Ohrid

Ohrid became a "polis" under the name Lychnidos after Alexander the Great conquered the area around 335 BC. Around 148 BC, Lychnidos became part of the Roman Republic and thus a "colonia".

When the empire was divided in 395, Lychnidos was awarded to the Eastern Roman Empire. Lychnidos became a bishopric under the Byzantines in late antiquity. Lychnidos was destroyed by a devastating earthquake and it is unclear whether the city continued to exist or was re-founded by Slavs. The place was first mentioned under the name Ohrid around 880.

Ohrid was developed into a cultural and religious center of the Bulgarian Empire.

Today, a citadel, built on the walls of an ancient fortress, towers over the city. When Emperor Basil II incorporated Ohrid into his empire in 1018, he had the fortress demolished. At the end of the 12th century, the Bulgarians regained their independence and reconquered Ohrid in 1198.

The Ottomans took possession of Ohrid in the years around 1400. In the following centuries, the city became a supra-regional center of Islam, where mosques and places of the dervish cult were built. The city also remained a center of Christian art until the middle of the 15th century.

The conversion of St. Sophia's Church into a mosque took place during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I (1413–1421). In 1462, the Albanian resistance fighter Skanderbeg conquered the city. But it was recaptured in 1466. Around 1568, the city was badly damaged by an earthquake.


The density of coffee vending machines along Ohrid´s waterfront is surprisingly high.


Ohrid,