After visiting Ohrid in Northern Macedonia in 2016, six years later we decided to visit Lin and Pogradec, both locations on the Albanian side. The closest we had come to the Albanian border was when we visited the Church of St Naum in Northern Macedonia.

Pogradec is located on a narrow plain between two mountain chains along the southwestern banks of Lake Ohrid. It is a very laid back place which was once a favorite summer escape for many Communist government officials, particularly Enver Hoxha. Nowadays, it seems to be a place where many locals retire. In the morning, many elderly locals meet up along the Pogradec Beach waterfront and Drilon Park to have coffee and play draughts or cards. We stayed in Pogradec for 1 night just in front of Lake Ohrid. Just before entering the city proper, there is a narrow uphill unpaved road which leads to the ruins of the Pogradec Castle which offer a great panoramic view of the lake and city in the morning.

Half way between Pogradec and Lin, there are several reed beds (good for birdwatching) and small camping sites. There's also a bicycle lane if you'd like to cycle to and from Pogradec or Lin. We weren't impressed by Pogradec as a WHS, so we decided to give Lin a try, which turned out to be a wise choice. If you had to opt for visiting only one of these two locations, definitely go for Lin. Lin is a village on a small peninsula with a cute church and just one narrow main road with houses partially built on piles over the lake. After parking our rental car near the main cafeteria of the village, we hiked for 5.56 km along the Lin Peninsula Hiking Trail names Lin's Gardens. The medium difficulty loop trail is mostly flat except for a 62 metre uphill climb to the top of the rocky hill where there are the remains of a Paleo Christian church with mosaic floors. The trail hugs the lakeshore where there are several rows of traditional lakeside gardens with cultivated crops.

The narrow trail which leads up from the small village of Lin to the top of the rocky hill can be found to the right of a pink house. This leads to an early Christian church which was discovered and excavated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Paleo Christian basilica is composed of three apses with numerous chambers and a baptising chapel, with floors decorated with mosaics, especially in the baptistery, the large narthex (8 metres wide and 3 metres wide), and the "Pastofori/Past-for". As already experienced in Butrint, it is normal practice in Albania to cover the floor mosaics with gravel and sand on canvas. Entrance to the remains is free and the local guard points out the main features of the site and sometimes uncovers part of the mosaic floors, usually the mostly intact ones of the "Pastofori/Past-for". Behind the ruins, there is a great panoramic viewpoint over the village of Lin and Lake Ohrid. Ohrid is clearly visible from here on the Northern Macedonia side of the lake. There's also one of the countless concrete bunkers of Albania at the very tip of the peninsula.

All in all, we really enjoyed our visit to Lin and Pogradec, but they are no match to Ohrid in Northern Macedonia. Before leaving Lin, we had a delicious lunch at Rosa's Home guesthouse, just over Lake Ohrid, where we tried the excellent Ohrid speckled trout known locally as Koran, and also dubbed as the late Queen Elizabeth II favourite dish.