in the congregation?
St. Sophia church in the interior of Old Town, one of the larger ones on Ohrid
It was getting warmer and the sun continued to light up the town with beautiful views and dazzle us with blue skies. Next, we climbed around inside the Ancient Theater - first built by the Macedonians, then renovated by the Romans. It was obvious the town still holds performances there, what with the reconstructed stage and covering over it. We were near the upper gate at this time, so stopped by a small market and had a cold beverage and snack to refortify ourselves. Next, we checked out the gate and headed to - you guessed it - another church! I loved their Byzantine style brickwork, and the frescoes never failed to impress. This church had an Icon Gallery next to it, which was well-labeled in English and Macedonian (like most sights, so far). We passed through the upper part of town next, enjoying the decorations of the tiny homes. We were headed towards the Fort of Tsar Samuel, but missed our way and passed through the early Christian ruins of Plaošnik, first. There hasn’t been a lot of reconstruction on this area yet, so I felt it wasn’t as interesting as the rest of the Old Town.
Stunning medieval frescoes painted on the walls of St. Sophia’s interior by medieval monks and artists
The ruined castle atop the hill, though, couldn’t fail to impress. What’s not to like? A medieval hilltop fort, with a stunning view over the terra cotta roofs, church domes, blue waters of the lake, and distant snow-capped mountains beyond? Some of the expansion of these fortifications, which had been in use since before the Age of the Greeks, were done when Macedonia were ruled by the medieval Bulgarian Empire under Tsar Samuel. All the various conquerors - and there were many who overran the Balkan Peninsula - left their mark on the fortifications. You can walk along most of the walls and climb into the towers, enjoying the gorgeous views. There aren’t reconstructed buildings or museum exhibits, though. Just the joy of a grown up “little kid” exploring a ruined fort!
Tsar Samuel’s Fortress overlooking Ohrid’s old town has been in used since very ancient times
As the sun sank towards the Albanian mountains, we trudged tiredly to our final stop. The most photographed church in all North Macedonia - or so the story says. St. Jovan of Kaneo is perched on a spur of rocks all but hanging over Lake Ohrid. It is beautiful when looking down on it from above, with the blue waters spread out beneath it and the mountains beyond. It is also beautiful when seen from the water, hugging a point of reddish rocks, with the waves lapping against them. It is famous for its setting. Honestly, I felt it probably had the least impressive interior, but most impressive exterior, when you include its natural setting. It had been a long day, and it was less than a half hour before the church would close when we arrived. My feet could feel the thousands of cobblestones and rocky surfaces I had walked across for the last 7-8 hours. We finished the day with dinner in a cafe along the lakeside, basking in the sun and memories of the gorgeous sights and interesting things we had seen on our first full day in Ohrid, North Macedonia.
Looking down from the walls on the terra cotta roofs and church domes of OldTown
If anyone has questions or comments about sights I saw while in North Macedonia, or about traveling there, feel free to reach out to me by email at:
[email protected]
A final look at lovely St. Jovan of Kaneo church along the beautiful coastline of Lake Ohrid
This featured blog entry was written by world_wide_mike from the blog Worldwidemike.
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