Monuments to visit Povadarie

This small peak is now locally called Голема Круна/Golema Kruna. This is the simple translation of "Grand Couronne". Because here, between Greece and North Macedonia, the hills of Karabalija overlooking Lake Dorjan, in the west, have names that are neither Greek nor Slavic: the Turtle, the Small Crowned, Pip Ridge, the Twins ... These are the nicknames given during the First World War by French and British soldiers to the positions held by the Bulgarians. So many places that the allied troops tried to conquer during three years. Three years of offensives, bombings and hand-to-hand combat. Between 1915 and 1918, Dorjan was the "Verdun of the Macedonian front". And its fort of Douaumont was the Grand Couronne, the main observation post of the Bulgarian artillery. Officially called Kale Tepe ("the hill of the castle" in Turkish), and also known as the Devil's Eye in English, the Grand Couronne is only 612 m high. But it is hard to reach, especially in the heat.

Bunkers and rusty casings. From Star Dojran, a path accessible by 4 x 4 and today used by the border guards allows to reach the half-slope. Then you have to walk through the rocky terrain, make your way through the brush to reach Dovdželii. During the conflict, this village located in the no man's land between the two sides was continuously bombed. Only ruins remain. Further on is the deadly Twin Ravine, then the Bulgarian first and second lines, whose trenches are still visible. Only a few isolated Allied units managed to reach the top of the ravine, sometimes with losses of more than 70 percent of their strength. The slopes up to the summit proved even more difficult to climb. The hill is littered with bunkers and dugouts, some of which are well preserved, while the ground is littered with shell casings and projectiles gnawed by rust. The place is surmounted by a blockhouse that offers a breathtaking view of the lake around which the troops climbing the hills were concentrated. The Bulgarians had no trouble anticipating the Allied attacks... until September 19, 1918. On that day, the Welsh of the South Wales Borderers finally managed to seize the Grand Couronne. Only 18 soldiers and one officer were left when the battalion took the position. Despite a fierce defense, the Bulgarians were overwhelmed. Ten days later, Skopje was conquered by surprise by the French and Bulgaria capitulated.

This 15 m high stone tower (Маркови Кули/Markovi Kuli) was erected around the ^12th-13th centuries. Recently restored with its battlements, it was part of the Kožle fortress, the remains of which remain. The origins of this stronghold date back to the early Middle Ages, when it guarded the passage between the Byzantine provinces of Macedonia (south) and Mesia (north). The site is unkempt, full of garbage, and access is through thorny trees and along a ravine. But the views over the Badar Gorge are delightful.

Recently restored, this 10-meter-high tower (Саат Kула) was erected in the ^14th century, in the early Ottoman era, to indicate prayer times to Muslim inhabitants. It was part of a large Turkish neighborhood that rose on the heights of Dojran, around a sharia (commercial and religious complex). Almost all this complex was destroyed in 1913, during the fighting between Greeks and Bulgarians in the Second Balkan War. Nearby are the old Turkish baths.

The ruins of this fortress (Просек) emerge from the vegetation at 400 m above sea level, just above the beginning of the Demir Kapija gorge. The rectangular layout of the enclosure is still visible. It is the stronghold of the Aromanian lord Dobromir Chrysos who formed a micro-state here at the end of the ^12th century, when the region was disputed between Byzantines, Serbs and Bulgarians. The site was then occupied by another rebel nobleman, the Bulgarian Strez, before falling into oblivion until 1948. A 2.5 km path leads to it from Partizanska Street.

This beautiful late ^19th-century corbelled house (Спомен-Куќа на Кочо Рацин) is the birthplace of the poet Kočo Racin (1908-1943). Considered the father of Macedonian literature, yet he spent part of his childhood working here, in his father's pottery workshop, now reconstructed. Other beautiful houses of figures of the city are preserved in the same neighborhood: houses Kasapovi, Glavinov, Konstantinov... Other historical buildings are visible on the left bank: houses Paunovi, Trenčovi..

The site of the "Vardar Hill" (Вардарски Рид) was occupied from the ^13th century BC. The main remains visible today are those of Gortynia, a Hellenic colony of the Kingdom of Macedonia inhabited between the ^4th and ^1st centuries BC: stoa (gallery of artisans and traders), agora (market), warehouses and workshops of the acropolis, "house of the tax collector".In the summer months, the inhabitants of Gevgelija come to picnic and climb the observation tower.