ST GEORGE to MARKOS TOWER near VALANDOVO

See https://mymacedoniablog.wordpress.com/ for more info about sightseeing and hiking in Macedonia

Marko’s Tower near Valandovo can be reached with a short but steep hike from the Monastery of St George.

The tower is already visible from the monastery. When we said we would like to go to the tower, the people who were working in the monastery advised us not to go there, because it is hard to find the right track when you're on the mountain. And they said there are snakes, but people always tell you that in Macedonia so I never pay too much attention to that :-) I have never seen one in the mountains....

So we went anyway, with good shoes and hiking sticks. The first part from the monastery to halfway the mountain was easy to find. After that, we lost the right track. It was hard to find a way through the bushes on top of the hill, and we had to walk back a couple of times.

Eventually, we reached Marko's Tower via a very steep rocky path, approaching the tower from the south-west. This obviously was not the best way to get there, but we did it. It took us more than an hour. I forgot to mention it was in August, between 13.00 and 14.00 h under the hot Macedonian sun...Hence the sweaty picture! I was soaking wet as well :-)

Only when we walked back from the tower down to the monastery the right path became clear. The right path approaches the tower from the west, with a little detour. It took us about half an hour to walk back to the monastery.

The length of the walk is about 750 m uphill, with a height difference of 185 m.

On the picture you can see the right path marked with a purple line. Via the link below you can have a closer look at the GPS-recorded track and download it. Note that this is not an official path or track all the way, some bits are a bit freestyle. But is it well do-able once you know how to approach the tower...