Around Lake Ohrid

Lake Ohrid with its main city Ohrid is the tourist center of North Macedonia and really beautiful. Since it was already late when we arrived, we treated ourselves to a night in the hotel and then strolled through the town the next day. There is a fortress on the old town hill, an amphitheater, and the Orthodox Church of St. Jovan, which is picturesque perched on a rock promontory. From here you can take a water taxi back to the port of Ohrid. The old town is also very pretty, everywhere you can buy jewelry made from the Ohrid pearl cultivated here.

We continued along Lake Ohrid to the small village of Kalista in Struga. Here we stayed at a small campsite right by the lake. The shore is still completely natural, there is a lot to observe. At first we could hardly believe it, but there are snakes everywhere, completely undisturbed on the shore and near the water. We even watched a snake devour a fish. Nevertheless, we all go swimming here, sharing the lake with the animals. Since the lake is located at 700m, it gets pleasantly cool at night and we really enjoyed this quiet time here, staying longer than we had thought.

But this was also due to the nice company. So we met a family from Basel who is cycling through the Balkans! They treated themselves to a day off here and we joined them to go to the nearby water park. There is a fantastic slide park located beautifully above the lake and everyone had a great time.

Then there is a beautiful bike path to the town of Struga, all through nature. And here we FINALLY caught fish! With the help of a neighbor who had the right hooks and only very small fish, but they were undoubtedly real fish, and we even cooked and ate one.

The sound in the evening is legendary to me: a mix of Balkan beats from Struga across the lake, the croaking of frogs from the reeds, and the call to prayer from the village's minaret...

We have spent wonderful days here in North Macedonia with incredibly friendly people and beautiful nature and we will remember this country fondly!