Sacred Mysteries of Macedonia
Featured article on Yahoo Adventures
Richard Bangs has paddled African rivers, journeyed to Antarctica, trekked to Himalayan
mountain thrones, bestowed digital cameras upon New Guinea highland villagers, and made
the first 21st-century Western foray into Libya.
Richard recently set out to explore Macedonia, unlock its treasures, and uncover some of its
many mysteries. His journey was broken up into five days.
Day1
Richard meets the foremost archaeologist in Macedonia,
Pasko Kuzman, who has been excavating 3,000-year-old
submerged sites in Lake Ohrid, and the first fortress of
King Philip II, Alexander’s father, on its shores.
Day 2
Where did science and religion
begin? Richard
meets with two men on a mountain
in northeast
Macedonia who claim it began here,
at an ancient sacred
temple called Kokino. Just five years
ago archaeologist
Jovica Stankovski and astrophysicist
Gjore Cenev were
poking about the Bronze Age ruins
near the top of this
1,000- meter high neovolcanic shock
when they noticed
certain notches in the ridge were
aligned with the
positions of the sun and moon at their seasonal rise. A year later the discovery was validated
by NASA, and Kokino is now fourth on the short list of
oldest observatories on earth.
Day 3
The old religions converge in Macedonia, where holy
relics hide in monasteries and some secrets are best left
unexplored. For centuries, religions have competed for
supremacy in Macedonia. For 500 years the Muslim Turks ruled, now Christianity
predominates.
Day 4
If there is a fountain of youth, perhaps it is wherever
pure water flows. High in the blue mountains above the
village of Drugovo, inside the walls of the Monastery of
Sveta Bogorodica Precista, there is a cool mountain
spring that serves all denominations with its healing
powers. The nun who is caretaking says that the water
here regularly performs miracles. When asked if she has
witnessed any, she cites a 17-year-old girl who suddenly
went mute. She came here and drank the water, washed some over her face, then spent the
night in the adjacent church with her mother next to her. In the morning she opened the door
and her voice rang out over the hills. The nun herself is living testament. In 1999 she and six
others, including a three-monthold baby, all who had partaken in the holy water, left the
monastery for a road trip. On the second curve going down the steep mountain the car veered
off a cliff. It crashed into a tree and was totalled. Yet miraculously all seven, including the
baby, were thrown safely from the car before impact. The police later puzzled over the
impossibility as they found all the doors locked and the windows rolled up in the smashed
vehicle.
Day 5
With its voluptuous mountains and urgent canyons,
Macedonia is perfect for adventure. With a population
of just two million people in a country the size of
Taiwan (which has 23 million), a culture of biking and
walking, and no real heavy industry, Macedonia has the
cleanest air and water in Eastern Europe. Combined
with its voluptuous mountains and urgent canyons, the
country is designed for adventure. During his brief stay
Richard set out to scuba dive in Lake Ohrid, rappel the 90-foot high Smolare waterfall on
Belasica Mountain, spelunk a galaxy of caves, paraglide over vineyards, jeep safari the Sara
Mountains, hike the blossoming highlands, and more... but couldn’t squeeze them all in.
Richard finishes his report by saying, “Macedonians are wistful for the time when their
borders had the longest reach, when their power was at its apogee. But they don’t live in the
past — they continue living lives to the fullest, rich with adventure, ardent with passion,
bright with opportunity, and filled with the never-ending quest for good food, good drink and
brilliant moments.”
Read all of Richard’s adventure at:
http://adventures.yahoo.com/macedonia