Tour programme

All tours will depart from the official Congress hotels, unless otherwise stated.

Sv. Naum - St. Nahum: A Magical Linking of Nature, the Church and History

Programme by bus or boat.

Departure from the hotel at 09:00 am / Arrival back at the hotel at 01:00 pm

Departure from the hotel at 02:30 pm / Arrival back at the hotel at 06:30 pm

Departure from the hotel complex for Sv. Naum - St. Nahum, stopping en route for a panoramic view of the Ohrid Lake shore, the Galichica National Park, various lakeside hotel and tourist complexes and the fishing villages of Peshtani, Trpejca and Ljubanishta.

Arrival at Sv. Naum, where the Monastery of St. Nahum dates from the 9th century and was built by St. Nahum, a disciple of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, and is one of the most significant monasteries in the Balkans, situated on the Macedonian-Albanian border on the west side of the attractive Mount Galichica.

Nature, with its magical power, has spread around all its splendour here, creating miniature paradise of divine beauty.

The monastery complex of Sv. Naum, located on a rock, right above the lake, is a monument of and to the miracle-worker St. Nahum, and it is enhanced by a fashionable hotel that blends in with its surroundings.

The vegetation abounds with a spectrum of green and golden colours, exceptionally clear water and wonderful birds.

Fee: 25 Euros, which includes a three hours’ boat cruise with music, drinks and a professional tourist guide. Minimal for realisation 15 participants.

Ohrid - City of the Centuries, Inheritor of the Bright Lychnid

Departure from the hotel at 08:30 am / Arrival back at the hotel at 02:00 pm

Departure from the hotel at 02:30 pm / Arrival back at the hotel at 08:00 pm

Situated on the shore of Lake Ohrid, a treasure trove of primaeval wildlife about 4 million years old, one of the very few living museums in the world, Ohrid is the legitimate inheritor of the ancient Lychnidos, a city of eternal life and creativity from prehistory until now, interwoven with the achievements of ancient civilisations. Ohrid represents Macedonian cultural - an episcopal centre as early as the classical period and the Jerusalem of the Balkans. Ohrid has been the centre of the literacy and the culture of the Slavonic clergy, the capital of Czar Samuel’s kingdom and a centre of the Macedonian renaissance in the 19th century. A town with unique position in time and in space, a town with very rare and indeed unique natural and cultural treasures, it has been inscribed in UNESCO’s register of world values.

Sightseening in the old part of the city provides a unique opportunity to expirience Ohrid through the centuries and its treasury of cultural and historical monuments. Walking through the old streets of Ohrid, passing by its traditional architecture, you will be constantly aware of its monuments to different periods of history.

A rest and an aperitif in a national restaurant. Return to the city centre, sightseening in the old Ohrid Bazaar and visits to the old Ohrid crafts workshops.

Fee: 20 Euros, Minimal for realisation 15 participants.

St. Jovan Bigorski - Splendours of Natural Beauty, Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, Canyons and Unique Monasic Complex

Departure from the hotel at 09:00 am / Arrival back at the hotel at 01:00 pm

Departure from the hotel at 01:00 pm / Arrival back at the hotel at 06:00 pm

Departure by bus from the hotel towards Kichevo and Mavrovo. The journey will proceed via the rivers Crn Drim and Radika with views to the pictoresque scenery of the canyons of the River Radika.

Arrival at the monastery of Sv. Jovan Bigorski - St. John Bigorski.

The Monastery is one of the rare monuments that immediately attract the attention of the tourists, its attraction lying both in its settings and in the treasures contained within in.

At an elevation of 740 meters, surrounded by Mount Bistra and deeply embedded in the rocks, the architecture of the monastery is unique. Of special note is its vast carved iconostasis or altar screen wrought by well-known Macedonian wood-carvers.

The monasic complex is astonishing with its unique location and character, but what is perhaps even more astonishing is the splendour of the natural beauty of the rivers Crn Drim and Radika together with their lakes, valleys and canyons, lying between Mt. Bistra and Mt. Corab, two of the most beautifull mountains in the Balkans, not to mention the attractive tourist and ski centre of Mavrovo.

Panoramic views of the Mavrovo National Park, with relaxation and refreshments in the Bistra Hotel.

Fee: 35 Euros, Minimal for realisation 15 participants.

Bitola - The City of the Consuls and the Well-Known Heraclea Lyncaestis Complex

Departure from the hotel at 08:00 am / Arrival back at the hotel at 03:00 pm

Departure from the hotel for Bitola, with panoramic views of the mountains and several rural settlements in the Ohrid, Prespa and Bitola areas.

Arival in Bitola and sightseeing in the city. A walk along the old and well-known Shirok Sokak (Broad Street) where the Consulates of European countries were located at the time of the Ottoman Empire.

Visit to the City Museum which houses, among other things, the Kemal Attaturk Memorial Room, as well as to the Haydar Kadi Mosque (1561) and the Yeni Mosque (1558), both masterpieces of architecture in Macedonia.

Rest and refreshment in the old Bitola Bazaar.

Visit to the Heraclea Lyncaestis complex, founded by Philip II of Macedon and one of the best preserved antique sites in the Balkans. The city was named after the mythological hero Hercules, a hero of the Macedonian Argidian Dynasty. Heraclea existed and developed for more than a thousand years, experiencing revivals in the Roman period and in late antiquity. It was also an episcopal centre in the Early Christian period. Objects of great importance in this complex are the Roman Theatre and the Thermal Baths, as well as the Basilicas with their extraordinary mosaic floors and numerous archaeological finds.