Village Sirkovo – Peak Klepa – Chichevo Monastery + Waterfalls

Klepa – a mountain peak and also the highest peak of the Klepa mountain of the same name, in the central part of Macedonia. Its altitude is 1150 meters. It is located exactly in the middle part of the main mountain ridge and ridge of the Klepa mountain, rising and dominating with its view in Povardarieto. At the very top there is a large rock that makes it recognizable from afar, looking like a tooth that runs above the mountain itself. The peak can be accessed from the villages of Podles, Krajnici or Skacchinci, where in the past there was also a mountain lodge. A marked trail for climbing the Klepa peak, 6 kilometers long, exists from the dam of the artificial Podleško Lake. The peak has a strategic location with a view of the entire middle Povardarie, with Stobi and Krivolak as well as the traffic connections along the valleys of Vardar and Crna, which is why it has had military importance since the past, and there are also abandoned military bunkers under the very rock of the Klepa peak. About the Klepa peak, the Macedonian revolutionary Gjorche Petrov wrote in his book Materials after the study of Macedonia that in the eastern end of the plateau above the village. Chičevo and more than 2 hours southwest of Gradsko rises from all the other ridges and hills the Klepa peak, after which the whole area between Babuna and Reka (Raechka Reka) is called Klepa.

Podles Lake – an artificial lake near the village of Podles. It is located about 14 km from the settlement of Gradsko, on the slopes of Mount Klepa, and it is reached by an asphalt road. It was built by the former agro-combination “Lozar”, in order to irrigate the numerous areas with fruit trees and grain in the surroundings of Gradsko.

Chichevo Monastery – Macedonian Orthodox monastery complex located in the atar of the Veles village of Gorno Chichevo in the heart of the Klepa ethnogeographical area. A road leads to the monastery, which separates from the local road that connects the villages of Dolno and Gorno Chichevo and is in bad condition. The monastery has two churches — “St. Archangel Michael” and “St. Mother of God”. The two churches, as well as the entire monastery, are in a bad state. According to his chronicle, the monastery was built as a small church in the period from 1695 to 1705 by the monk Michael with the help and protection of Ago-bey from Veles. The year of the construction of the monastery is also confirmed by the bronze seal of the monastery (Orle), which does not exist as such a monastery anywhere, and the name of “St. Archangel” and the image of Archangel Michael. The year 1705 is also engraved around the handle of the seal. The master of the seal was Simon Kostadinov, who is also the writer of the inscription. From this data it follows that the original church was not built earlier than the beginning of the 18th century. In the second half of the 19th century, the old monastery church was restored, renovated and painted by the painter Hadji Krste in 1861, and thus got its present shape and appearance. Then the monastery got a new domed church, light and a big high bell tower next to it.

Source: Wikipedia

Tour

(under construct.)