In this area there are scattered or embedded into the church some architectural stone parts from the Early Roman and Late Antique period. They belonged to two cult buildings: a temple and basilica.
After long period of neglecting and inactivity of the church on this place are recently maintained celebrations of its patron, Sveti Spas. This festival is called “Spasovden” (Ascension Day), and is celebrated in early summer (40 days after the orthodox Easter). Hundreds of believers from Skopje and from surrounding villages of Shishevo, Saray, Dolna and Gorna Matka participate in celebrations.
How to get there
You can reach this place and conquer the cache from two directions. At R1, behind the village Glumovo, the road splits in two. The left road will lead you toward Lake Matka and point R2. Here begins a little tougher trail. If you want to reach Sveti Spas on easier way, from R1 turn right toward R3.
1. From R2: You can reach this point (and Lake Matka) by bus, by car or a bike. The city bus (number 60) runs from central Skopje via Saraj to the Matka dam (check the schedule on the JSP website, http://www.jsp.com.mk/VozenRed.aspx). By car or bike: go west from Skopje and turn left across a new bridge toward the municipality of Saray. Continue toward the village Glumovo. Behind the village Glumovo the road splits in two (R1). Turn downhill left and continue through the village Dolna Matka about 2 km. You’re your car somewhere around the point R2, where the trail toward Sveti Spas begins. During weekends and festivals the place is crowded by people and cars, so there can problem to park the car. However, if you come early in the morning it will be no problem to park.
From R2 it takes some 1.5 hours to reach Sveti Spas. The trail is quite poorly marked. Follow the red (and white and yellow, but faded colors) marks, on trees and rocks. When you pass the Golden Cross, situated on a exposed rocks above the Monastery Matka (it would be on your left side) you will continue some 50 meters and there is a tricky spot where you should be careful not to miss the marked trail. The trail passes by a relatively big rock on the right side, where the red mark leads you directly uphill, not by terrain contour line. However, if you miss this point, nothing so bad will happen, you will just experience some “goat” paths, steep terrain and a lot of thorny bushes…
2. From R3: Behind the village Glumovo, from the point R1, turn uphill right, through the village Gorna Matka. You can reach the point R3 only by car or a bike (or by walk, from R1 it is some 3 km). The point R3 is a wide flat terrain behind the village houses where you can park your car. Please, to not continue from this point by car (on a dirt road) in order to preserve the nature and not disturb the ecosystem. You can continue by bike. It takes some 40 minutes nice and pleasant walk to the church Sveti Spas.
The higher you ascend the hill, the more beautiful lookups you’ll get on surrounding mountains. Your award for the sweat will be a splendid view toward the canyon Matka and the lake Treska (north-west). When the weather is clear, you can even see the Shara mountain (some 40 km north-west) with its most beautiful peak Lyuboten (something like Macedonian Fujijama). On the north-east lies the long chain of Skopska Crna Gora (Skopje Black Mountain).
The cache is a small plastic container. Bring a pen! Please, be aware of snakes, especially in summer! Check the cache place with some branch or a stick first!
Sources: Wikipedia, other internet sources. Photos: Original (by Galejnik)