Duration: | 11 Day(s) - 10 Night(s) |
Tour Category: | Culture Tours |
DAY 1 – DAY 3: Kokino-Village Tour-Museum Tour
Walk back to the Early Bronze Age and beyond in North Macedonia: visit Kokino, the 4th oldest megalithic observatory in the world by NASA, and the Valley of the Stone dolls; take a relaxing spa break in a village setting and see how they crush the tasty local spice “K’cana sol” in the small ethnic museum.
Take a walk by the emerald green lake up in the Maleshevo Mountains and get some of their local pure pine honey and forest fruit jams. Visit the local manufacturers: the weaver, the blacksmith, and the woodcarver! Enjoy a picnic by the waterfalls of river Bregalnica deep in nature far from industry and pollution.
DAY 4 – DAY 5: Byzantine Temples- Tribal Tour- Wine Area Tour
Take a tour of the most valuable Byzantine temples of East Macedonia: Vodocha and Veljusa. Up in the mountains, visit the colorful Yuruk tribes who lived isolated there for the last six centuries and taste the unique, traditionally prepared poppy-seed specialty. Continue to the wine area for a history tour of winemaking starting from the wine museum and the ancient city of Stobi, to the wine cellars of some of the best Macedonian wineries.
You will taste Macedonian original rosé Stanushina, and the full-bodied red Vranec, along with the premium Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is grown under the Macedonian sun!
DAY 6 – DAY 7: Tobacco Museum - Heraclea Tour
Drive by the tobacco fields by Prilep and visit the tobacco museum, the leaning clock tower, and the grand Orthodox temple of St. Archangel Michael perched up on the rocks by the medieval city walls of King Marko. Take a tour of the ancient city of Heraclea built by Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.
Walk in the nature reserve of cormorants, pelicans, herons, cranes, and swans and taste the fishermen's dishes in a village by Prespa Lake. You will visit here the small church of Kurbinovo and see the preserved frescoes from the 12th century that made this Orthodox jewel one of the most important places in the world's Treasury of Cultural Heritage.
DAY 8 – DAY 9: Orthodox Churches - Heritage Sites - Lake Tour
Take a tour of Ohrid - the place with 365 Orthodox churches, a Roman amphitheater, the medieval Tsar Samoil city walls, and a world-famous gallery of icons. Both Ohrid and Ohrid Lake have been put under UNESCO protection: the first for its great cultural value, and the last for being the oldest lake in Europe with extreme biodiversity.
You will visit the monk cells carved in the rocks above Ohrid Lake and drive along the border with Albania for a tour of the greatest Muslim and Bekteshi heritage sites in Macedonia.
DAY 10 – DAY 11: Mount Vodno - Market Tour - Departure
Back in the capital, we’ll take the cable car to the top of Mount Vodno for a fantastic view of the capital and the surrounding mountains. Down in the city, continue with a guided tour of Mother Teresa memorial house, the Macedonia square with the grand fountain of Alexander the Great and many monuments and baroque buildings and bridges; cross river Vardar over the old Stone Bridge and walk into the oriental Old bazaar in the maze of narrow cobblestoned alleys lined with high mosques, Turkish baths turned into art galleries, and many art craft, carpet, and jewelry shops. Farewell dinner will be in a restored Ottoman Inn in the Old Town.
Leave Skopje on Day 11.
Included in Price:
Accommodation: 2x4*,4xboutique, 3x3*, 1x Ethno village hotel
Meals: 10 x breakfast,6 x lunch, 9 x dinner
Winetasting (4 wines) with dinner in Popova Kula winery
Winetasting (4 wines) with lunch in Stobi winery
Transport with air-conditioned tourist van/ minivan
Full escort by a professional tourist guide
Crushed salt demonstration and tasting in Ethno museum
Poppy seeds specialties tasting
Boat ride in the lagoon at St Naum monastery
Cable car on Mount Vodno
All entrance fees
Reforestation certificate for one tree planted in your name in Macedonia
Full organization & logistics by Macedonia Travel
Not Included in the Price:
Drinks with the meals
Any extra expenses not mentioned under “included in the price”