Top Ohrid Bus Tours - page 2

This day tour from Ohrid takes you to a Christian pilgrimage location in the north of Greece—Meteora. Avoid the paperwork and hassle of organizing car hire, and enjoy a stress-free day with hotel pickup and drop-off included. Travel comfortably in an air-conditioned vehicle to Meteora, then discover the area's magnificent ancient monasteries. The tour also factors in time to stop off in the nearby towns of either Kalabaka or Kastriki.

Leave Macedonia to visit Albania and Greece in just one day. While close by, the three neighboring countries each have their own distinct cultures and this tour offers an easy way to experience them all. With a private guide, you'll visit the small yet modern town of Korca in Albania, and then continue to lakeside Kastoria in Greece where nature abounds.

Once we arrive at Bitola, on the right, you can see Mount Pelister and Pelister National Park, which is the smallest but oldest national park in Macedonia. It is famous for its ancient Molika pine trees and many other different types of flora and fauna and it conserves some rare glacial lakes, the Pelister Eyes. It is a famous winter ski resort with hotels and ski-lifts. In Bitola we visit the church of St. Dimitri. Then we just have a quick glance at Yeni Mosque, built in 1559 which is now an art gallery, then the Yahdar-Kadi Mosque (built in 1562) and the Isak Mosque (built in 1508-09). At the heart of the town is the Clock Tower. The River Dragor runs through the town. Sirok Sokak (a long pedestrian area) is renowned for the beautiful old houses that belong to the 19th-century architecture. Bitola is a town of consulates, also the town where the Manaki brothers, famous for their pioneering work with the camera, opened their Studio of Art Photography in 1905.

Bitola, or also known as Monastir during the Ottoman Empire, was and still is an important town: It was established by Philip II, father of Alexander The Great; It is on the Ancient Roman Road of Via Egnatia; and it was the town where the international community decided to open consulates to the Ottoman Empire. Today, Bitola is a town with a wealth of cultures intertwined in its streets and residents. Likewise, the remnants of a once thriving Jewish community are scattered throughout the town, and blended in the everyday life as a memory. In this tour we visit the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Balkans, we walk through the old Jewish neighbourhood to see where the Jewish once people lived, visit the Old Bazaar to see where the Jewish people once worked, and we see the many monuments that the local people of Bitola enacted in memory of their fellow citizens. In the process we learn also about the rich history of Bitola and its tasty cuisine.