1st Day. Skopje

After the breakfast the group thought old Turkish bazaar are visiting the Skopje Kale. The oldest remains of human activity on the Skopje Kale are directly associated to archaeological deposit of the area, which was formed through long geological processes, on the base of sedimentary sandbar. ( First of all, thick layer of river alluvium was formed, or more precisely, a type of a pebble stone river terrace was created. Through washing a layer of sand clay with a sedimentary base was deposited on it. This clay layer, somewhere red, somewhere yellow, appears with a thickness se greater than one meter. Precisely this sand clay reveals the various dug in items, such as the remains of the initial – oldest settlement from the Copper Age-Eneolithic Age or from the 4 millennium before Christ)

Next destination is settlement Tumba Madzari. The settlement of Tumba Madzari is a protogenic core of today’s Skopje. The first house was discovered in 1981, and it was identified as a sanctuary. Seven more houses have been discovered so far, but only the first one has been published. The house was built in the traditional technique of piles stuck in the ground, often flanked with stones/mills. (The house construction shows that big chopped beams were built in the walls, and their prints are still visible. The walls are decorated with fingers from the outside, in spirals that end as primitive volutes. The area of the house if 8x8m, with a square shape. The roof is on two layers, made of straw placed on a wooden construction that is carried by thick piles on the outside, placed on the frontal and back side. The interior of the house is divided by a thin irregular parapet. It separates the two facilities built next to it. Another facility has been discovered in the north-east part of house 1. In accordance with the thesis that house 1 was a sanctuary, these facilities have been explained as sacrificial altars for cults, where food was treated. The later research on this locations, as well as on other locations show that in their shape, these facilities are similar to the semi-spherical furnaces in Zelenikovo, Govrlevo, Mramori, Stenče, and thus they were used as furnaces)

After the lunch in traditional restaurant the group is the next destination is Skupi. The ancient town of Skupi, Skopje’s predecessor, is at the foot of Zajcev Rid Hill, on the left side of the river Vardar, near the Skopje suburb of Zlokukjani. It is one of the many archeological sites in Macedonia. ( The establishment of Scupi is connected with the roman entering in Dardania at the end of the first century BC. Most probably is that Scupi was founded as war camp. As the time goes the war camp became a town with a status of colony. The establishment of Colony Flavia Scupi made the king Dominian (84-85 year). The citizens lived all over Skopsko Pole, for which there are epigraphic confirms).

Dinner and overnight in hotel in Skopje.

2nd Day. Ohrid (the old city of Lihnidos)

After the breakfast the group is leaving the hotel and is going to Ohrid, the most famous touristic city on the Ohrid lake. Ohrid is one of the rare cities in the Balkans, such as Thessalonika, Odessa and Dyrachion that had thrived uninterruptedly throughout the classical period. ( They survived the decline of the classical civilization and continued to live under their new names till the present time. The soil of this ancient city has seen numerous changes of civilization achievements followed by the inevitable falls and rises. The contemporary city of Ohrid is a descendant of the antique town of Lychnidos. This was confirmed by several Byzantine sources in which it was written "the town is situated on a high hill near the large lake of Lychnidos, by which also the town was named Lychnis, previously known as Dyassarites". The existence of this town is also evident from numerous Roman documents. According to them, Lychnidos was located by the Via Egnatia, the oldest and most important Roman roadway in the Balkans. It started with two routes from Apollonia and Dyrachia and reached to Lychnidos through Candavian Mountains. Long before the Romans came into the region this route had been used as a communicational link between the coast and the internal parts of Illyria and Macedonia. Via Egnatia was the shortest route from Rome to the Eastern Empire).

After the lunch in national restaurant the group will visit Bay of Bones . Ohrid is to be enriched with another cultural and historical landmark as well as with a tourist attraction - Museum on Water - an exceptional archaeological complex, which is one of a kind in the region.  (On the southern coast of Gradiste Peninsula in the Bay of Bones, a pile-dwelling settlement has been erected, which in the past was spreading at a total surface of 8.500 m2. It is an authentic reconstruction of a part of the pile-dwelling settlement, dating back between 1200 and 700 BC).

Dinner and overnight in hotel in Ohrid.

3th Day. Heraklea and Stobi

After the breakfast the group is leaving the hotel will drive along the summer resort of Oteshevo and Mt. Galichica (one of the three National Parks in Macedonia) from where there is a magnificient view of both lakes (Ohrid Lake and Prespa Lake). Next destination while the sightseeing of Bitolais the Pre-christian city of Heraklea. ( Heraclea was one of the most important towns in Ancient Macedonia. Its foundation (mid 4-th century B.C.) is related to Philip II. The urban image of Heraclea and its development is in the Hellenic, Roman and Early Christian periods. The influence of Rome , Syria and Alexandria are also felt. In addition to the numerous and varied remains which have been discovered so far, today Heraclea is also renowned for its floor mosaics. These mosaics date back from the 4-th century. The motifs on the mosaics are different, vine peacocks, fountain with gushing water, stags, hinds and birds drinking fro the spring of life. They all convey the Christian message of inviting the faithful to follow the teachings of Christ, represented symbolically by hunting scenes or representations of the Christian paradise).

After the lunch in the center of city of Bitola the next destination is Stobi. The town of Stobi developed from a small Paionian settlement established as early as the Archaic period, and covered an area of about 2.5 hectares located on the northern side of a hilly terrace. (Its position at the mouth of the rivers Ergion and Axius, at the fertile region of the Central Vardar Valley, and the vicinity of gold deposits of Mount Kozuv, enabled fast development of Stobi, particularly during the nonwarring period of the I and II centuries A.D. In addition, the town was close to Mount Klepa, i.e., its eastern and southern slopes, rich with deposits of gray - white and pink marble. However, it seems that the native Paionian ethnic element was particularly strong and compact, so that the newly settled citizens with Roman civic rights did not manage to obtain a colonial status. That, of course, did not hinder the construction of all public buildings typical for the Classical towns of the Roman Empire on the town's agglomeration that covered about 20 hectares: a theatre and thermal baths, an aqueduct, temples, court halls, etc. Rather early, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, Stobi was originally granted the rank of oppidum civium Romanorum, and slightly later of municipum. On the coins stamped at Stobi, a rank of municipum Stobensium is imprinted). 

After the visit the group will go to Skopje. The dinner and overnight will be in hotel in Skopje.