This short hike starts along the road to the village Patishka Reka. It’s just 1.5 km in total with 180 m ascent. The start is approximately 30 km or 50 minutes driving from Skopje. We combined a visit to this cave with the Ledena Cave near the village Breznica, which we visited first.
Although It is possible to hike from one cave to the other (see for instance https://turnimedakinisam.mk/?p=11738&lang=en), the logistics are a bit difficult, so we did this by car. It is about 20 km and 40 minutes driving between the starting points for these two caves.
The trail is short but some parts were overgrown with weeds in the summer of 2023.
The cave was large and pretty interesting with several kinds of decorations. This is the description from Wikipedia:
The entrance part of the cave is quite wide, i.e. with a width of 9.5 meters and is conditioned by the destruction of the ceiling. Right after the entrance is a hall 13 meters wide and 25 meters long. The floor is covered with clay, broken rocks and layers. Through a section of 3 meters, one enters the main hall of the cave, which on the sides has very beautiful layers and curtains with a yellowish color. The hall is 37 meters long, and its widest part is 25 meters. In the middle of the hall, there are ruined blocks, most of which are covered with a large crust. These blocks look like one pile that is 19 meters high.
At the very top there is a stalactite with the shape of a man. In the lower part of the bowl, the layers form various animal figures such as a lion, a wolf, etc. From this part, through a channel 12 meters long, you enter the third hall, which is 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. The ceiling and walls are quite cracked. During the first investigations in 1928, data were recorded about the altitude of 1050 meters and the total length of the cave of 82 meters. Due to the size of the cave, in addition to bats, larger birds such as owls and falcons live in it, and during some investigations of the channels inside, remains of animal bones were also found.
According to legend, the Bozgunova Cave got its name because of a terrible event from the past. The word “bozgun” comes from the Turkish language meaning defeat, destruction, death. It is said that during the Turkish Ottoman invasion, all the population of Patishka Reka hid in the cave from the Turkish army. When the Turkish army was passing under the cave, a donkey started braying in front of the cave. The enemy noticed this and when they saw the refugees inside, they killed them all.
Of the two caves that we visited this day, the Bozgunova Cave near Patishka Reka was the larger and more interesting one.
Before we visited the Bozgunova Cave, we had lunch in restaurant Villa Reka (https://www.facebook.com/villatReka/). The bread that we had there was very delicious. It was folded like a Calzone pizza and had cheese in it. I don’t recall what it was called. The restaurant is along the same road where the trail to the Bozunoca Cave starts, less than 1 km further more towards the village Patishka Reka.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/bozgunova-cave-near-patishka-reka-144492919
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