The journey
Byzantine monasteries, Ohrid's ancient churches, and the sacred landscapes of the Christian East.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity produced some of the most extraordinary religious art and architecture in the world — and most of it is in the Balkans, largely unknown to Western travellers who associate Christianity's artistic heritage with Rome and Florence.
This route follows the Byzantine road through Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Serbia: from the Rila Monastery and Sofia's Boyana Church, through Ohrid's 365 churches, to the medieval Serbian monasteries of the Raška school — among them Studenica and Žiča, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
This is a tour for people of any faith or none — what it requires is an openness to beauty, to historical depth, and to the particular quality of silence that these buildings hold.
Day by day
The itinerary
Bulgaria
Sofia — Boyana Church
The Boyana Church, on the outskirts of Sofia, contains frescoes painted in 1259 that anticipate the techniques of Giotto by 50 years. UNESCO World Heritage. The figures in the portraits have individual faces — a revolutionary development in medieval art. The church is small, the frescoes extraordinary.
Bulgaria
Rila Monastery — The National Shrine
The Rila Monastery: a 10th-century foundation rebuilt in the 19th century, its outer courtyard covered with frescoes of such complexity and colour that visitors walk slowly and look up constantly. The tomb of Ivan Rilski. The extraordinary library with its collection of medieval manuscripts.
North Macedonia
Ohrid — The Jerusalem of the Balkans
Ohrid has 365 churches — one for every day of the year, the tradition holds. The oldest: the Church of St. Sofia, 11th century, with the finest Byzantine frescoes in North Macedonia. The Church of St. John at Kaneo, perched on a cliff above the lake in a position of impossible beauty.
North Macedonia
Ohrid — St. Naum & the Springs
The Monastery of St. Naum at the southern end of Lake Ohrid, founded in 905 AD, above the springs where the Black Drin river rises from the lake floor — visible, clear, through glass-bottomed boats. A half-day of extraordinary natural and spiritual beauty.
Kosovo/Serbia
Gračanica — The Perfect Church
The Gračanica Monastery near Pristina, built in 1321: considered by many architects to be the most perfectly proportioned building in the Balkans. Its dome system is of extraordinary structural complexity. The frescoes in the narthex show the genealogy of the Nemanjić dynasty.
Serbia
Studenica — The Royal Monastery
Studenica, founded in 1190 by Stefan Nemanja: the most important monastery in Serbia, the mother church of the Serbian Orthodox tradition, UNESCO World Heritage. The marble Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King contain frescoes that defined the Raška school of art.
Serbia
Žiča & Mileševa — The Miraculous Face
Žiča: the 13th-century monastery where Serbian kings were crowned, its church painted red in the tradition of medieval Serbia. Then Mileševa, home to the famous "White Angel" fresco — the most reproduced medieval Serbian painting, transmitted on the first transatlantic television broadcast in 1962.
North Macedonia
Ohrid — Farewell
Return to Ohrid for a final evening by the lake, one of the oldest lakes in Europe. A farewell dinner in the old town.
