We drove over the mountains from Albania to the Macedonian city of Ohrid, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one of the oldest human settlements in Europe) on the shores of Lake Ohrid. This is a lively and attractive town for tourists (the next Dubrovnik?) with many old and interesting churches. We visited two of the most notable.
St. Sophia is one of the largest and most important churches in the area. Its medieval frescoes are outstanding.
The Church of Our Lady Perivlepta has some of the finest early Renaissance-era frescoes in the world. The paintings, which have been recently restored, have a vigor and dimensionality very different from traditional Byzantine painting, and some rival the contemporary works of Giotto in Italy. Unfortunately, photos of the interior are forbidden, but the exterior is itself worthy of a picture.
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