Story
The story of Lake Ohrid
Some of the water in front of you began its journey in another lake. Lake Prespa lies about 10 kilometres to the southeast and 150 metres higher; its water trickles through underground channels in the limestone and emerges in springs along the eastern shore and even below the surface here. Over 20 percent of Lake Ohrid's water arrives this way, filtered on the journey, which helps make it exceptionally clear, with visibility down to 22 metres.
Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest and deepest lakes in Europe, reaching 288 metres, the deepest in the Balkans, and it shelters more than 200 endemic species. It straddles the border with Albania, and its only outlet, the Black Drin, flows north towards the Adriatic. The ground here is still restless: in 1911 an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 destroyed houses, though no one died.
UNESCO listed the Macedonian side in 1979, and in 2010 NASA even named a lake on Saturn's moon Titan after it.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Ohrid
- Robevi family houseThe Robevi House is a famous and historic building in Ohrid, North Macedonia. It was built in its current state in 1863–1864 by Todor Petkov from a village Gari near Debar.
- PlaošnikPlaošnik or simply Plaoš is an archaeological site and holy place in Ohrid, North Macedonia, located 250 meters south of Samuil's Fortress. The site is in the process of being restored to its original condition.
- Museum of Water – Bay of BonesBay on Lake Ohrid between the villages of Peštani and Trpejca, an archaeological site of a prehistoric pile-dwelling settlement from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age.
- Sveta Bogorodica PerivleptaThe Church of St. Mary Peribleptos is a medieval Orthodox church from the 13th century located in the city of Ohrid, North Macedonia. It is the second cathedral of the Archbishop of Ohrid from the 15th to the 18th centuries AD.
- Galičica National ParkGaličica National Park is a national park in North Macedonia.
- Haci Turgut MosqueOld Ottoman mosque in Ohrid, said to have been built in 1466 as the endowment of Hadži Durgut; also called the Cross Mosque and listed as cultural heritage.