Free afternoon in Tirana. Overnight in Tirana.

Free afternoon in Pogradec. Overnight in Pogradec.

Ohrid is notable for once having had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as a “Jerusalem (of the Balkans)”.The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. The monastery of St Naum was established in the Bulgarian Empire in the year 905 by St Naum of Ohrid himself. St Naum is also buried in the church. Since the 16th century a Greek school had functioned in the monastery. The Lake of Ohrid, the ancient Greek Lacus Lychnitis, whose blue and exceedingly transparent waters in antiquity gave to the lake its Greek name; it was still called so occasionally in the Middle Ages. It was located along the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic port Dyrrachion (present-day Durres) with Byzantium. Then we drive for 25 km to the city of Ohrid, Overnight in Ohrid.

Then we drive to Edessa Pella ,Greece. Archaeological remains have been discovered on the site of ancient Edessa, just below the modern city. The walls and many buildings have been unearthed so far. The city achieved certain prominence in the first centuries AD, being located on the Via Egnatia. Under the Byzantine Empire, Edessa benefited from its strategic location, controlling the Via Egnatia as it enters the Pindus mountains, and became a center of medieval Greek culture, famed for its strong walls and fortifications. In the modern period, Edessa was one of Greece’s industrial centers until the middle of the 20th century, with many textile factories operating in the city and its immediate vicinity. Today however its economy mainly relies on services and tourism. Overnight in Edessa.

After the breakfast we depart to Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is Greece’s second major economic, industrial and political center, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe; its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, and is considered to be Greece’s cultural capital. The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great and princess of Macedon as daughter of Philip the second. Under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonian became a free city of the Roman Republic under Mark Antony in 41 BC. Overnight in Thessaloniki.

After breakfast we drive to Kavala, the capital and main port of the Kavala prefecture is amphitheatrically built on the slopes of Mt. Symvolo. Kavala is located on the Egnatia motorway and is a one and a half-hour drive to Thessaloniki, Neapoli, Christoupoli, Kavala: according to archaeological finds, the city’s history dates back to the Prehistoric times. Initially the city’s core was restricted to the district of Panayia, which has been uninterruptedly inhabited since the 7th century BC. After 2500 years though, at the beginning of the 16th century, Kavala expanded maintaining these new borders until 1870; it was only after 1928 that it began to shape its today structure. Its strategic and economic importance over the centuries is attributed to its strategic position in Via Egnatia, which traversed the city connecting East and West, to its port and to the natural fortification of the peninsula, on which the old city was built. After the visit of the Kavala City. Overnight in Kavala.

After breakfast we depart to Istanbul, a great country with full of history and amazing sightseeing. Expanding the ancient Roman colony of Byzantium by the order of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, the imperial city of Constantinople was for nearly a thousand years the last remaining outpost of the Roman (later termed Eastern Roman or Byzantine) Empire. It was finally conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II on 29 May 1453, an event sometimes used to mark the end of the Middle Ages. We will visit ancient monuments, dating back to Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods, including the Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque), and Basilica Cistern are located around Sultanahmet Square, while some others are dispersed throughout the peninsula of Old city such as Church of St Savior in Chora (Kariye Müzesi), entire inside of which is covered by mind blowing frescoes and mosaics.

Breakfast in the hotel and depending the time in disposal transfer to the airport. End of our service.