2022 in North Macedonia (Ohrid)
On October 7, 2022, the Balkan bus tour brought me from Albania into [North] Macedonia, resulting in the visit of my 27th unique country!
We stopped in Ohrid:
This made it my
- 5th former Yugoslavian constituent country (out of 6)
- after Serbia + Bosnia + Croatia + Montenegro
- which leaves Slovenia unvisited as of this writing
- 7th Slavic speaking country
- after Poland + Bulgaria + Serbia + Bosnia + Croatia + Montenegro
- 1st Macedonian-speaking country (out of 1!)
- 5th country using the Cyrillic alphabet
- after Bulgaria + Serbia + Bosnia + Montenegro
- like Bulgaria with Bulgarian, Cyrillic appears as the only alphabet for Macedonian, the language of [North] Macedonia
Visit
After crossing the border from Albania into [North] Macedonia, the tour bus stopped at a small resort village outside Ohrid called Sveti Stefan (St. Stephen) to check into our hotel. That evening, the bus took us into downtown Ohrid, at where we would all have dinner in a traditional restaurant where we would see Macedonian student dancers dance their traditional dance.
The next morning, on October 8th, we would come back to Ohrid in the daytime to see sights such as:
- Ancient Macedonian Theatre of Ohrid
- Robevci Family House
- unique architecture of white exterior walls and dark brown window frames
- Samuel's Fortress
- Church of Hagia Sophia
- Church of Saint John the Theologian at Kaneo
- with a great view of Lake Ohrid
Reflection
Ohrid had an Old World feel that offered a break from the modern globalized urban landscape. It sure contrasted from Tirana, Albania, with its "up-and-coming, post-communist" vibe. I would later find that [North] Macedonia had a tendency to embrace tradition in its post-Yugoslavian days, when I went to Skopje.
I sure recommend Ohrid for anyone who enjoys visiting churches, as it offers a church for every day of the year!