This hike is 8 km long with 600 m ascent and takes you from the famous Zrze Monastery to the Zmejovica Cave or Dragon Cave. Even when you do not visit the cave, this is an interesting hike through a remarkable landscape.
We had attempted to visit the Zrze Monastery before in 2008. At that time the road to the monastery was unpaved and the last part was only suitable for a 4×4. In 2008 we had come all the way to the 4×4 part of the road and then decided to turn back because it was getting too late. In 2024, we returned and the road was completely asphalted up to the monastery. There is a large parking 500 m before the monastery.
The Monastery of Zrze, also called Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration and St Spas (Holy Savior) Monastery is located high on a cliff near the village Zrze.
Through time, the monastery has been ruined several times and renovated again. The last restoration of the monastery was completed in February 2015 when also the asphalted road was completed. The monastery complex itself used to be much larger than it is today.
The monastery church is named St Holy Transfiguration (St Preobrazhenie) and dates back to the 14th century. In 1535 a renovation was carried out and the church was newly fresco painted.
There is an interesting story about the icons of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the iconostasis of the Holy Transfiguration Church. The icon of Virgin Mary usually is on the left side of the icon of Jesus, but here the icon of Mary is on the right. The legend goes that the icons were initially placed as usual, with Virgin Mary on the left. However, every morning the monks would find that the icons had switched place. When the Father prayed for an explanation, Mary told him that if she is on the left side, she would turn her back to her son, which she would never do.
Indeed, Mary is shown in profile on the icon, which is common in Russia but not in Macedonia. Because of the graves of two Russian nuns at the monastery, it is believed that the icons originally came from Russia.
The other church on the complex is dedicated to St Peter and Paul. We actually completely missed this church as it seems to be incorporated in the recent lodging houses. We therefore also missed the famous fresco of a shepherd boy in traditional costume in this church, which is the reason this church is referred to as the “Shepherd Church”.
In the early days the monastic life took place in the locality of “Kale”, which is located about 150 m northeast of this monastery. This is evidenced by the remains of an early Christian basilica from the 5th-6th century, in a fortified area with defense towers that once served as a refuge for the population. Unfortunately, we also missed the ruins of this early Christian basilica. In addition, there is the Church of St Nikolas near the village Zrze (N41° 31′ 05.7″ E21° 20′ 58.9″) which is part of the Zrze Monastery and which we also did not visit. I hope you’re better informed now than we were, so you don’t miss anything!
In the cliff below the monastery monk’s cells have been carved into the rocks. These cells may have been in use from the 9th to the 14th century. The monk who showed us around spoke excellent English but he did not allow us to visit those cells because the trail was too overgrown and dangerous according to him (my argument that we just had hiked 8 km, visited a cave and that we’re used to a challenge did not change his mind haha).
With clear weather you can see the Monastery of Treskavec and Marko’s Towers near Prilep from the Zrze Monastery. Bring binoculars! See Wikipedia for more info about the Monastery.
The trail to the Zmejovica Cave starts at the back of the Zrze Monastery. After about 1 km you’ll have to do some serious climbing with a grade of 30-40%. Hiking sticks are recommended here, especially on the way down. This part of the trail is marked and the marking is really helpful in finding your way up this steep hill. The climbing is less than 1 km.
After that you reach a very nice plateau. The colors were pretty intense, green grass, the many small rocks between the grass, the blue sky with clouds. A month earlier there had been fires at this plateau, the result of which could still be seen and probably explained the green regenerating grass. This part is really very enjoyable and worth the steep climb!
The trail is still marked on the plateau, but not all the way to the cave. I think this marked trail probably connects the Zrze Monastery to the nearby village Krapa.
The entrance of the cave is basically a hole in the ground, which you would not notice if you are not looking for it. There is a large pile of stones with a metal Macedonian flag near the cave to mark its approximate location.
Remarkably, the cave has (almost) the same name as the Zmejova (Dragon) cave that we visited a few days earlier in the village Babino. Also the legend about the cave is identical, about a Dragon who kidnapped a beautiful girl. The Dragon had one weakness, which was salt water. When the girl gave the Dragon salt water, he petrified, but cursed the girl who also got petrified. They say you can still see the petrified Dragon and the girl in the cave, but it was not clear to me which stones represented them. See Wikipedia for more info about the cave.
The cave itself is easily accessible with a metal ladder. It’s quite a large and deep cave (68 m) and nice to explore. People leave coins on a large stone which looks like an altar. Unfortunately there were also vandals who carved their names in the rocks. Use a good headlight and/or flashlight.
After the visit to the cave we went further up the hill, without a clear trail. There were great views from the top over the valley below. From there you circle back to the steep part and go back to the monastery.
This was a great daytrip combining the Zrze Monastery, a beautiful hike and a visit to the Dragon Cave. The landscape on the plateau was really something different. This hike gets 4.5 stars out of 5.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/zrze-monastery-to-zmejovica-dragon-cave-188422623
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