Ohrid

Amadeus was so excited for a day of exploring Ohrid that he really could barely sleep!
It’s extremely touristy here and as it’s a Saturday we were keen to tick off some of the hotspots before the day trippers arrived. It’s significantly cooler by the lake which has been a lovely change. First stop was the Church of St John the Theologian. Most photographed spot in Macedonia. You’ll notice all the churches seem to be much the same design in varying shapes and sizes.

Gio loves checking out the new flags in each country! 🇲🇰

Beautiful swan in the background next to the “Vordici” or “Epiphany “ statue.

Epiphany is celebrated on the 19th and 20th of January by the Orthodox here, to commemorate the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist. From what I gather the Priest throws a cross into the waters of Lake Ohrid (which is approx 5 degrees at that time of year!) and hundreds dive in, hoping to be the first to retrieve it.

Lovely boardwalk to the church of St. John.

Made it! Had the place mostly to ourselves this time of day.

“Macedonia’s most photographed spot – Tick!”

Lovely amble through a pine forest en route to Samuel’s fortress. Sighted more squirrels along the way.

About this stage I realized the Lions V Pies grand final was happening back home. It was already final quarter when started following along on the live app. Amazingly the only other people at the fortress were a family of 3 Aussies who turned out to be from Brisbane. The teenage boy was wearing a Geelong Cats cap and was very excited to hear the score updates as we crossed paths around the fortress walls. Seemed extremely coincidental given how few Australians we have encountered this trip.

Noelle had the right idea. Keep out of those rays!

Jesse and I were definitely ready for a feed by now and wanted to check out the local favourite “meat pizza”. Research led us to a cafe just opposite the Orthodox Church of St Sophia whose feast day it happened to be in their calendar. Jesse met the priests wife and kids while Gio and Noelle played with heaps of tortoises roaming the church yard.

A wedding had also just taken place there which was fun to sit and observe. Forget cake – check out the giant wedding Pannatone type deal here!

The meat pizza was loaded with braised pork and put an Aussie meat lovers to shame. And the Margy was second only to the one we had in Napoli itself last year!

After naps we headed off in search of an adventurous hike. We found a lovely trail but not exactly adventurous. The kids found what is probably the best cake I’ve ever purchased along the way.