The Republic of Macedonia, that’s the country I am referring to and that’s the hidden Balkan gem that I had been to a couple of years back.

Popularly known as Macedonia, one of the newest countries on the world map, it has been mired in controversy with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia and hence was forced to resort to that long official name.

This trip was with a bunch of my college friends and interestingly a part of a study tour. We flew by Turkish Airlines with a long layover in Istanbul. We reached Skopje by evening and our final destination for the two-week-stay was a town called Tetovo, about 40 odd km from the capital Skopje. After a long immigration check (we seemed to be the only people at the airport at that hour) we got on our bus to reach the town of Tetovo. 

Most travellers stay in Skopje, so I won’t get into details about Tetovo although I must add that it is a lovely town with some of the friendliest people on the planet.

For most part of the trip we had three local students with us – helping us understand as much of the local history and culture as possible and also taking us around to some of the most beautiful places in Macedonia. There are quite a few places to go around in Tetovo itself including the 15th century Šarena Džamija mosque, a grand piece of Ottoman architecture.

Other places of interest are the Arabati Baba Tekḱe, one of the finest surviving Bektashi tekes in Europe and the Leshok Monastery. And if you want some fresh fish grilled for dinner, just head up on the mountains where there are some fabulous restaurants to choose from.

The Central Square at Skopje is a must-see place, full of life and vigour and dotted with shops and cafes; it’s the perfect gateway to Europe. The market nearby is bustling with local eateries and pubs as well as a host of shops selling what tourists love to buy the most – souvenirs. It is a wonderful walk across the bylanes leading up to the Square and then just standing right there near the fountains and see the crowd come to life or maybe sit at the river bank and just stare at the sparkling river just flow through. Oh and the most historic place that you will get to see only in Skopje is Saint Mother Teresa’s Memorial House, and it is right in the middle there, just a few minutes walk from the Central Square.

I had earlier talked about how friendly I had found the people to be.

Well here is an example. When we reached the Memorial, it was closing down but when we said that we were from India, the lady was so ecstatic that she setup a private tour for us immediately. And that was followed by a small gathering of everyone who was present there. It was almost surreal to visit that place. 

So once you think you have soaked into the revelry that Skopje has to offer and drunk enough of the local beer (Skopsko is a must try when you are in Macedonia), you have to head out to Lake Ohrid, a UNESCO World Heritage site for its natural and cultural richness. It is about 170 km south of Skopje near the Albanian border and its clear blue water is sure to take your breath away.

The Church of St John at Kaneo overlooks the lake and is one of the most beautiful churches in Macedonia, a fine specimen of Byzantine and Armenian architecture.

And just when you feel that you have exhausted your visual senses, all you have to do is walk around the Ohrid town through its cobbled streets or simply sit on the banks of the lake and stare at its vastness.

Overall, Macedonia has been an exhilarating experience for me, not just because it was my 30th birthday the day I landed in Skopje but also because it is still such a virgin beauty. Macedonia is unique in itself, it is probably the only nation where I have seen crowds of young people huddled together in cafes cheering for their favourite football team with a cup of coffee (instead of clinking beer mugs).

And of course, not to mention that their coffee is to die for. And before I sign-off, a quick tip for all the ladies out there (and some of the men too because I don’t want to sound overtly sexist here) shop for some fabulous footwear at brilliant price at the Il Cammino’s and pick up a silver filigreed butterfly brooch at the local market, because the locals think it brings good luck!

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National parks are ‘the real deal’ in every country. They are regions with various natural eco-systems of national significance and geographical units renowned for their otherworldly beauty and rare natural occurrences. Being what they are, they an authentic representation, heritage and history of a country.

Despite protecting certain endangered plants and animals from being extinct, the national parks – mostly unchanged and preserved ecological regions with genuine natural values and one-of-a-kind features in which humans live side by side with nature – aim to allow experts to study natural units and ways to preserve them.

Macedonia has three national parks, namely Mavrovo, Pelister and Galicica. An initiative has been already launched to name the part of the mountain range of Shar Mountains belonging to Macedonia a national park.

Of those, Mavrovo is the largest national park in the country. It covers an area of 73,080 hectares, i.e. 72,204 hectares according to new calculations, lying at an altitude from 600 meters to 2,764 meters.

Of the total area of the national park, 46% is covered by mainly fir forest. One can say that its residents are representatives of all animal species living in the country. In addition to 25 forest communities, also 3 meadow units and 13 units of mountainous vegetation has been registered. In fact, within the frontiers of the Mavrovo National Park, wherever you go, you will be blown away by its breathtaking beauty.

Spectacular views of ravines, canyons, caves, rivers, waterfalls and lakes can be found here. Mala Radika (Small Radika) is also here featuring its beautiful bridge with a lovely name, Deer’s Leap, the highest and the most beautiful waterfall in the country with water falling from Mount Korab from 130 meters above sea level, also the magnificent waterfall Duf, a total of 16 mountain lakes, one more beautiful than the other, etc.

The murmuring of leaves, of clear rivers, the sounds of nature, the crystal clear air, peace and serenity are all synonyms for this forest kingdom in Macedonia.

High mountains and vast grasslands

The forest areas surrounding Mavrovo Plain were declared a national park for the first time in 1949. In 1952, the borders of what has been known as a protected area were significantly expanded due to the unique natural beauties, the historic and scientific significance of the forest. 

Today, the Mavrovo National Park functions in three zones: a highly protected zone, a eco-meliorative zone and recreational zones, including Mavrovo Lake, Radika and Bistra. It encompasses 38 villages with the River Radika dividing it into two equal parts. 

Despite being amazingly beautiful, which played a crucial role to declare it a national park, Mavrovo is also the location of many churches and monasteries. One of the most renowned is St. John Bigorski – one of the most beautiful and valued spiritual temples in Macedonia.

It borders with Mount Bistra, on the south with Shar Mountains, Deshat and Korab. Korab alone has 54 summits above 2,000 meters with the highest one, Great Korab, touching the clouds at 2,764 above sea level.

Mavrovo is also widely known for its lush, green pastures, which bring about associations of white herds of sheep.

The idyllic landscapes in Mavrovo are also characterized by rivers and brooks of rare beauty with Radika leading the way, followed by the rivers Strazimirska, Vrvenska, Ribnicka, Adzina and Duboka with all its canyons and ravines.

Korab is the only Alp-like zone of 2,200 meters above sea level in the country.

Home to all types of game

Game, most notably bears, goats, wild boars, rabbits, wolves, deer, live in the unfamiliar forests of the Mavrovo National Park.

Eagles, hawks, lynxes, blue herons, otters, martens and bears are under permanent protection. In fact, fifty types of mammals live across the territory of the national park. It constitutes close to 60% of the total of 84 types registered in the country. They include five types of mammals, which are considered to be of immense importance because they have been designated an endemic species in the Balkans: the brown bear, the Balkan lynx, the wolf and the Balkan goat.

For the park, the 129 types of birds, eleven species of amphibians and 24 types of reptiles are invaluable. Three species of amphibians and five types of reptiles are designated as Balkan endemic species.

The waters of Mavrovo National Park feature three autochthonous species of trout – the Radika trout, the Garska Trout and the Glavatica that are included in the category of Western Balkan endemic species. Algae, represented with 79 species and subspecies, are also indigenous types. The National Park is also famous for lichen, 151 species to be precise. Also, 661 members of the fungus family live in Mavrovo.

What they are significant for is the fact that close to 20 top quality fungus species that can be cooked thrive in the National Park, thus being considered an important part of the biological resources in Macedonia. Plants, 1,435 species with most of them being medical plants, make up the natural heritage of the Mavrovo National Park as well. 

Ohrid is Macedonia's most attractive destination, with an atmospheric old quarter cascading down a hill, full of beautiful churches and topped by the ruins of a medieval castle. 

The town is notable for once having had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as a "Jerusalem of the Balkans". The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. In 1980, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. 

Samuel's Fortress is one of the main touristic places. The fortress is situated in the old town center. It was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the rule of Tsar Samuel at the turn of the 10th century. Today, this historical monument is a major tourist attraction and was renovated in 2003.

According to recent excavations by Macedonian archaeologists, it was contended that this fortress was built on the place of an earlier fortification, dated to the 4th century BCE, which was probably built by King Philip II of Macedon. 

Antique Theater is the only visible monument from ancient times. It is also the only Hellenistic theater in Macedonia, the other three are from Roman times. Only the lower section of the theater is preserved.

Though Ohrid never was an important trade center, it also has a small bazaar consisting of just one street. It starts with the food market. After the market the bazaar begins with a small square. On the square there is a 1000 year old tree and a nice fountain. Above the square the clock tower of Ohrid stands. 

As you walk down the bazaar on your left there are couple of stone stores, which is the only section of original stores in the bazaar. In the past, the bazaar was covered with grape vines, protecting shoppers from the sun and the rain. The bazaar ends with the main square that used to be the food market in the past.

The inaugural flight from Skopje to Malta took place Friday as TAV Macedonia is marking the introduction of three new routes, namely Malta, Rome and Vaxjo, as well as its decision to invest in the deployment of its fourth aircraft at the Skopje base.

The modern 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft will conduct operations on the new routes from Skopje to Malta, Rome and Vaxjo.

“Wizz Air, Macedonia’s number one airline, keeps growing and providing more opportunities to our customers to travel in Europe and beyond on the lowest fares. Our fourth aircraft at Skopje Airport will create a number of additional local jobs with WIZZ and the new destinations added to the network mean an even greater choice for WIZZ passengers of 27 popular routes to 13 countries operating from Skopje,” Sorina Ratz, Communications Manager at Wizz Air said at a news conference.

The new aircraft allocated to WIZZ’s Skopje base is bringing the total investment by Wizz Air in Macedonia to over $396 million and a local staff of 139 employees, according to the Hungarian low-cost airline.

“I would like to express our appreciation for the decision of Wizz Air to base its 4th aircraft at Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, which is an important decision since the investment is huge and it shows that Macedonian aviation is still developing and stable. With basing 4th aircraft the airline will add three more new destinations – Vaxjo (Sweden), Malta and Rome, and increase the frequencies of some of the existing routes. TAV Macedonia will continue to work on opening new routes and expanding the frequencies of the existing ones, for which we closely cooperate with Ministry of Transport, and all competent governmental institutions, stated Alper Ersoy, TAV Macedonia General Manager.

Wizz Air’s massive expansion at its Skopje base brings an 17% increase to its total yearly capacity, including the increased frequencies on some of the most popular routes to: Eindhoven, Brussels Charleroi, Memmingen (Munich West), Copenhagen, Gothenburg Landvetter and Bratislava. At the same time, Wizz Air will provide a daily connection from Skopje to the popular destinations like Malmo and Mulhouse. The extended WIZZ low-fare network from Macedonia will further stimulate tourism and hospitality industries, while strengthening business relations between the countries, Wizz Air says in a press release.

Since the beginning of 2017, over half a million passengers traveled on WIZZ routes from Skopje, which is an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year and which supported over 375 jobs in associated industries in the area.

In the first six month of 2017, TAV Macedonia registered a 6% increase in the number of passengers compared to the same period last year, i.e. the two airports in Macedonia – Alexander the Great in Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle in Ohrid – handled a total of 860,130 passengers from January to July.

Lesnovo monastery, officially called Monastery of St Archangel Michael and St Hermit Gabriel of Lesnovo, is one of the most important medieval monuments of Macedonia.

The monastery is located on the south-west slopes of Mt Osogovo, in the middle of a volcanic crater. It lies at the beginning of Lesnovo village, at the height of 870 meters. The closest townlet is Zletovo which together with Lesnovo belongs to the municipality of Probištip.

The monastery is located in a secluded region which was popular with hermits of the 11th century. One of them, St Gabriel of Lesnovo, lived in the local caves and died there as well.

It remains still unsolved whether Gabriel founded a monastery or was it founded on the spot close to his hermitage. Very little is known of this original monastery since Gabriel’s relics were taken away and the first and only mention of the old monastery comes only from 1330 in a chronicle by its monk Stanislav, a famous writer.

This 3,800-year-old site contains markers used to study the movement of the sun and moon and create a lunar calendar.  

The science of observing the sky and measuring time based on its changes is almost as old as civilization itself. Many early  societies had their own calendars, and archaeologists continue to find evidence of this at various sites. 

In 2001, the ruins of a Bronze Age settlement were found outside the small Macedonian village of Kokino. Amid the signs of occupation like pieces of vessels and weapons, researchers also discovered giant stones arranged in puzzling patterns, at an elevation of over 3,300 feet. With further study, they identified these as stone markers used to track the patterns of the sun and the moon, making the site an ancient megalithic observatory, dating back nearly 3,800 years.

Two platforms, separated by a height of around 62 feet, are located at the center of the observatory’s remains. Four massive stone thrones, facing the direction of the east, make up the lower platform. The higher platform consists of markers carved into malleable andesite rocks, that indicated significant astronomical events like the summer and winter solstices, as well as the spring and autumn equinoxes.

While seated on the thrones, particularly the second one, the exact movement of light during these days could be seen. The most powerful member of the community usually took his place on this special seat, and observed the light that streamed through the carved markers, and soaked in the energy of the sun. Rituals based on these solar changes were held at the observatory.  

Information about the change in seasons was conveyed through a huge fire, visible to people living in surrounding areas. The appearance of this blaze told people when it was time to start planting, ploughing, or harvesting, allowing them to plan their agricultural calendar. Their lunar calendars followed a 19-year cycle, where, for the first 12 years, each year had 12 months—6 summer months, and 6 winter months. The remaining 7 years were divided into 13 months each.

Kokino, with its dual function as a scientific and ritual site, is of great interest to archaeoastronomy researchers, who study the sky-based rituals of ancient societies through the lens of anthropology and modern astronomy.

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Every couple is excited about their wedding day and everyone wants to make it perfect. After the couple says ‘ I do’  merge their life together, the next exciting thing is the honeymoon.

There are various destinations to visit for your honeymoon, but there are many reasons why you should visit Ohrid in Macedonia. Ohrid is located southwestern Macedonia on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The best period to visit Ohrid is definitely in summer. This town is a combination of history, modern beaches, natural beauty and traditional cuisine. It is known as the pearl in the Balkan. It was made a UNESCO heritage site in 1980.

Here are some places you should visit in Ohrid .

1. Ohrid Lake

– This lake is the largest natural lake in Macedonia. It is warm with blue color.Because of its size, this lake gives an impression of being a sea. It covers a region of 358 square kilometers and one gets an impression of being before an expansive cove of the sea as though a section had been evacuated of the sea’s expansiveness, and dispatched among high mountains 695 meters above ocean level.

2. Church St. John Kaneo

– Inherent the honor of St. John the Theologian, St. Kaneo with its great air and perspectives of the peaceful lake underneath, remains a motivating spot for profound contemplation.The church which was sancified toward the end of the thirteenth century was based on a rectangular stone base. Its outside is adorned with earthenware beautiful figures and stone carvings.

3. Pantelejmon Plaoshnik

– It has been a vital religious focus following ahead of schedule Christian times, if not some time recently. It is the site of the first college in Europe, opened in the tenth c. What’s more, it is the spot where the Cyrillic letters in order were made. The congregation you see is a reproduction of the congregation, St. Klement assembled when he came here and opened the college.

4. King Samoil Fortress

– It was built during the Middle ages and it is definitely a must see in Ohrid. It is more than wonderful because it offers a great view over the Ohrid lake.

5. Antique Theatre

– It is one of the four antique theatre, but only this one is from the Hellenistic period and the others are from the Roman period. It was built in 200BC. It is usually used for live concerts.

6. National Park Galichica

– The floral life in the Galičica National Park represents over 1000 species, of which a large number of relicts and endems have the final frontier of its range exactly on the mountain Galičica. There is characteristically presence of up to now 11 discovered local endems to be found exclusively on the slopes of Galičica and nowhere else, this illustrates the specifically floristic composition of this mountain.

7. Traditional cuisine, gift shops and more!

– Macedonia is well known because of its delicious cuisine. There are many traditional food such as: Burek, Gjomleze, Makalo, Sarma and so on. There are many shops where you can buy souvenirs. The local inhabitants are really polite and they will definitely help you with anything you need.

So enjoy a pleasant romantic experience in Ohrid someday!

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At 3:30am, on the fifth day of an expedition along Macedonia’s mountainous western edge, we traded our trekking poles for reins and mounted horses in search of yet another peak. Headlamps spotlighted the steam from our breath mixed with the fidgety smoke of rolled cigarettes. We left Galičnik, a village tucked into the folds of the Bistra massif, and plodded nose to tail, hoof to stone over seven dark kilometres and up nearly 1000 steep metres of elevation gain to the top of Mt Medenica.

For explorers and adventure travellers who don’t know this undiscovered expanse of Macedonia, a country on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, an excursion to this dovetailing string of summits and massifs (which include the Šar, Bistra and Jablanica Mountains) means some of the best, and most unheralded, hiking on the continent. But even for the horseback members of the group assembled – all of whom live in the Balkans and have spent a significant amount of time scaling the region’s topography – this was a treat.

Over the course of eight days, we would hike (and gallop) stages that began in northwestern Macedonia, straddle the Kosovo border, and then steer south along the Albanian frontier. Our journey traversed a national park, and included visits to centuries-old Orthodox churches and a monastery built by St Clement more than 1000 years ago. We stayed in huts wedged into hillsides, and woke with frosty morning dew clinging to our tents. We had stove-cooked-coffee conversations with locals about a myriad of subjects from politics to sheep shearing, and watched as those same locals dragged thick, work-tested fingers across smudged maps and explained how the mountains here once defined the edges of Yugoslavia. The journey ended on the shores of the ancient, Unesco-protected, tectonic Lake Ohrid, 300m deep and stretching over 34km.

At this moment, however, we were still clip-clopping behind our guide Vasko Velickovski, the founder of Sherpa (horseriding.com.mk), a Galičnik-based outfit specialising in horseback tours. We stopped at the summit atop steeds growing impatient under our already sore backsides. It was 5:30am. A clear sky was widening as a new sun cracked the horizon and threw beams across an expanse gilded with morning dew.

To the north I could begin to trace the itinerary from the past several days. The top half of our path had been dominated by a ridgeline wiggling along the Šar mountain range, which has more than 30 glacial lakes, some 200 endemic plant varieties, as well as brown bears, lynx and chamois. The trek – also a leg of the Via Dinarica mega-trail that runs through the Balkans from Slovenia to Macedonia – provided a slalom course to weave between the country’s most inspiring peaks.

Aleksandar Donev, a local who organised our trip, trotted up and stopped his horse beside me as I stared across the maze of rippling mountaintops and tried to make sense of where we had been. ‘The beauty of this trail and this country is that you can pack an incredible range of activities, culture and food into a pretty compact area,’ said Mr Donev, whose multi-tasking, Skopje-based company Mustseedonia (facebook.com/Mustseedonia) designs tailor-made trips and promotes responsible tourism across a country about the size of Vermont. ‘This makes Macedonia a perfect place to visit because you get both a pristine landscape and a chance to learn about history with a trek back in time to Europe’s old-world roots. I am glad we’re getting to see it now – because we will have to fight to keep it this way.’

In the distance I could follow that pristine landscape up to the head of our trail and the Šar Mountain: the pyramid-shaped, 2498m Mt Ljuboten. There, we overnighted at Villa Ljuboten (vilaljuboten.com), a lodge that provided a perfect starting base and where we devoured a dinner of sausages, steaks, plump tomatoes and grilled eggplants piled high on earthenware bowls and platters. We drank tumblers of homemade rakija (local schnapps) and planned our eventual hike south – a trek would take us past the 2748m Titov Vrv, the tallest point along the Šar massif. We then left the range and scrambled to the top of the mammoth 2764m Mt Korab, the country’s highest spot, which looms like a beacon over both Macedonia and Albania. After, the group was engulfed by more than 730 sq km of dense, protected pine forests covering Mavrovo National Park and cradling its famously trout-filled lake.

‘One of the reasons I love hiking in this area is because you stay in the clouds and on some of the highest summits in the Balkans,’ said mountaineer and guide Uta Ibrahimi, the owner of the Kosovo-based outfitter Butterfly Outdoor Adventure (butterflyoutdoor.com), as we reached Korab’s apex. ‘You just ride the peaks that run between three countries – at a sustained 2500m – and stay there… looking out on the beautiful world below for days and days and days.’

As we cantered back into Sherpa’s Galičnik ranch, the sun had shifted to the other side of the horizon. We were worn out and dusty, but immediately buoyed by dinner. The smell of green, red and yellow piquant peppers, cooking naked on an iron stove, wafted above the corral. Wedges of young, white cheese sat beside pans of a savoury pastry called burek, and waited on a rough-sawn table. We sat and clinked glasses of strong, amber-coloured rakija.

‘There’s a wealth in the simplicity here that is magnificent,’ said Thierry Joubert, the director of Green Visions (greenvisions.ba), a Bosnian-based adventure tourism company. ‘You have just what is needed, and that is more than enough. Perhaps the spirit and the feeling is a product of the particular remoteness of these mountains. Perhaps it is the nature of the people. All I know is, when you are hiking in Macedonia you become part of it and you are truly content.’

SOURCE: LONELY PLANET

Shirok Sokak (Широк Сокак, Wide Street) is the main street in Bitola, a place where you go if you want to see someone in Bitola or to be seen.

Many travel writers and travelers passers, which passed Bitola through the ages, marveling at the beauty of the town and its main street noticed:

If you were in Bitola, and you have not walked through the Main Street, than you have seen nothing."

Fascinated by this street, many pronounced and unknown artists, especially poets and composers, made some of the most beautiful Macedonian songs.

Ако одам во Битола (If I go to Bitola)

Ќе прошетам по Широк Сокак (I will walk on Shirok Sokak)

А на Дембел чаршија (And on "Dembel" bazaar)

Кафе ќе се напијам (I will drink coffee)

....

The need, most of the public life to be in the center of the city, which always had an intense cultural and entertainment life, made this street a place where many representative buildings were built.

Bitola guests who usually come from the south side of the city (where the bus and train station are), from the city promenade up to the north, and can notice the beautiful buildings,

The architects from Bitola and Macedonia, with love and invention, made a perfect connection between the various European styles and domestic constructing tradition. Thus, they achieved remarkably harmonious relations, harmony lines, noble simplicity, functionality, feeling of elegance and taste.

In fact, Shirok Sokak is a recognizable everyday Bitola street space, where many of virtues and habits of Bitola can be seen, often loved and hated, welcoming and sending various common and prominent people: kings and emperors, sultans and Grand Viziers, bishops and missionaries.

Although the name of this street was changed many times, according to the various rulers: Abdul Hamid street (Hamidi, Hamidie – during Turkish rule), King Peter (During Serb rule), King Boris (during Bulgarian rule in WW2), Marshal Tito street (during the state Yugoslavia), the local name of the street stayed the same (which today is official) and Shirok Sokak today is the most representative feature of the city of Bitola. 

In the ripe heat of a Balkan autumn, a woman squeezes her Fiat up the old town's narrow lanes. When she drives past a church, she crosses herself rapidly from right to left, the Eastern Orthodox way. Then she applies lipstick, answers her mobile phone, and continues to manoeuvre up the cobbled street. We follow her because we're a bit lost.

We've just arrived in the gorgeous lake town of Ohrid, and immediately our rental car is accosted by locals with sunny smiles and dicey teeth. They offer us rooms, then direct us – still smiling – to our hotel. They direct us well, and the fact that our accommodation is called Vila Saint Sofia is a bit of a giveaway – but we're now too distracted by Saint Sofia itself to notice that the hotel is under our noses.

It's not the size of the church, it's how ancient it looks – as ancient as Christianity itself. An eerie angels' choir wafts from the dark interior, and its arches cast September shadows. Inside, the faces of saints are shockingly alive, and a huge, mono- browed Madonna with baby sits on a throne overlooking the centuries. Ten of them, to be precise. Everything here is at least 10 centuries old, including the famous plane tree in the centre of the old town's bazaar, the Stara Charshiya, still alive and almost well after one thousand years. The Ohrid lake itself is the oldest lake in Europe – four million years in the making.

Within an hour of arriving, I'm reassured that my visits here as a child – to meet my grandmother's family – hadn't left me with false memories. Ohrid really is one of the most spiritually charged places in the Balkans, and it's not surprising that it has been a Unesco world heritage site for 30 years. What's surprising is that it has remained under the European tourist radar. And that's true of the whole country. The Republic of Macedonia is so small, you might miss it altogether as you drive through on the way to somewhere bigger. We drove from somewhere bigger – Bulgaria – and the road to Ohrid felt like the last unspoilt drive in Europe. It's all mosques, church crosses, mountain ranges, sheep flocks, and the odd petrol station. Where is everyone? Everyone consists of just three million Macedonians and Albanians, and most are in the run-down capital Skopje and a handful of bigger towns.

The stony remains of the Roman Via Egnatia are not far from here, and along this road, you are at the confluence of old Europe and an even older Europe, Christianity and Islam, Yugo-nostalgia and the age of confusing nation-states like the Republic of Macedonia. Unprettily dubbed FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), it's not recognised as a state by neighbouring Greece because of the name issue – mention the word Macedonia to a Greek and they will instantly froth at the mouth. The argument is about Alexander the Great and who owns ancient history. The little republic has the misfortune of being named after a major ancient civilisation that spread over a somewhat larger territory, namely most of the known world.

But enough of messy Balkan politics, and back to Vila Saint Sofia, where things are looking very tidy. It's a lovingly restored, whitewashed 19th-century townhouse, so huge and handsome that it's hard to say whether it's in the shadow of the Saint Sofia church or vice versa. The rooms are well-appointed boudoirs with shower-cabins so elaborate they seem designed with Roman baths in mind. Next door to me is a quiet British couple who carry around Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, the great 20th-century magnum opus on the Balkans. Next morning, over a breakfast of fluffy bread, honey, cold meats and Turkish coffee – here called Macedonian coffee, of course – she says to her husband: "It's amazing how little seems to have changed." She isn't entirely off the mark.

Ohrid's small-town bourgeoisie – like my grandmother's family – has kept its discreet charm and its eastern conservatism. Even in the second world war, when my grandmother was a young teacher here, jam was served in crystal bowls on linen tablecloths. My grandmother was not allowed to walk up and down the charshiya (market street) – only up – because it was indecent to be seen twice on the same stretch. Until the 1930s, families visited the town's Turkish baths, and on the way home women veiled their faces – because being red in the face was also indecent.

Later, when the war came and Bulgaria occupied part of Macedonia under an alliance with Germany, but afterwards changed sides, the Nazis threatened to burn the town down unless the locals handed over some Bulgarians who had escaped after being captured by the Nazis as the Bulgarian forces retreated. Instead, the town pooled all its gold to be used to appease the Nazis – 40kg of it, and my grandmother recorded donations in a municipal register. The last donation was the gold crucifix from the cliff-top church of Saint Ioan Kaneo at the end of town. But the tide turned and the Nazis cleared off, and the crucifix is still there, in the bijou Kaneo which, incidentally, had a cameo in the British-Macedonian film Before the Rain.

But now it's time for a swim, and the best beach is just out of town and at the end of Europe. The official summer season is over, but the lake is still 26C and like a mirror. The blue mountains at the other end are Albania. Just a short drive south along the lake, and we're in the border zone. The last building is the Saint Naum monastery complex, perched among crystal waters, mirage mountains, and magic. We hire a boat and enter an enchanted mossy forest called Black Drin where the biggest lake-spring lives. The boatman is a freelance photographer called Nikola who assures us that "whoever comes here will return. I know a Japanese guy who's been here 89 times". And when we go for a warm dip at the pebbled beach, we can see and touch the icy stream rushing in straight from the spring.

Inside the monastery courtyard, past the heavy gates and peacocks, are the relics of Saint Naum. If you put your ear against his coffin, you hear a clear, regular heartbeat. True, it's water dripping onto stone somewhere in the bowels of the monastery, but the effect is eerie. It's eerie, too, that hardly anyone is staying at the pleasant spa hotel inside the monastery – rooms start at a modest £35. "The season ends on 1 September sharp," the young manager shrugs ruefully, "and yet now is the best time to be here."

At five o'clock, the church bell tolls so portentously I'm sure even the illegal dynamite-fishermen on the Albanian side are startled. Thanks to them, the delicious Ohrid lake trout has been temporarily decimated and isn't available at local restaurants until further notice.

Back in Ohrid, afternoon strollers browse the charshiya shops. This is the place to buy Ohrid lake pearls, fine silver filigree, painted icons, a nargileh, or roasted chickpeas – just order 100g of leblebija and you'll blend right in. Then get happily lost in the cobbled back streets, indulge in Neapolitan waffles and cherry liqueur chocolates sold by the kilo at the sweet shop, watch a woman make handmade paper at an old-fashioned press, visit the House of Robevski and see how the rich of the Balkans lived, or sit among ancient stone ruins at the Lapidarium Café. It's time-travel: you start at the fashionable cafe-bars at lake-level and end up at the top of the hill with the medieval fortress of Tsar Samuil. Next to it – a Roman amphitheatre.

After an outdoor meal of trout (from another lake, don't worry), Macedonian salad (tomato, roast pepper, aubergine, onion) and a bottle of moreish local Tikvesh white wine, the obvious place to go is the belle époque building of the Jazz & Blues Duck Café on the waterfront. Sit among the exposed stone arches, gaze at the lake crossed by moonlight, and sip one of the most heart-warming liquors in the Balkans – the golden-coloured 40% lozova zolta rakija – as good as Scottish whisky, locals assure us, and they aren't wrong.

Late at night, we take a walk along the long lakeside promenade, where youths strum guitars, couples snog on benches, and the Biljana Springs – yes, more springs – bubble up from an invisible place. I dip my hand in the chilly water and remember the old song. Biljana was a girl who washed her linens here at the Ohrid springs, when a wine caravan from Belgrade went past. One of them caught her eye and he too fancied her, but alas, he was "finished" and this wine-laden caravan was taking him to his bride. No punch-line – just frustrated longing – like in real life.

In real life, my grandmother, Anastassia, left her home to pursue a frustrated love in Bulgaria, with my grandfather – but she also left her heart in Ohrid and told tales about her hometown the rest of her life. If there is such a thing as a spirit world, then her spirit is here, at the chilly, otherworldly springs of Ohrid Lake.