Top 8 Lakes in Rezervat Natyror I Menaxhuar "Liqeni Pogradecit"

Beach with bunkers

Luckily, thanks to Gimli, I remembered my ID. The Albanian border guards were not very friendly and took forever. On the North Macedonian side, things went very quickly

Lake Ohrid ([ˈɔxridzeː], Macedonian Охридско Езеро Ohridsko Ezero, Albanian Liqeni i Ohrit, rarely also Liqeni i Pogradecit) is the second largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula and one of the oldest in the world. It belongs to a greater part to North Macedonia, of which it is the largest body of water, and to a smaller part to Albania (see also border between Albania and North Macedonia).[3] The water level is 695 m above sea level. The maximum depth is 288 meters. Its area is given in North Macedonia as 349 square kilometers,[4] while official Albanian sources even speak of 362.6 square kilometers[2] and other figures such as 358 square kilometers can be found in the literature.[1] On the North Macedonian shore, Ohrid and Struga are the most important cities, on the Albanian shore it is Pogradec. In total, more than 200,000 people live around the lake.[5] The lake is at the centre of the UNESCO World Heritage Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region. In 1979, the Yugoslavian part of the lake was registered as a natural heritage site, and the following year it was expanded to include the cultural heritage of the region and the - strongly religious - cultural landscape around the lake. In 2019, the Albanian part was also included in the World Heritage Site.

Beautifully situated lake on the border with Macedonia

After riding on the cycle path from Pogradec to the Lin Peninsula, we drive to the campsite. No announcement beforehand, so we almost think there isn't one here. But then the surprise: a large, well-designed place right on the beach of Lake Ohrid awaits us. Everything was great, including a good restaurant. Only the specialty, the endemic Lake Ohrid trout "Koran" is not cheap. Here you can swim beautifully, hike wonderfully around the peninsula to the town of Lin (there are many small hotels and guesthouses here) and, more recently, spectacular excavations of ancient agriculture. Here you finally get the feeling that you are on a fairly untouched natural lake. It is the deepest lake in Europe, which has existed in a deep fissure in the earth since time immemorial. Only the Siberian Lake Baikal, with the same geological formation, is much deeper and larger.

An (extremely narrow) cycle path leads west along Lake Ohrid between the main road and the lake shore to the peninsula near Lin. After looking at the beautiful Pogradec waterfront, including an idyllic coffee break, we cycle to the campsite (Erlin Beach) on the southern side of the peninsula in front of Lin. The tour is not particularly beautiful, although the natural Lake Ohrid is a feast for the eyes. However, we can only really enjoy it at the foot of the peninsula in front of Lin. It is the deepest freshwater lake in Europe, because it lies in an extremely deep fissure in the earth - only Lake Baikal in Siberia is deeper and larger. Just like Lake Baikal, Lake Ohrid is home to an endemic species of trout - strangely enough here called "Koran".

Beautiful view over Lake Ohrid.

A big construction site at the moment.