Albania & Macedonia - Via Egnatia

We begin with Durrës, ancient Dyracchium. Now Albania’s principal seaport this was the principal western terminus of the Via Egnatia in its Roman guise. This was a major imperial city with great public buildings. We will pass by the amphitheater, largest in the Balkans, and the late-antique city walls. A stop at the circular Forum of Anastasius brings us to the starting point of the road. A monumental column once stood in the centre to mark where the road began. We continue south to Apollonia, a great Corinthian Greek colony, which facilitated the Roman conquest of the Balkans. This was the starting point for the older, southern branch of the road and was perhaps the greatest classical city in the region, enriched by its control of the trade routes inland and known for its slave markets. It has been substantially excavated by Albanian, French and German missions and has a fine museum. The young Octavian attended the schools of rhetoric here before hastening back to Rome following the assassination of his adoptive father Julius Caesar.

A long drive today. First a visit to Tirana, capital of Albania. A pastiche of a city with Ottoman, fascist, communist and modern elements mixed together. A visit to the National Historical Museum gives a particular view of Albanian history. We continue to Elbasan, ancient Scampis, the first major stopping point on the Via Egnatia heading east. We will walk the line of the road through the castrum with its fine late Roman and Ottoman walls and the first mosque marking the Ottoman conquest. It was a major market centre in later centuries and was noted for its thronged bazaars. Under the communists it gained the dubious privilege of housing the massive ‘Steel of the Party’ metallurgical combine. We follow the route of the road up the dramatic gorge of the river Shkumbini over the pass of St. Athanasius and into Macedonia to the city of Ohrid.

All day in wonderful Ohrid, ancient Lychnidos – ‘the city of light’. It was founded by Philip II of Macedon on Lake Ohrid as one of a string of fortresses which guarded the northern borders of his kingdom against the fierce Illyrians. The ancient bodies of water of Lake Ohrid, and its sister Lake Prespa to the south, are the result of glaciation, and are some of the highest and deepest lakes in the Balkans. Ohrid boasts a Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman past, the city and fortress lie above the classical town. The remains of the city’s ancient theatre have been excavated, but it is the many Byzantine churches which trace the waxing and waning of Byzantine ambitions in the Balkans. We explore the churches of Mary Peribletos/St. Clement’s, full of quite superb 13th century frescoes produced by the greatest artists of their age. St. Panteleimon was the original burial place of Clement, one of the followers of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who converted the Slavic peoples. Finally, St. Sofia the great cathedral church. The 9th century fortress of Tsar Samuel dominates the hilltop. and stroll past St. Jovan Kaneo overlooking the lake.

A morning drive along the shore of Lake Ohrid to the ‘Bay of Bones’. This region of the Balkans is known for its prehistoric lake shore villages, which extend even into southern Albania. These communities made use of the productive lakes, which Herodotus records as being full of fish, the lake shore and mountains. Underwater surveys along this shore of Lake Ohrid revealed thousands of wooden pilings from just such a community. It has been excavated and restored as a typical Bronze Age lake settlement. We continue towards Lake Prespa and the monastery of St. Naum. He is a figure whose importance to European history cannot be overestimated. The companion of St. Clement he was primarily responsible for continuing his work and developing a new alphabet for he Slavic peoples of the 10th century to spread the knowledge of Christianity. It was called Cyrillic in honour of the two saints mentors. The saint is buried in a special mausoleum attached to his tiny jewel of a church. It became a place of pilgrimage for both Christians and Muslims as Naum had the reputation of healing the insane. We journey onward over the mountains to Bitola to re-join the Via Egnatia.

Bitola has a long history. The city of Heraklea Lyncestis, was founded by Philip II of Macedon and grew to become a major communications hub for the Balkans, first on the Via Egnatia and later as the metropolis of Monastir, the major Turkish road and rail nexus. We visit the site of Heraclea where the theater and the important early Christian cathedral and bishop’s palace can be seen. Next, we explore Bitola, which as a commercial and political hub was full of markets and endowed with a number of very fine mosques from the 16th century. Its importance to the ‘great powers’ of the 19th century in the seething nationalist world of the Balkans is marked by the presence of a series of consulates. All crowded together each one vied to outdo its neighbour. They were the haunt of merchants and travellers, like Edward Lear, whose famous journey here produced some of the earliest depictions of the town. We drive onwards following the course of the road, into Greece.

In the morning we visit the surprising city of Edessa. This delightful town is cool and fresh with tree-lined streets and numerous streams. We visit the last of its famous and impressive waterfalls which thunder over the edge of the bluff where the acropolis and medieval town lie. Water powered mills were built in the 19th century to harness the many streams. Descending to the partly excavated ancient city below it is possible to walk along the colonnaded Via Egnatia through the walls. We take a slight detour on to ancient Aigai. Here in the 1980s, at the site of the Macedonian royal and ritual capital, the richest ancient burial in Europe was discovered amongst tombs of the Macedonian royal house. The principal burial is that of the father of Alexander the Great, Philip II. The innovative Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai houses his funeral goods, including the solid gold chest in which his ashes were found wrapped in purple silk. Alongside this museum we visit the new Polycentric Museum of Aigai allowing more artefacts to be displayed from Aigai. Afterwards we travel on to Thessaloniki.

Founded by King Cassander to be a new capital city for Macedonia in 315 BC, Thessaloniki became the first terminus of the Via Egnatia. It developed as a major Roman port and ultimately as the second most important city in the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. It was the birthplace of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Today we visit the Agora and Forum complex, the ancient city’s centre, and the great late Roman church of St. Demetrius. Venerated for centuries by both Christians and Muslims, the saint is said to guard the walls of the city and his feast day is still celebrated by a parade where his icon is carried around the streets. On to the palace complex of the emperor Galerius which includes the famous Rotonda, which survived as it was converted into a mosque, and the remains of the mighty triumphal arch over the Via Egnatia. In the afternoon a visit to the extensive Archaeological Museum and Byzantine Museum with their superb collections.

Our tour ends in Thessaloniki and from here we make our independent onward journeys.