This hike of about 9 km with 425 m ascent starts in the center of the village Kuckovo (Kuchkovo), about 30 minutes driving from Skopje. The hike takes you along several churches, a small waterfall and mysterious rock formation with healing power. There’s a small shop in the center as well as a fountain where you can get water.
The first churches along the hike are St Petka (1973) and St Nedela (1984). There’s a little fountain on the premises with curative holy water. Both churches were open and could be visited.
You’ll soon enter a forest area, with pine trees that were clearly planted in a very structured manner. From here you have to make your way down without a clear path. I added a waypoint named “go here” to indicate the place where you have to cross a ditch/small valley, this should help you find your way through the maze of pine trees. Instead of climbing the other side of the ditch/valley, you retrospectively probably may as well follow the ditch/valley itself downhill. However, we stuck to the original GPS track (https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/kuckovo-kuckovo-waterfalls-kuckovo-44069124)
The next part is the most beautiful, through a valley surrounded by high cliffs. Just before the valley I spotted some unusually colored artefacts high up in the rocks. I was curious to see what they where and climbed towards them (this part was deleted from the GPS track). They tuned out to be artificial beehives, made by the locals in the rocks. Luckily for me they were not in use anymore!
The valley itself is great, with a relaxing little stream which has some small height differences, apparently high enough to be called “waterfall” by some. Don’t expect a very impressing waterfall though! From here to the limestone rock formation Devojacki Kamen is again a bit freestyle without a clear trail.
The next sight is a small picnic site / chapel under the rock formation called Devojacki Kamen, or Girls Stone. There are several legends about this rock formation, which is supposed to have healing powers. The most well known is probably that the rock can help breastfeeding women who’s milk ran out. If they scratch parts of the stone from the rock, boil this and drink it, it is supposed to bring back milk production. The same procedure is supposed to help unmarried girls to loose their temper and find a partner.
The next two churches are St Ilija and St Atanas. St Ilija was open, we were told it was built in 1997. The monastery and church of St Atanas was demolished in Turkish times but rebuild in 1920. Unfortunately the church of St Atanas was closed and in fact completely fenced off.
Back in the center of the village we paid a visit to the church of St Spas at the cemetery as well. It looked quite old and was closed. There are several other churches around Kuckovo, such as St Petka, St Krstovden and St Tripun which we all did not visit. One can only see so many churches in a day!
However, we did visit the Monastery of St George by car, a bit north of Kuchkovo before we went back to Skopje. The church of St George dates back to 1346! We were shown around the monastery by the friendly caretaker.
This pleasant and not too demanding hike gets 3.5. It’s a nice mix of a bit freestyle hiking and following paths and trails. The many churches are an interesting extra!
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/kuckovo-80355297
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