The hike from Tresonce (Tresonche) to Lazaropole is about 15 km long with 600 m ascent.
You can start this hike either in Tresonce or in Lazaropole. We started in Tresonce to avoid to have to climb during the last part of the hike. The road to Tresonce is about 9.5 km from the main road, quite narrow and with many holes, so drive slowly. About 800 m from the main road there is a narrow bridge without any protection on both sides, be warned! The road to Lazaropole was in better condition last time we drove there (2016).
There are two churches in Tresonce, St Peter and Paul and St Nikola. Since we already had visited them when we were in Tresonce to hike to the Alilica cave, we did not visit them during the current hike in 2019.
From Tresonche, you follow the asphalt road back in the direction of the main road until the junction for the village Rosoki.
There was a broken information panel lying on the ground with a signpost indicating the village Lazaropole, the archeological site Glavino Selo and the cave Kalina Dupka. This was the first and also the last time that we saw “Glavino Selo” and “Kalina Dupka” signposted, it is almost if they don’t want you to find these places! You leave the asphalt road at this junction and go onto a small trail into the forest.
We noticed this medieval looking trap on the trail, with a note stating that “the trap is to catch wild animals for scientific research, please don’t touch or go into the trap” and with a phone-number to call in case of irregularities.
Just after the trap there is a tricky part where the trail is narrow and next to a steep cliff. It’s just a few meters but worth mentioning for those with fear of heights.
The rest of the trail is pretty good, just a little bit overgrown at some places. We were very keen on finding the deserted city of “Glavino Selo” and the “Kalina Dupka” cave, but we did not do our research properly and had no GPS coordinates. So we missed “Glavino Selo” because it was not signposted at all. I added a waypoint to the GPS track with the coordinates that I found after the hike, not sure if they are correct. You may be luckier than we were and actually find Glavino Selo! I would appreciate it if you let me know!
We were luckier finding the Kalina Dupka cave, but not thanks to the marking. At a certain moment a small stream crossed the trail, with on the left a very characteristic tree with a big hole under its roots. If you have eagle eyes you may or may not see red/white marking going uphill from here. It’s a short (100 m) but very steep climb (40 m uphill) on very slippery leafy ground to the Kalina cave. But it’s a great cave to visit! It still is a mystery to me why the cave is not signposted better.
The entrance of the Kalina cave is very low and you’ll have to crawl a bit to get in. However, you can stand almost right away after the entrance. You definitely need a good flashlight in the cave and a jacket is no luxury either because it was pretty cold inside the cave.
According to legend, the inhabitants from the nearby village “Glavino Selo” were hiding from the Ottoman (Turkish) occupiers in the cave. They were betrayed by a woman called “Kalina”, after which the Turks smoked the villagers out and killed them. The only survivor, Lazar, escaped via a tunnel in the cave and came out on the other side of the hill where he founded a new village, Lazaropole (Pole means field). We could only hope that the massive amount of bones that we noticed in the cave were not the remains of the poor villagers!
We did not spend as much time in the cave as I had liked to, because the weather forecast predicted a thunderstorm and we wanted to reach Lazaropole before than time. Retrospectively the weather did not get bad, but better be safe than sorry…
We continued the hike to Lazaropole where we had an ice cream from the local supermarket. The Church of St George was closed, just like last time when we were in Lazaropole in 2016. Also this time we were told that the caretaker of the church has not the best personality and usually refuses to open the church for visitors, so we did not even bother to look for him this time. A shame because it is supposed to be a very beautiful and old church (1838).
On the other hand, the church of St Archangel Michael just outside of Lazaropole was open (but not so interesting and not so old, being erected in 2005).
From here on the track basically follows an easy dirt road that is also advertised as a mountain bike trail. You’ll see Tresonce slowly grow and when you’re in the village itself there is some good old architecture to admire.
This was a very nice hike, relatively well marked with red/white marking except at those points where marking or a signpost would have been really welcome (the ruins of Glavino Selo and the Kalina Dupka cave). I call this typically Macedonian marking. Luckily we did at least find the cave, which was really exciting! 4.5 out of 5 stars.
For hiking in Mavrovo NP you need to register and buy a ticket. Tickets can be obtained online (https://npmavrovo.mk/tickets) or at the information center just outside of Mavrovi Anovi.
See here to view and download the GPS track: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/tresonche-kalina-cave-lazaropole-in-mavrovo-national-park-39630077
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