I don't know if it's because we've been on SO.MANY.TOURS., but today we decided to just try to explore on our own. We found a suggested walking tour of Old Town Ohrid and off we went.

First stop was Samuil's Fortress, built in the 4th century BC! On our way to it, we passed by the remains of an amphitheater that has been restored and is now used for concerts and such.

It's amazing how much remains today of the fortress! You have to park at the base of it and then walk A LONG WAY uphill. Once inside, there are many stairs to climb. (This is what's enabling me to eat whatever and my clothes still fit! LOL)

The views from the top were so pretty, with the city on one side and the lake on the other. The water of the lake is pure blue colored, it's very clear and with the mountains in the background, it's just spectacular.

We wandered around the old fort for a while and then left to go find a restored church on the hill of Plaosnik called St. Clement Church. Originally built in the 13th century, it was restored in 2004 and is really amazing. Makes you realize what all these old buildings must have looked like back in the day. They are building something next to it, and it was ENORMOUS! No idea if it's going to be a hotel or what, but that's what we think it will be.

St. Jovan of Kaneo Monastery was next on our agenda. This was a church built in the 13th century and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It is in the Byzantine style and is very beautiful in both its design and location. To get to it, we had to hike downhill through the woods, and that was kind of cool. However, I kept thinking, "what goes down has to go back up to get to the car!"

Next on our list of must-sees was a visit to the Church of St. Sophia. This was the one I was most anxious to get to because I knew we were eating lunch at the restaurant next to it. :))

We decided to eat lunch first since the restaurant wasn't busy at that time, and each tried a local beer, along with some typical Macedonian food. We decided to share since we had so many leftovers previously, and good thing! We couldn't even finish the Greek salad or entree (pork wrapped around ham and cheese)!

They were charging an entry fee for each of these churches we were visiting, and by this time, I'd seen enough. I waited outside while Rich went in to St. Sophia. They also don't allow pictures to be taken, so no photos to share of any of the interiors.

As we were walking down to the marina/pedestrian area, I noticed that the streets were made out of different colors of pieces of granite!! I've never seen this before in any of the other European cities we've visited, their streets have all been in gray cobblestones. This was just gorgeous to me, so I took a photo. See what you think.

We made our way down to the area and found this really old tree--900+ years, looked like an ordinary tree to me, other than the base of it was wrapped in some kind of protective cloth.

We began the arduous trek back to the car, and my sweet husband offered to let me wait for him while he went to get it. How nice was that?! He was only gone about 7 minutes, so I think we were pretty close at that point, but it was still thoughtful. :))

We tried our luck at a Macedonian grocery store, another challenge. Didn't find much of what we were looking for, but I found some coffee with just creamer!!! Hallelujah!! I bought an entire box of it, and plan to go back to stock up before we leave for Albania.

By the time we got back to the apartment, it had really turned chilly--only about mid 60's--so nice for a change!! Supposed to get down into the low 50's tonight!!