This hike takes you from the village Nova Breznica to the Ledena cave. It’s almost 9 km with 325 m ascent in total. Nova Breznica is approximately 25 km or 40 minutes driving from Skopje.
The Ledena Peshtera (meaning “Icy Cave”) is also called “Svetla” (Bright) Cave or Zdravevska Cave. Allegedly, during winter the flow of air in the cave creates impressive ice decorations from the ceiling to the floor of the cave, hence its name “’Icy Cave”. It appears to be the only one of its kind in Macedonia. Unfortunately we visited during the summer, so there certainly was no more ice in the cave.
We combined a visit to the Ledena Cave with the Bozgunova Cave near the village Patishka Reka. Although It is possible to hike from one cave to the other (see for instance https://turnimedakinisam.mk/?p=11738&lang=en), the logistics are a bit difficult, so we did this by car. It is about 20 km or 40 minutes driving between the two caves.
The hike starts in the village Nova Breznica. We parked near the fountain but it is also possible to park at the Church of St Nikola Talalej, which will shorten the hike with about 1 km.
According to a sign, the Church of St Nikola is from the 14th century but it may have been recently restored because it did not look very old. The smaller church dedicated to St Talalej was built in 1998.
The hike itself is not very special but there was plenty of shadow, which was welcome because it was a hot summer day. The hiking part of this cave visit gets 3 out of 5 stars.
A bit before the cave we met a local who was working on his field and invited us for coffee. It turned out that the cave is located on his land. After this pleasant break we continued the hike to the cave.
Just before a wooden fence you have to go left, this trail can be easily missed. You’ll get to the cave about 200 meters further.
The cave was nice with several kinds of decorations. I noticed some animal bones as well.
Of the two caves that we visited this day, the Bozgunova Cave near Patishka Reka was larger and more interesting.
Before we visited the second cave, we had lunch in restaurant Villa Reka (https://www.facebook.com/villatReka/). The restaurant is along the same road where the trail to the Bozgunova Cave starts, less than 1 km further more towards the village Patishka Reka.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/nova-breznica-ledena-cave-144478454
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