MACEDONIA HIGHLIGHTS

Private transfer from airport to Skopje and to Mount Vodno for a cable car ride to the top of the mountain for the best view over the capital Skopje and the surrounding mountains. Proceed down to the city for a walking tour through its history layers: the memorial house of Mother Teresa, the Macedonia Square with the grand fountain of Alexander the Great, and over the old Stone Bridge into the maze of cobblestoned streets of the old bazaar lined with Ottoman mosques and baths turned into art galleries. End the tour with dinner in the old town under the medieval city walls. O/N in Skopje.

Morning walk in Matka, a canyon filled with twenty caves and several abysses, and a place to a wonderful and memorable lake. The specific climate of the area contributed to the life of many endemic plants and animals, and to over 250 different species of butterflies! We’ll take a boat along the river to visit the cave Ubava, and to a XIV century Byzantine church built in the rocks above the lake, with beautiful original icons and inscriptions on its walls. Drive to Ohrid in the afternoon, with stops on the way to visit the Painted Alaya mosque in Tetovo, and the famous iconostasis of St Jovan Bigorski carved in wood by the Myak masters. O/N in Ohrid.

Both Ohrid and Ohrid Lake are under UNESCO World Heritage protection: the city for its great cultural and historical heritage, and the lake being the oldest lake in Europe with fantastic biodiversity. Take a morning guided tour of Ohrid old town with visit of the most significant Orthodox churches, the Roman Amphitheatre, the medieval fortress of Tsar Samoil and the gallery of icons, with some 30 masterpieces dating back to 11th century. Afternoon drive by the lake to visit the Bay of Bones archeological site in the lake, and to St Naum monastery, the birthplace of Slavic literacy , where we’ll take a boat ride in the lagoon under the walls of the monastery. Back to Ohrid for dinner with ethno music and folklore and overnight in same hotel.

Morning drive in the woods of Galicica National Park to Prespa Lake, a nature reserve of white pelicans, cormorants, herons, cranes and swans; it is home to a beautiful ethno museum of national dresses, and to a small medieval church St George. The modest interior of this medieval jewel is hiding real wealth inside its walls: with the preserved frescoes from 12th century it is one of the most important places in the World treasury of cultural heritage. We’ll visit the home of the welcoming villagers for a tasty homemade lunch, and we’ll continue to Pelagonija, the heart of Macedonian King’s empire, and to Bitola, the former city of consulates and embassies. O/N in Bitola. 

Visit Prilep, the city of medieval towers of King Marko, and the grand St Archangel Michael monastery perched on the rocks below the towers. We’ll take a walk in the old town of Prilep and visit the museum of tobacco, the leaning clock tower and the colorful old market, and continue to Heraclea Lyncestis, the ancient city founded by Philip II (father of Alexander the Great) with time-preserved courtrooms, a Roman theatre and residences and basilicas from Early Christian period with world-renown mosaics. Afternoon guided tour of Bitola, a city with 1.600 years urban tradition and beautiful examples of architecture from different periods. Evening is free to join the promenade on Shirok Sokak (Wide alley) street in the city center. O/N in same hotel in Bitola.

Leave Bitola in the morning and head to Krushevo, the highest town in the Balkans, known as the center of the most important battles in the Macedonian history, but also for the rich Vlach traditions and art crafts, and for the mouthwatering dishes, including the Krushevo spiced sausage and their sweet, soft lokum that melts in the mouth. Continue to the wine area of Macedonia. Optional: tour with winetasting in the cellars of Tikvesh, a gigantic winery built in 1885, today with over 20 million liters production per year. Evening tour of the cellars of Popova Kula winery where we’ll have our farewell dinner with winetasting and stay overnight in the winery chateau.

Drive to the airport for your flight back home. If time allows visit Stobi, the eternal city founded at the sunset of the ancient Macedonian kingdom. Hear the story of ancient winemaking traditions in the cellars of Stobi winery. Optional, lunch winetasting in Stobi winery.

Drive to Stobi, the eternal city founded at the sunset of the ancient Macedonian kingdom, place where the traders through the Roman road Via Egnatia were supplied with gold, white and pink marble, wine and iron. From here continue to Kokino, the 4^th oldest Megalithic Observatory in the world by NASA, right after Stonehenge (UK), Abu Simbel (Egypt) and Angkor Vat (Cambodia). Afternoon is free to relax in the spa center, or in the beautiful village setting of your hotel. Traditional dinner and overnight in Ethno hotel complex.
Optional: winetasting in Stobi winery.

Early in the morning we’ll cross Macedonian – Kosovo border and drive along Kachanik Gorge to our first stop, Grachanica monastery: a UNESCO world heritage site of extraordinary beauty, famous for its church devoted to Annunciation of the Holly Mother of God. Continue to the Kosovo greatest battlefield in its history, where Sultan Murad and Emperor Lazar fought with their armies back in 1389. Only few kilometers away is the tomb/turbe of the Ottoman Sultan Murad the First, who was killed in that battle. From here we head to the Kosovo Capital Pristina, for lunch and afternoon guided panoramic city tour followed by a walk along Pristina’s  main street and the pedestrian zone by the monuments of Mother Teresa, Skenderbeg, and the monument of the first president of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova. Transfer to Pec. Dinner and overnight in hotel in Pec.

The Patriarchate of Pec is the next UNESCO World Heritage site on our tour, which had continuous life for over seven centuries. We’ll visit here a complex of four churches built and fresco-painted back in XIII-XIV century, and head back to Pec and Decani to visit one more UNESCO World Heritage site: the Serbian Orthodox Christian monastery VisokiDecani, famous for its frescoes declared as "one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting". Continue to Prizren driving by Djakovica, and by Terzi Most, an interesting bridge from XVIII century. After a traditional lunch in Prizren restaurant we’ll take a walking tour of this wonderful historic city of Kosovo with preserved old buildings, bazaar, mosques and orthodox churches, a catholic cathedral, bridges and a fortress. See why this ancient city is named “the Open Air Museum”!!! Departure to Skopje in late afternoon and finish the day with a grand farewell dinner in Skopje. Overnight in hotel in Skopje.

Free time to explore the capital center completely rebuilt for the project Skopje 2014 with numerous monuments, baroque buildings and fountains until departure home.