Riding the crater

Kratovo means crater, not a surprising name since the town is located in the crater of an old volcano. Its historic wealth and importance was due to the precious metals that were mined there (also thanks to the Volcano) and then turned into coins. The town is known for its towers, built to protect against the Ottomans (it didn’t work) and for its more recent bridges. The owner of the old town house where we stay (whose interior remains of an earlier era) is the town historican and gives us a tour of town and one of the old towers before we leave.
The climb out of the crater is steep and long. Its a relief to get to the top. We are following high back roads, not all of which are paved and some of which are very rutted and steep and tricky to stay upright on. We get to see some quiet tracks past farms and old rickety houses. We pass a silver mine and happily recover tarmac, then pedal through old out-of-the-way villages. Another unexpected off-road section and we are heading back down past a monastery into « civilization » again.Read more