Photo. Church of St. John at Kaneo - A sacred jewel above Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. © Travel Explorations.
It was like finding a hidden crown jewel at the edge of the world. Being there felt like touching something sacred - with nothing but water, nature and sky stretching out around the church. What makes experiencing the Church of St. John at Kaneo truly unique isn’t just its beauty - it’s the way it fuses nature, history, architecture, and emotion into one powerful moment.
Ohrid is the city where you can take a real spirituality journey, or just admire the architecture of the all the amazing churches. The city is often called " Balkan Pearl" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It had once 365 churches, one for each day of the year. Ohrid has still many churches, and the most impressing of them all is St. John Kaneo Church.
The churches in Ohrid have got their name after their placement. Some of them are open to the public and some are secret. Some of them are now abandoned, but there are few that are open to everyone. It`s also believed that there are still more churches to be found.
In Ohrid, where churches rise at every turn, it’s not just the stone and icons you notice - it’s the quiet presence of something greater. As if God never left, just settled into the light, the lake, and the silence between bells. Anyway, what struck me wasn’t faith, but the feeling. A quiet presence in the air, something ancient and still, especially St. John Kaneo Church, like the weight of time itself resting gently over the lake and stones.
Perched high on a cliff above Lake Ohrid, this small 13th-century church is one of Macedonia’s most beautiful sights. Built in honour of St. John the Theologian, it blends Byzantine and Armenian styles in a way that feels peaceful and timeless. The church isn’t big or flashy. Its beauty comes from its simplicity: stone walls, soft carvings, and faded frescoes that still speak after hundreds of years. I stood by the Church of St. John at Kaneo, high on its cliff, watching the day fade into night. As looked out over the lake, everything felt still - like the world had paused.
The sun was slowly sinking behind the lake. Light and clouds kept shifting, turning the sky into soft and dark blue. I could also see the shifting colours on the building and cliff due to the changing angle and colours of the sunlight. Also the shimmering water in the light of sunset made the atmosphere special.
You don’t need a guidebook to feel it. You don’t have to know anything about Orthodox Christianity, art history, or architecture to be touched by this place. Its beauty is immediate. You just have to stand there - and let it reach you.
Stein Morten Lund, April 2018
Additional information
As the eighth-largest city in Macedonia and largest city along Lake Ohrid, Ohrid is one of the most-visited places in the country and often regarded as the “Jerusalem of the Balkans,” for its many churches (365 in total).
Nobody knows how many churches there are in Macedonia. Indeed, it is believed that there are 365 churches only around Lake Ohrid. You can find churches all around the country and you can find them on some really unusual spots – on top of hills, hidden in forests, on mountains and by rivers and lakes. Sometimes even submerged under lakes.
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