This short walk takes you from the village Dolno Crnilishte to the Kanda Geoglyph. It’s about 2 km in each direction and 125 m climbing in total.
A geoglyph is a large design produced on the ground by durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. Probably the most famous geoglyphs are the Nazca lines in Peru. But there is also one in Macedonia and it is called the Kanda Geoglyph!
The Kanda Geoglyph is a man-made hill with an oval-shaped inscription in it. Inside the oval circle there is another inscription resembling an arrow or a letter. Some say it resembles the stellar constellation of Cassiopeia.
Analysis using an infrared camera revealed a different composition of the soil in the hill compared to the surrounding soil. In 2014 international researchers have investigated the geoglyph and concluded that there may be a cavity inside the hill, presumably only a few tens of meters beneath the surface. It is believed that the hill at Kanda is a cairn (i.e. a man-made pile of stones, usually as a marker or as a burial mound) with an inner chamber or that the hill was raised on top of an existing hill to form the cairn thus increasing its original height.
The Kanda Geoglyph can be found in the vicinity of the town Sveti Nikole, about 60 km south-east from Skopje.
Another famous site near Sveti Nikole is the Paeonian archeological site Bilazora (Bylazora). Bilazora was the largest town of Paeonia and it may not be a coincidence that the Kanda Geoglyph is located so close to Bilazora. Some people believe that the Kanda Geoglyph might be a tumulus containing a grave of e.g. an ancient Macedonian king.
Our initial plan was to visit Bilazora and hike to the Kanda Geoglyph and back, a total of 14 km, as described here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/v-knezhje-bilazora-kanda-geoglyph-v-knezhje-134537864#
However, it was a very hot day in July and after our visit to Bilazora we decided to try to get as close as possible to the Geoglyph by car. That brought us to the village of Dolno Crnilishte where we parked at the Church of St Ilija, which was under construction.
After about 1.5 km walking on a dirt-road, we had to pass through some farmland to get to the Geoglyph.
It is good to realize that from the ground, there really is not much to see unless you have a drone. In addition, when we visited in July the site was pretty overgrown with high grass. It’s therefore advisable to read a bit about the Kanda Geoglyph and watch some YouTube videos before your visit to get a good impression of the site.
Some recommended reading and watching:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Geoglyph
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316445839_Archaeoastronomy_at_Kanda_geoglyph_Macedonia
Although there’s not much to see, the main reason to visit anyway is because it’s kinda cool to have been standing on the one and only Macedonian Geoglyph!
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/kanda-geoglyph-144154375
My Macedonia Blog 