The Monastery of St Spas (The Holy Savior) is located on the slopes of the Jablanica Mountain. The view from the monastery offers an exceptional view of the Struga valley.
The present location of the monastery dates back to the 19th century. The former locations were first near the village of Veleshta, then at the entrance of Vevchani and after that on a place called White Slope. The new location, high in the hills, was chosen to prevent violation by the Ottoman Turks.
Three times a year there are church services in this monastery, the first one is on the feast of St Spas the Holy Savior, the second on the Thursday before St Demetrius’ day and the third service is on the Thursday before the feast of St Atanas.
The monastery grounds includes the Church of St Spas, a bell tower with a covered picnic place with table and benches.
It is a steep walk to the Monastery, but the views are excellent and the church of the Monastery is interesting because one of its walls consists of the rock the church is built against.
To get there, head north-west in Vevchani. We got a free map of Vevchani in the information center in the center of the village.
At this T-junction, follow the wooden sign for the Monastery of St Spas to the right.
At the building in the picture below, just after the T-junction, you can choose which road you will take to the monastery:
1) Follow the main road for 4×4 vehicles. This road goes gradually uphill, so it is not too steep. It took us about 60 minutes to reach the monastery going uphill by this road.
2) Go left before the building. There is a pretty steep trail through the forest. This route is far more scenic than the 1st route, and has several primitive benches along the trail. It took us less than 30 minutes come back from the monastery using this trail.
I did not record a GPS track for this hike, but have a look at the map below for the approximate location of the Monastery of St Spas.
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