Ohrid

We took a walking tour of Ohrid today.  The streets here are so narrow, steep and winding that it would have been impossible to uses our mini bus.  The only vehicles that are allowed here are those of the residents of the city, and they are, out of necessity, very small.

The entire city of Ohrid is on the UNESCO list of heritage cities.  That means there are very strict rules about what the residents may and may not do to their homes.

We visited four of the over 40 churches of the city. The city, like so many old cities in the Balkans, was built first by the Greeks (we saw the reconstructed ruin of the old Greek theater), then by the Romans, the Byzantines, the Turks, and then, following the first world war, it became part of Yugoslavia.  The Republic of Macedonia didn't come into being until the 1990s.  Consequently, this city has ruins from all of these periods, and a history of churches becoming mosques, than becoming churches again, which were basically unused during the communist era when atheism was promoted, and now there is a renaissance of the church.  The old churches that we toured contain amazing frescoes, some dating back to the 11th century.

We had a free afternoon so had a nice lunch on the waterfront followed by a stroll through the pedestrian shopping district.  I bought some pearl earrings and then some fruit in the green market.

One of the first things we came across was this theater.  Built in about 300 BC it was initially a Greek theater seating 1600.  What is unusual is that when the Romans came they converted it to a Roman Colosseum and had gladiator games here.  Later on it was used by the local tribes until the Ottomans covered it over and built a palace on top.

The fort overlooks the city.  The oldest ruins date to about 900 BC.  When the Greeks came they built a fortress here.  It was later enlarged and rebuilt into a Roman fort which was further enlarged under the Ottomans - reaching its present size in the 11th century.  The fort has no source of water in it so was never used for anything other than a place for the solders and their commander.

Anyone remember the Yugo?  This was a disaster of a car that Tito was pushing years ago.

From the top of the fortress you can see the old town and harbor below.  (The air quality here is the pits!  It is always brown and hazy.  They burn a lot of wood to heat, cook, and bake with.  Add the coal electric plants with no pollution controls and you have a real mess.)

Sandy overlooks the city from the watch tower.

The fortress really commands the city from the heights.

At one time there were over 360 churches in the city - there are now 40 (still a lot in such a small city).  This one is St. Clements Church.  St. Clement was a Roman citizen who came here in the 8th century.  He  organized the church in this area (they had been converted to Christianity in the 1st century) and was credited with a number of miracles.  He became the patron saint of the city.  His body is buried here.

Here you can see the excavations around the church.  The oldest structure built here was a Greek temple.  Over this was built a series of Roman temples, then came the church.  When the Ottomans came they converted it into a mosque.  Finally it was converted back into a church in the 1900s.  St. Clements had established the first university in the Balkans here in 880.  The government is now making plans to rebuild a new university on the same site.

For lunch we had salads down along the lake front.  Sandy had to sample the local beer!