This is a short walk to the mysterious bunker hidden in the Skopska Crna Gora mountains near the village Banjane. The bunker is close to the Monastery of St Ilija.
The bunker was built in 1954 by the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), allegedly by prisoners. The existence of this bunker was military top secret. It was supposed to be a command post, but it was abandoned and a second command post was built near the village Gorno Sonje on Mount Vodno, which we had visited a few days before. The bunker is often referred to a Tito’s hideout. It was accidentally discovered in 2012 by some locals.
The entrance of the bunker is cleverly hidden behind a wooden shed. At the time of discovery the shed was hiding a heavy metal orange door that closed off an underground military bunker. The bunker consists of a labyrinth of tunnels and 10 rooms with wooden floors. When it was discovered the bunker contained cables for telephone, telegraph, ventilation, furniture, appliances etc. At the end of the tunnels there is a vertical ventilation shaft with stairs, likely an emergency exit. I didn’t climb up there. In one of the tunnels there is what looks like a concrete sink.
At the moment the bunker is as good as empty, except for the ventilation pipes and a cable or connector here and there. It has been completely cleaned out, including most metal partitioning doors. The bunker is further in remarkable good and relatively clean condition, but there is some graffiti and in one of the rooms there has been a fire.
There were quite a few bats in the bunker.
I had heard about the existence of the bunker already a few years ago, there are even some videos on YouTube of people visiting the bunker. However, it was difficult to get a more precise location of the bunker than “somewhere in the vicinity of the St Ilija Monastery”. Eventually I posted a question in a Macedonian Facebook group. Both myself and the people who were trying to help me even got some mild threads from certain people, that these “national secrets” were not to be shared! That even motivated me more to find it!
In the end the bunker was not difficult to find at all, it is less than 300 m away from the St Ilija Monastery. Just before the monastery there is a concrete bridge. Follow the river on the right side and after a bit more than 200 meters you can see the ruins of the wooden shed on your right.
One of the tunnels of the bunker ends at a metal fence behind which you could see the forest. I tried to find where this opening is on the outside of the bunker and added a waypoint.
The St Ilija Monastery is worth a visit as well. I had visited the monastery before during a hike. It was a national holiday in Macedonia when we visited, and there were many people picnicking at the monastery. The church of the monastery dates back to the 14th century and is partially built into a rock.
The monastery has 16 rooms, but only one room is available for guests. We were told that the available room is for 3 people, there is a shared bathroom and no kitchen facilities and the rooms costs 800 denars (telephone 075 445 128). The other rooms apparently are rent to locals on a yearly basis. There is a narrow asphalt road leading from Banjane to the monastery.
You can view and download the GPS track to reach the bunker here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/titos-hideout-bunker-and-st-ilija-monastery-near-banjane-235802538
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