travel
nded Agenda: urday
about one hour from the trailhead. The village outskirts are rough-hewn structures of tree branches that could either be straight out of Swiss Family Robinson or Deliverance. The villagers didn’ t seem terribly keen on conversation, but they did let us eat our delicious lunch of bread, salami, fruit, nuts and rakija on the stream banks in peace.
From here, continue through town along the left riverbank and you’ ll happen upon some old Turkish cemeteries complete with Arabic inscriptions. The path continues onward another 45 minutes to an abandoned village called Iberli, which now consists of one weekend home and some crumbled remains of ancient houses. Following the road’ s switchbacks up the mountain will lead you to Konche or eventually Radovish You can either turn left at the Iberli weekend house and follow the path to a service road that winds around to the village of Koreshnica, or simply head back the way you came to Chelevec. From either of these villages you can call a taxi from Demir Kapija to collect you( make sure you get the taxi driver’ s phone number when he first drops you off at the tunnel!).
Cost: 80 denars( taxi 1) + 200 denars( taxi 2) + 400 denars( packed lunch)
Getting there and away:
Three trains per day run back and forth between Skopje and Demir Kapija at 356 denars roundtrip. Mlaz Bogdanci buses will also stop at the gas station outside of town to let you off from Skopje( 270 denars oneway). It’ s then a short walk into town.
Winetasting at the“ Temple of Wine”
Reward yourself after a long day’ s journey with a visit to Popova Kula, home of Macedonia’ s most magnificent view. This beautiful winery’ s open-terraced restaurant provides views over the gorge, surrounding mountains, picturesque towns and rows of vines demurely draped over trellises.
Nothing complements a good conversation with friends better than a few bottles of Popova Kula’ s delicious wines. We worked our way through a white Altan, followed by the reds Prokupec and Vranec – all paired with a cheese platter, Mediterranean salad, tavche gravche beans and sarma. No need for an entrée and we were still more stuffed than a baba’ s pepper in summertime. The restaurant stays open until midnight, so feel free to linger late – just beware as camel spiders the size of rabbits have allegedly been known to appear on the Popova Kula lawn.
Cost: 400 denars per person
Photos by Austin Fast: Ari Climbs Over River, Stork Church, Classy Orange Rakija Glass, In the Woods, Lunchtime in Chelevec
Summer 2013 – 25