Ohrid

What Skopje lacked in beauty is definitely made up for in the beautiful lakeside town of Ohrid. About a three hours bus ride from Skopje, Ohrid is the most visited place in Macedonia and is located on the western edge of the country just across the lake from Albania.

Fishing boats in the lakeside harbor with hills and snow capped mountains in the back.

You can definitely still get amazing travel deals here. Beers are about $1. Dinner for two $12. This adorable hotel with view of the lake and chocolate croissants delivered to our terrace for breakfast, $50.

According to the locals, Ohrid is one of the oldest cities in the world. Archaeological explorations have found evidence of civilizations as old as the 6th-century BC. We were absolutely amazed at how well coordinated this dig was. As we saw in Skopje, we have become very used to seeing good intentions gone bad...neglected public works projects abound. Ohrid, on the other hand, ha the funding and knows the value of preserving its archaeological heritage. There must have been about 80 people working on this dig. The church in the distance had been preserved and had portions re-built in the traditional style. It was gorgeous. They had also constructed beautiful terracotta tile roofed structures to cover and preserve many of the elaborate tiled floors. Obviously this place will continue to build on it tourist base for years to come.

The medieval fortress atop the hill overlooking the lake and town below.

Another gorgeous church perched on the lakeside. Alex and I took one of the tiny fishing boats back into town after exploring this peak.

Kids swimming off of one of the piers right in the middle of town.