History and Culture in Ohrid
Ohrid is the main city on, you guessed it, Lake Ohrid! It is a much bigger city than Struga with a population of a little over 50,000; three times the population of Struga. It’s also much older than Struga, which means there is sooooo much more history to see and experience here. We made many trips to Ohrid to explore all the historical areas we could!
Sitting up on a large hill in the heart of Ohrid is Samuel’s Fortress, a 2,000-year-old fortress. According to the board posted here, King Phillip II (father of Alexander the Great) was the first person to want to build a fortress here, though it is unclear to us if he ever got around to it or just planned it out. Over the years, the fortress has been damaged, repaired, razed, rebuilt, and repurposed by various empires.
The first time we walked into the old town, we chose a hiking area around the mountain to the northwest. This took us past the historical Church of Saint John the Theologian, which is right on an outcropping to the lake. Continuing on our hike, we went up to the fort, which was closed. It seems not much is open on a Monday in Macedonia! We were able to sit at a café across from it and enjoy some beautiful sights of the city and lake. And the hike up and around the hill was worth it even if there were no fortress to see. It was an impressive sight to see from the outside. We were almost content enough to leave it at that. But, though I knew it was mostly ruins with largely intact rampart walls to walk on, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I just really needed to go inside this impressive structure.
We returned on a day it was open and paid to go inside. We went up onto the walls to walk around, looking at all the impressive views out over the city, the lake, and the countryside. It was impressive. It was also surreal to think about all the people who had walked on these walls before us. Who may have lived, died, fought, defended their family and friends, plotted, and so much more. We looked at the various ruins, some of which are still mostly buried as archaeological restoration and preservation is an ongoing effort. It was still possible to see how impressive this place would have once been. I am so grateful we decided to return and go inside.
Down at the bottom of the hill, there’s a gorgeous and mostly still intact 2,200-year-old Greek theatre. It looked like the stage had been redone and it is still in use today. There were even numbers painted onto each seat. We walked around to look at the theatre, then sat down on some of the seats to contemplate all the things this theatre had seen and heard over the years. Katia in particular was so excited. She’s utterly obsessed with Greek anything and everything, and was so happy to see her first Greek theatre!
Near the theatre, before walking up the hill to the fortress, was a beautiful arched stone entrance into the town. The city was partially walled in the distant past, with some gorgeous sections of walls remaining. We walked outside the walls and along, where it was so beautiful and peaceful. We entered back into the city a little way down, right into a stunning Orthodox church area, the Church of Holy Mary Peryvleptos. This church was breathtaking. So was the sight of the fortress up on the hill above.
We went inside to take a look at all the amazing paintings and architecture. We met some locals exiting, who advised us to always exit the church backwards so that we never turn our back on God. I had never heard of that custom in a church before but observed it at all the churches and monasteries after being told about this custom and watching people. We made sure to adopt local customs, as always!
We walked through the old town, which had such stunning architecture. There was another larger and equally impressive church in the centre of town, which we also went inside to see. This building seemed like it was partly in ruins, so only some localized areas were accessible. It also seemed like there was a theatre or something similar attached at one end of the church.
In the heart of the old town, we stumbled upon the National Workshop For Handmade Paper. You could go inside to explore for free, learning about the craft of making paper in the traditional Chinese way from the 2nd century BC. This method was brought over from China to Europe in the 13th century. The method came to North Macedonia in the mid to late 1500s, believed to have been brought over by a priest from St Noam’s Monastery who had been working in Venice and learned the trade there. The paper is made using an authentic copy of the original Gutenberg Press from Mainz, Germany. The press they use today has been in use since the 1800s.
There’s so much amazing history and culture in this small area of Macedonia. It has been fascinating to see the history and changes in this area over the past 2,500 years. We love thinking that we are walking in the steps of so many amazing people who have come before us for thousands of years! We absolutely adore all things history and culture in every country we visit, and it’s been especially rewarding to see this in a country we knew so little about before our visit.