Day 252 - Tuesday - 5/22/2012

Waking up in Ohrid, is something to experience in life FOR SURE! I had personally been to Ohrid before, but getting to go there and stay over night was wonderful.  We found an amazing place to stay, Apartment Kaneo, which I would recommend to anyone going to Ohrid. 

The front door of Apartment Kaneo

The walk way to the apartment from the lake

The owner of the apartment had shared with us the night before that it was possible there would not be any water today while they cleaned out the pipes.  This brought us a challenge for finding a place to eat breakfast, most places could not prepare food since they did not have water. But we found a little place right on the lake and had a great meal. 

The restaurant 

Hamburger

Greek Salate

After our meal, we headed up to St. Jovan church, it is on the side of the cliff looking over the lake. The view from there is so priceless. We also stopped to take a few pictures on our walk up to our next site.

At the gate to St. Jovan

St. Jovan

Walking, St. Jovan in the background

Lake Ohrid

We continued walking up the hillside toward the ancient city of Plaosnik Pateka. Ohrid has an ancient history.  Plaosnik was discovered when a group was starting to dig for a hotel they were going to build. They found some runis which caused their building to cease so the ruins could be uncovered. In the uncovering there were several layers of civilizations discovered built on top of one another.  It is interesting that this has been found because throughout Ohrid, this is happening once again. Unfortunately many people have stopped reporting things they are finding as they build because it will mean not getting to build. It is a hard situation, people want to be able to build and live their lives, but that also means not uncovering history. Also in the area with the city of Plaosnik is the church St. Panteleimon which is a new building built to match what would have stood there. There were beautiful mosaics framed inside from the original area.

St. Panteleimon

Next was Samuil's Fortress and city walls. The fortress dates back to the 4th Century BC, and is thought to have been built by Phillip of Macedon.  We paid the small charge to get inside.  We walked through the ruins within and then walked up on top of the walls. 

Samuil's Fortress from inside

On the city wall

My family inside the city walls

Another spot in Ohrid that is a must see is the Ancient Theater. It is from the Hellenic period and was built in 200 BC.  On this trip I learned that amphitheaters during the time tended to seat 10% of the cities population. This amphitheater was used for many different purposes throughout its very long history, currently the city still uses it for music concerts and festivals.

In the amphitheater

Walking back through the city we took a few other stops, including the City Museum and a Paper Making Workshop. I had been told to try and go to the paper shop in Ohrid, but I had NO what was inside. We walked in and saw his beautiful work, and then saw a Gutenberg Press, a GUTENBERG PRESS!  It was amazing to see and touch! We spent some time in his shop, watched him make paper and talked with him. A day to remember...

Outside the the Paper Making Shop

Where he makes the paper

The Gutenberg Press

There was another stop that was recommended to us by a friend, the fish soup restaurant. We were successful in finding it, and oh man it was worth it! We had an amazing dinner!

Fish soup

Pork roll

Baked pork dish with peppers

Pork dish with a creamy sauce

Making the best of every situation, after dinner we went out and effectively enjoyed the very rainy and windy weather!  We even walked back to the apartment nearly blowing away but laughing the entire way.

Touch your sign and make a wish...even if its raining!

We were a bit wet..soaked even when we returned

The owner of the apartment Ljupka offered us some of her delicious home made cake when we returned. It was an experience for sure and we all want to try to figure out how to make it when we return home!

Lesson: We live amongst our history, we have to decide if we will cover it and forget it, or make it part of our lives.