Hike to a monastery and kayak to caves
JANCE, Macedonia — This country has a wild side: More than 75% of it is mountainous, with 16 peaks rising above 6,500 feet, and more than 50 lakes.
Vast forests of pine, beech and oak are home to brown bears, European bison, lynx, wolves, wild boar and deer. The wilderness starts within Skopje’s city’s limits on Mt. Vodno, where hiking trails can be accessed by a scenic cable-car ride.
Guides Meto and Danko of Macedonia Experience led us 30 minutes west of the capital, where we laced up hiking boots and trekked 90 minutes into Matka Canyon to reach the exquisite pre-17th century St. Nicholas Monastery, its interior adorned with frescoes.
We climbed for hours before hiking to the bottom of the canyon, where we hopped into kayaks and paddled for three tranquil miles along the base of steep cliffs lining narrow Lake Matka. Our destination was Vrelo, one of 10 caves in the canyon. It was an easy stroll among sparkling stalactites and screeching bats to the cave’s two lakes, one of which may well be the world’s deepest underwater cave.
The next day we left Skopje on the Mother Teresa Freeway heading west to wind our way up the flank of the Sharr Mountains on a dirt road in a Soviet Lada Niva 4x4 to Villa Ljuboten, a farmhouse lodge perched at 5,500 feet.
After gearing up, we hiked three hours through alpine meadows with views of snow-capped peaks to the north. The mountain range forms the border between Kosovo and Macedonia, and at Mt. Ljuboten’s 8,199-foot summit we stood with one foot in each country — ankle-deep in late spring snow.
Mt. Ljuboten’s summit is also the starting point for the Macedonian sector of the Via Dinarica, a 1,250-mile hiking trail crossing eight Balkan countries: It was named Outside magazine’s best new trail for 2014.
When we returned to the villa, owners Vase and Victoria Vidoski laid out a farm-to-table feast that included wild boar stew, venison sausages and homemade goat cheeses infused with wild garlic. And plenty of Skopsko beer.
By the time we finished, most of us were sleepily eyeing the four bedrooms, each with four bunks, the family rents to visitors.
The next day we slipped into overalls, hard hats and headlamps for a descent into the 400-yard-long Gorna Slatinska cave in the remote Makedonski Brod region, an oftensqueezy trip in the company of quarter-sized bats that hung together on the cave ceiling like bunches of grapes.
That afternoon we arrived in the beautiful mountain village of Jance within Mavrovo National Park just as the small local mosque made its call to prayer that echoed throughout the wooded valley. We checked into the small eco-Hotel Tutto, whose restaurant is a member of Slow Food Macedonia, for a traditional local meal to fuel our last outdoor day of mountain biking and horseback riding.
By the time we arrived at the historic town of Ohrid the next day, our bodies ached from activity, telling us it was time for a cultural break.