A Beautiful Mountain Drive & an Ancient Town

Driving up and up in Galicica National Park, enjoying beautiful views of lakes and mountains

I think the perfect amount of time for a visitor to spend in a town or city that has a lot of sights is 3-4 days. The first day, you are getting the lay of the land and figuring out where things are. You walk around and see some high points. The next day, you make it through your list of things to do in town, for the most part. After that, it is time for a day trip to a sight or two nearby that intrigues you. And so it was, with our fourth and final day in Ohrid, North Macedonia. We had seen pretty much all we wanted to in town, driven along the lake to St. Naum and the Bay of Bones, and now it was time to venture further in our rental car.

We drove from Ohrid along the lakeshore in the distance to this lofty scenic overlook

We would be combining my two favorite things to experience on vacation — History and beautiful scenery. We woke relatively early and drove along the lake again to the entrance of the Galicica National Park. Although we wouldn’t be doing any hiking, we were headed up, up, and over its mountains. The guidebook we’d read said the road from Ohrid to Lake Prespa — an even higher mountain lake than Ohrid — was supposed to be gorgeous. Our gracious hosts at Villa Dea had confirmed the route for us, and another cloudless blue sky awaited us on our drive.

The mountain peak and its Two Lakes Trail, partially hidden amongst the feathery trees

I kept an eye out for places to pull off and get a nice scenic view as we ascended. The best one we found was just short of the mountain pass. As we got out of the car, we saw in front of us an amazing panorama of the sparkling blue waters of Lake Ohrid. Framing them were the distant, snow-capped peaks of neighboring Albania. The small towns along the near shore were clusters of tiny, white buildings far below. While in the hazy distance, Ohrid sprawled along the lake and into the foothills. It was a beautiful view — exactly what we’d been hoping to see. Once again, the weather was incredible, with radiant sunshine gracing every day of our travels.

Cresting the mountain pass is rewarded with a view of equally gorgeous Lake Prespa

We also took photos of the snowy mountain peak still ahead of us. Feathery pine trees poked out from the carpet of white which extended towards the top. Only once on the drive would we see actual snow on the road, nestled in some shade, . Otherwise, the road was well maintained, wide, and smooth. As I examined the peak more closely, I saw the trailhead and path of Two Lakes Trail. One of the more popular hikes in Galicica, its path goes from one side of the mountains with views of Lake Ohrid, to a summit where you can see both Ohrid and Lake Prespa on the other side. We’d considered doing the hike, but weren’t sure exactly how much time driving our route would take, so contented ourselves with driving and stopping at viewpoints along the way.

The sparkling waters of cold, clear Lake Prespa - Europe’s highest tectonic lake

From there, it was a just a few minute’s drive till we crested the mountain pass and began descending quickly towards Lake Prespa. It was the source of the incredibly clear springs we’d seen on our boat ride near St. Naum’s Monastery, the day before. It is connected by underground channels to lower, Lake Ohrid. Prespa’s blue waters sparkled even more than Ohrid’s if possible. We improvised our own scenic overlooks along our descent. Lake Prespa is Europe’s highest tectonic lake (created by shifts in the earth’s crust). It is fairly deep, though its depth falls short of Lake Ohrid, which is nearly three football fields deep! Lake Ohrid is also thought to be Europe’s oldest lake.

Heraclea Lyncestis was founded by Alexander the Great’s father, Philip II, in the 4th century BC

In no time at all, it seemed like we had reached the bottom of the mountain and were driving along the lake shore. Prespa’s shores were lined with reeds in some places and spring flowers in others. We saw a number of closed campgrounds and hotels along its shores. It was still very early in the season for Lake Prespa’s altitude (2,800 feet above sea level). The air was crisp, but the warm sunshine kept it from feeling cold. It’s too bad our visit to North Macedonia missed its high season, though. There was an island in the lake called Golem Grad with Roman and Medieval ruins we’d wanted to see. It was also a nature preserve and home to a number of snakes and poisonous vipers. Hmm, maybe it was a good thing we came before its tourist season opened up!

The Roman bath complex at Heraclea Lyncestis, the town grew in importance under their rule

Still, we’d get our fill of ruins, today. Now that we’d crossed the mountains, we were headed to the town of Bitola. It is the site of North Macedonia’s most well-known Ancient ruins, Heraklea Lyncestis. This ancient city was founded by Philip II (Alexander the Great’s father) in the 4th century B.C. It was expanded further by the Romans when they conquered Macedonia. During Philip and Alexander’s time, it was a fortress city against raids by hostile tribes, while in the Roman times, it was an important city on their major east-west road through Greece, the Via Egnatia. Our Apple Maps GPS was working flawlessly in North Macedonia, and we found the ancient site easily. There were only a couple of other cars in the lot, so it would be wonderful to have the site mostly to ourselves. In fact, I think we did have it completely to ourselves for most of our visit. To me, ancient ruins are improved by the silence — no crowds, no tour buses, and no Instagram goddesses posing self-indulgently amidst the columns and crumbling walls.

The columns of the Basilica, a market area under the Romans, and a church under the later Christians

I felt Heraclea Lyncestis was set up wonderfully for visitors. At each major building or portion of the site, there was a sign and map with short explanation. There was also a QR code on the sign which took you to a narrated description with historical background for each stop on the way. Several of the narrated passages were almost four minutes long, others just a couple minutes. You would use your cellphone camera, click on the link, and then listen in as the narrator took you back to Macedonian or Roman times. Of course, you need a phone with service and access to the internet to do that, which confirmed for me that we are doing the right thing by paying a small fee each day to extend our Verizon service overseas.

The theater is the most stunning part of the ruins of this ancient Macedonian and Roman town

It was wonderful climbing around the ruins — there were few roped off areas or places you appeared forbidden to go. It is an active archeological site, with new finds unearthed every year. Unfortunately, there were no archeologists working there the day we visited. In fact, we had a slight disappointment in that the Roman mosaics they’ve unearthed so far are actually covered up by gravel to protect them during the off-season. Spring is technically off-season, so we had to be content with photographs of the mosaics and samples we could see in the tiny museum near the Greek theater. I guess I can accept that slight downside when the alternative is to have throngs of people at the site. The border with Greece is less than an hour away, and it appears that tour groups do stop here semi-regularly in the summer.

Some of the seats are still inscribed with the names of the families who they belonged to

The high point of Heraclea Lyncestis is the theater. It has been reconstructed so that you can walk along the aisles, climb the stairs, stand upon the stage and recite lines from Homer — whatever you wish. The Romans also used it as a gladiator arena, and you can still see the entrances to the subterranean cages were wild animals were kept to fight the gladiators. The inscriptions of Greek letters designating the luxury boxes and seats of the wealthy are still visible, marking which family they belonged to. You can plop down in them and imagine yourself being entertained by either Aristophanes or brutal combats. The sun was beating down as we climbed to the top row of the theater and admired the beautiful, Balkan countryside stretching away into the distance.

Carvings and decorations like this give you a sense of the beauty of the town

Truly, you couldn’t ask for a more gorgeous day nor a more almost private visit than we had in Philip’s old colony. Once we were completely sated with our taste of Greek, Macedonian, and Roman history, we thanked the attendant at the visitor center, asked him a few questions, and then decided to head into the town of Bitola for lunch. It seemed like a holiday in town and nearly everyone seemed to be out walking on the downtown streets and enjoying the sunshine. We chose a restaurant the attendant had recommended, and enjoyed the air conditioning, cold sparkling water, lunch, and a treat we were growing to love in North Macedonia — Shopska salad. Friends know I love my cucumbers and tomato salads, but the shredded white sheep cheese and dressing really set off taste of the fresh vegetables.

Modern statue of Alexander the Great in the park in downtown Bitola

After our late lunch, we walked downtown to see the statue of Alexander the Great, the town’s mosques, and the medieval clock tower. We remembered it was Easter weekend, so apparently North Macedonians celebrate Good Friday with a work holiday. It was fun to see so many people out and enjoying the gorgeous, sunny day. Judged by my standards of seeing interesting History and beautiful scenery, it was another perfect day in North Macedonia! Tomorrow, we’d leave Ohrid’s lovely shores and head to the capital, Skopje. Hopefully, we’d have wonderful weather and great sights to see there, as well!

It seemed everyone was out walking, enjoying the sunshine, in downtown Bitola