Lake Ohrid - The Jerusalem of the Balkans! a picturesque little town (amazing summer destination!)

This little lake town of 50,000 people can triple in size during summer and its obvious why!

Beautiful little town by a lake, natural parks and plenty to do (hiking, boats, scuba diving, mountain biking, ATV, hire riding, etc.). It's also known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans as there are 365 different churches so one for every day and it's a UNESCO world heritage site --> simply because it's truly beautiful

As you walk through some of the cute cobblestone streets, you find not only the famous churches but some tiny ones the size of a small house all over the place. 

The most famous church is the church of Saint Sophia which happens to be in the 1000 Denar bills!

One of the photos is a mini replica of it. There are also other important churches like the church of St Clement and there's an amphitheatre as well. 

During summer Ohrid hosts one of the longest summer festivals in Europe for big parts of July and August with musical and arts performances in multiple places as the amphitheatre, some churches, etc. 

There are 3 other interesting attractions here

1) the famous orchid pearls. These are pearls which are created from the scales of a fish that grows in the lake which scales are very shiny. The process to do so was brought here at the beginning of the 20th century by a Russian from Laka Baikal where they do something similar. 

They are really cool the Orchid pearls and they carry in price depending on their size. Literally the town is full of jewellers selling them. Great for presents. 

2) Paper museum - using old techniques, the old man still makes paper from natural ingredients (wood, cotton and water) with the traditional method dating thousands of years from China. He also has one of the few Gutenberg press replicas with which he prints different souvenirs. 

3) woodworking shop - a family tradition passed on generation to generation, in this tiny shop they make some elaborate wood carvings. They have been commissioned by some churches to make full rooms decorated through wood carving. Even some of the small things in the photo could take weeks or months to make. 

30 Kms outside of Ohrid lies the St Naum monastery which makes for a great day trip. The location of this monastery is exactly where the fresh springs are that fill the lake and hence you have one of the cleanest waters in the world at this place. 

On the way to the monastery you can stop at the Bay of bones museum which shows how people lived in houses made on stilts in the water around 1200-700 BC as they found archeological remains and have recreated a little village

You can visit St Naum and Bay of bones both by car or in one of the day tours by boat (during summer)

Also on the way to St Naum is the National park Galicica which is supposed to be amazing to hike during summer. 

And of course I did a boat tour as I'm at a lake so it had to be done. The strong wind, waves and a bit of rain was no deterrent and captain Nikolai (B&F cruises - highly highly recommend him) gave me a tour in his boat

And of course, I had to add the Yugo car found wandering the streets of Ohrid.

Can't wait to go back during summer!

I stayed in a cute place called Villa Amfora which while the rooms were small they were very nice. 

And two restaurants I went to (recommended by locals) were worth going to:

Kaneo restaurant and letna bavcha - great food and great selection of wines (all of which can be ordered by the glass!)

Restaurant Dalga - spectacular views and an awesome terrace on the lake. 

Time to hit the road!