Balkan 23

Day 1

SKOPJE

Arrival in Skopje. Transfer to your hotel. A short break. A half-day sightseeing tour of Skopje with a professional local guide – a visit to the old railway station; the statue of Mother Teresa; the Stone Bridge; the Daut Pasha Baths National Gallery (Daut Pashin Amam); Thurch of St. Spas (Holy Salvation); the Fortress Kale. The tour ends in a walk through the Old Skopje Bazaar. Free afternoon. At 8.00 p.m. traditional Macedonian dinner. Overnight stay in Skopje.

Day 2

SKOPJE

Breakfast. All-day tour – a visit to Lake Matka, which is the beloved getaway retreat of most citizens of Skopje and the Monastery Church of St. Andrew in Matka, built in the 14th century. Then a visit to Vodno and the Monastery Church of St Pantelejmon in the village of Gorno Nerezi, which was built in the 12th century and represents an important monument from the Byzantine period. At the end a visit to Marko’s monastery. Traditional dinner with live music. Overnight stay in Skopje.

Day 3

MAVROVO – OHRID

Breakfast. A departure for Mavrovo National Park. Accommodation in the hotel. After a short rest a five-hour tour of the beauties of the Bistra mountain. Dinner. Overnight stay.

Day 4

OHRID

Breakfast. Departure for Ohrid. We follow the road along the River Radika with its magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. It leads us to the mystical and tranquil Monastery of St. Jovan Bigorski (St John the Baptist) which was built in the 19th century. In the monastery church you can see an icon of St John the Baptist dating from the 11th century as well as the final and most stunning one of only three iconostases carved (into walnut). Afterwards what follows is a short break in Vevchani to see a famous Vevchani springs. After that resuming our journey to Ohrid. Arrival and accommodation in the hotel. Free afternoon. Dinner. Overnight stay.

Day 5

OHRID

Breakfast. A half-day tour of Ohrid; The tour starts in front of the statue of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, and it continues to the Lower gate, the National Museum of Ohrid, the Church of St Sophia, the Roman amphitheatre, the Upper gate, St Clements’s Church of the Holy Mother of God Most Glorious, The Icon Gallery, Tsar Samoil’s fortress, Plaoshnik, and it ends in a walk through Ohrid’s marketplace. Dinner in a restaurant that serves traditional Macedonian food.

Day 6

OHRID

Breakfast. A visit to the beautiful and popular Monastery of St Naum with new inns built in the last decade. A walk to the source of the River Crn Drim which feeds the lake. Free time. Overnight stay.

Day 7

BITOLA – SKOPJE

Breakfast. After breakfast departure for Bitola. The road leads us across the Galichica mountain. A visit to the city of Bitola, and the ancient Macedonian town of Heraclea Lyncestis, which is located 5km far from, and which was founded in the middle of the 4th century BC. Afterwards a visit to the military high school “Kemal Ataturk” named after the creator of modern Turkey. Then a departure for Skopje. Dinner. Accommodation in the hotel. Overnight stay.

Day 8

SKOPJE

Breakfast. Transfer to the airport. Departure from Macedonia.

Interested in this tour? Contact us .