james.williams123098

Ohrid Lake is Europe’s oldest lake and, as one of the oldest human settlements in the world, it’s got a wealth of historic sites and religious monuments to discover. The town is said to have once been home to 365 churches, one for each day of the year, earning it the nickname ‘the Macedonian Jerusalem’.
Known as cultural, artistic and education centre in the Slavic world, it became an important trading centre. Always attractive for various conquerors, the city was fought over by Romans, Ottomans and many other invaders.
Ohrid and Lake Ohrid are on the list of world protected heritage sites of UNESCO since 1980.

More information about this beautiful Macedonian city: Ohrid | Cities.mkhttps://www.britannica.com/place/Ohrid, https://hertz.mk/ohrid/ Unesco Ohrid

dddc

I went to a wedding in Macedonia several years ago near Veles. The couple were going to honeymoon at Ohrid Lake. They said it was very beautiful around there. Shame the wedding wasn't there as there wasn't much around where we stayed.

SanDiego1K

We stayed on Ohrid Lake last year and agree it is lovely.

rankourabu

I went in 2004, overland from Albania, you could rent an apartment for 10 Euros. Great food, good scenery, zero tourists.
I wonder if its changed

Romanianflyer

Same memories last two times I visited (2010 from Albania as well, and 2012 from Serbia from the top of my head) sure, not exactly 'zero' tourists but you barely noticed them around! And indeed also an apartment for around 15 EUR or so.

I'm also curious if it's still the same as since then the air market has opened up a bit (Wizz offers seasonal low-cost services to Ohrid, and even more flights year-round to Skopje).

Interestingly enough, even though it is way before my time, I know that Ohrid was a very popular holiday resort during the peaceful Yugoslavian years among Germans, Scandinavians and the Dutch. Especially the latter came in droves by car after the town was immortalised by a Dutch writer called A. den Doolaard in two 1930s books. The whole tourism industry from the 70s and 80s however collapsed during the Yugoslav wars. A statue of the Dutch writer can still be seen on the Ohrid waterfront, as the Macedonians are equally fond of him - not for his literary work, but rather for bringing in the tourists!

So I'm not sure what is to be considered as 'normal crowds' you could also argue that the past two decades without big crowds were the abnormality!

SanDiego1K

It was jammed with tourists last year.

The Monastery of Saint Naum at the bottom of the lake is well worth a visit. It's quite a tourist complex with shops and restaurants along the path you stroll to the monastery. It was lovely to sit at a cafe overlooking the lake.