Пештера Пешна

Peštera Pešna - Peshna Cave - Peshna’s Cave - Пештера Пешна

Useful Information

Location:	R1106, Prilep. 7 km north-northeast of Makedonski Brod, Poreče region, central western Macedonia. From Prilep follow R1303 32 km northwest to Suvodol, turn right and follow R1106 for 4 km. After the Motel Peshna on the left side of the road there is a turnoff on the right side which leads to the tiny village Peshna. After 50 m turn left to the church Св. Архангел Михаил (St. Archangel Michael), car park. Across the river, then left, parallel to the river upstream. (41.5478408, 21.2526208)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave River Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=70 m. Portal: H=30 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
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History

Description

Пештера Пешна (Peštera Pešna - Peshna Cave) is a natural and cultural monument which is both developed with a trail and signposted. Nevertheless, it is not a show cave, or gated in any way, and there is no infrastructure for tourists. From the end of the road, at a small chapel dedicated to the Archangel Michael, a well-made gravel trail leads to the cave portal. The huge portal is almost covered by bushes and trees, but the plants end at the cave entrance. It is the largest cave entrance on the Balkan and is 30 m high. On the right side is the ruin of a medieval fortification and a water mill, only a bit more than a meter of the walls remains. The castle ruins are named Devini kuli (Deva’s fortress) by the locals, because of the legend below. The floor of the cave is not level, the left side is much lower, and the right side is covered by the ruins. The trail ends at the cave entrance, so you have to use the dry riverbed on the left to enter the cave.

The famous Krali Marko had two sisters, Peshna who lived here in the cave and Deva who lived in Deva's Fortress, which is 4 km away. At this time, women were not allowed alone in public, so the sisters were not able to go and visit one another. So the Krali built the two castles at the opposite ends of the cave, and the two sisters could talk every morning through the cave which amplified their words with the echo.

Peštera Pešna is the resurgence of the river Пешница (Pešna), a tributary of the Треска (Treska) river. According to local lore, the Крапа (Krapa) river, 4.5 km to the east in the next valley sinks to reappear here. This is most likely true, the village Krapa sits in a blind valley, the single lane gravel road to the village turns off R1303, up serpentines to a low pass, and after a little descent it reaches the lower end of the blind valley. Here the river is already gone, the valley though has a flat, fertile floor of loose river sediments. This actually would make this cave at least 5 km long, some even estimate 10 km of passages, but unfortunately it is all underwater and currently impossible to explore. As far as we know, there has yet no dye tracing experiment been made to prove the connection, but the Krapa definitely sinks at the end of the blind valley of Krapa.

The Treska flows into Вардар (Vardar) river, which crosses the border to Greece where it is called Αξιός (Axiós) river and finally flows into the Aegean Sea west of Thessaloniki. The river Pešna is only 800 m long, and it actually flows only during snow melt out of the cave entrance. During the rest of the year the cave entrance is dry, and a much smaller amount of water emerges from the debris below the cave entrance.

The entrance hall is quite huge, but at its end there is a rather small cave passage leading downwards. When the water flows, it is the source of the water and completely water filled. During the rest of the year, the water level is deeper and the first part of this cave is accessible. The passage ends with a cave lake.