This 24 km hike has an ascent of 800 m and a decent of 1150 m.
Zavoj is a small village located along the main road from Ohrid to Bitola. From the main road to the starting point of this hike in the center of Zavoj is about 2.5 km. You can ask the bus driver to drop you off at the start of the road to Zavoj. I was brought by car to the starting point.
The first 14 km are mainly on a 4×4 road, followed by a smaller path through forest, 4×4 road and finally the last bit on asphalt road to Ohrid. The first 8 km you’ll do most of the climbing, followed by 5 km relatively flat walking and 9 km descent. The part on the 4×4 road through Galicica National Park is very nice.
Along the way you can see many churches and monasteries and other things:
– The Church of St Bogorodica (Holy Mother of God) in the village Zavoj
– A Smaller Church of St Bogorodica after about 3 km. It looks like this was build near the ruins of an older church. There’s also a roofed place to picnic here and a water fountain.
– The Gabresh Spring just after you leave the 4×4 road
– The Monastery Church of St Nikola, with large roofed picnic place and even a small playground. The place was deserted but the church was open.
– The beautifully located Cave Church of St Bogorodica, which was unfortunately closed but a thankful place for a short rest. Don’t be fooled by the even better located part of the church with the iron gate and the cross on top: the cave church itself is a few meters back, up the stairs and has some nice benches to rest.
– Close to the cave church there’s another small cave in the rocks
– The pink Church of St Rusa Sreda (St Blond Wednesday)
– Near Velgosti you can also do small detour and visit the beautiful Monastery of St Petka.
This is a nice hike and the possibility to see several of the remote monasteries and churches make it extra special. It is quite a diverse hike and gets 3.5 out of 5 stars from me.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/from-the-village-zavoj-to-ohrid-through-galicica-national-park-14871366
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