This is a short hike of 5 km and 115 m ascent to visit the medieval fortress and archeological site Devini Kuli near the village Devich (Devic).
King Marko (1335-1395) was the last king who ruled Macedonia before the centuries-long rule of the Ottomans. Marko’s kingdom was centered in Macedonia, with Prilep as its capital. Also see the fortress called Marko’s Towers in Prilep!
According to the legend, two sisters of King Marko, Deva and Peshna, lived in this region. Deva lived in the towers of the site Devini Kuli, which was the most strongly defended fortress in the entire region, while Peshna lived in a fortress at the entrance of the nearby Peshna cave. The Peshna cave can easily be seen from Devini Kuli. It is therefore almost mandatory to visit Devini Kuli and the Peshna cave on the same day!
The ruins of the Devini Kuli fortress are thought to be from the 13th-14th century. See Wikipedia for more info on the site.
Starting in the village Devich, you follow an unpaved road to the fortress. A sign at the entrance of the village suggests to do this by car, but the road is quite bad and muddy so it is better to walk.
You will pass the Church of St Petka from 2010, which was closed. The road along the river Treska is peaceful, with the river on one side and trees covered in moss on the other side.
There was a cavity in the rocks that looked like it may be the entrance of a cave, but it was too small to safely explore.
While climbing the ridge we passed a burned info panel.
Before you reach the main tower, you pass the remails of a wall (and possibly another tower). It is recommendable to have a look at Google Earth before you visit the site, so you get an idea how this wall surrounded the fortress. It’s always more difficult to get a good overview on the site itself.
The ruins of the main tower are impressive, with thick walls.
You can easily see the huge entrance of the Peshna cave in the distance.
Below the fortress at the southern foot of the hill on the left bank of the river Treska there is a medieval church with its roof in ruins. It is located on the cemetery of the village Devic. According to the architectural style of construction (similar to St. Andrew and St. Nicholas – Šishevski at Lake Matka near Skopje) it can be assumed that it was built in the 14th century as well.
A bit further, there are the ruins of a building with high walls, which is called “the Dungeon” by the locals.
Then the trail continues back to the village. At some places the 4×4 road was completely flooded and we had to improvise a bit.
There seem to be several springs at the banks of the Treska river, with water coming out of nowhere from the ground.
This was a really nice short hike combined with archeological sightseeing! It gets 4 stars. We came here after visiting the Gresnica Waterfall. Because we had visited the Peshna cave with the ruins of another fortress already in the past, we did not go there again. But you really should visit if you haven’t already!
You can view and download the GPS track for this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/devich-to-devini-kuli-fortress-188679371
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