This short hike of 3 km with 160 m ascent near the town Demir Kapija takes you to the Dolni Zmejovec (Dragon) Cave and on the way back you can visit the archeological sites Crkvishte (Church) and Manastir (Monastery).
There are two caves named “Zmejovec” or Dragon near Demir Kapija: The Gorni (Upper) or Golem (Big) Zmejovec cave is rich in cave decorations and is considered an archeological site as well, because artefacts have been found in this cave dating back 2000 years. Although the Museum of Demir Kapija even had a booklet about this cave, they were unable or unwilling to tell us its location. I also did not succeed to find the location of the Gorni Zmejovec Cave online.
The Dolni (Lower) Zmejovec cave was easier to find, and that is where this trail takes you. Unfortunately, this cave doesn’t have cave decorations and is not very deep. But it is on a nice location with good views.
If you would continue following the trail that leads to the cave you should reach the Klisura Cactus Valley after about 5 km. This trail is part of the Sammiana trail. We didn’t walk this trail ourselves!
It seems that close to the cave there has been some (illegal?) digging, probably looking for an archeological site or artefacts. Indeed, bricks and pottery can be seen here.
We next visited the archeological sites Crkvishte (Church) and Manastir (Monastery). They are part of a larger site named “Prosek”.
The sites Crkvishte and Manastir represent necropolises located along the Vardar River. Two other localities, Markov Grad/Markova Kula and Kale-Strezov Grad represent early Byzantine fortified settlements that were in use again in a short period during the 10th and 11th centuries. There is another fortress called “Ramnishte”, located on top of the highest hill overseeing Crkvishte and Manastir.
The following is taken from this website: http://www.promacedonia.org/im3/im_negotino.htm
“Near the river Vardar rises a 40 m high hill called “Manastir“. In late antiquity, a basilica with numerous tombs around and in it stood here. In the 10th-11th century, a new church was built on the middle nave, and monastery buildings to the southeast of it. They were excavated in 1950-52 and dated by numerous coins from the 11th to the 13th centuries.
Barely 400 m southwest of the Monastery lies the locality of “Crkvište”. In 1952-54 another basilica from the 5th century was excavated here, on whose central nave in the 10th century a small cemetery church was built over. Around it over 500 Slavic graves have been excavated, ranging from the 10th to the 17th centuries This was undoubtedly the main necropolis of Prosek. A smaller necropolis lay on the slope west of the Monastery“.
After our visit we drove back to Demir Kapija and stopped at a building made out of red bricks with a swastika on the wall with a “V” underneath it. This probably is a German defense tower from WWII and locally known as “Kula” (Tower).
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/demir-kapija-dolni-zmejovec-cave-archeological-sites-crkvishte-and-manastir-239075461
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