IRON DOORS (ЖЕЛЕЗНИТЕ ЖЕЛЕЗНИТЕ)

This spectacular rocky passage carved by the Vardar (Демиркаписка Клисура/Demirkapiska Klisura) begins just south of Demir Kapija and extends 31 km in length to the village of Udovo/Удово towards Gevgelija. Demir Kapija owes its name to it, since the Ottomans called the site the "Iron Gate": Demir Kapı in Turkish. The site allowed for easy control of communications between Skopje and Thessaloniki. During the First World War, Austro-Hungarian troops dug a first rudimentary tunnel on the left bank, south of Demir Kapija. Above it, the cliff preserves a large inscription engraved in honor of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. A century later, from 2012 to 2018, it is a Franco-Greek consortium that dug the very complex tunnel of 1 km in length allowing the European Highway 75 to pass under this mass of limestone rock with gray-blue hues. The same sector is also among the most popular climbing sites in the Balkans: a wall almost at the peak (85 degrees of inclination) of 300 m high with several routes reserved for the best climbers. For the less experienced climbers, there are also three via ferrate, routes with iron frames installed between 2017 and 2020. But it still requires to come with its safety equipment (ropes, harness, helmet ...). The cliff opposite, on the right bank of the Vardar, has at its summit the remains of the medieval fortress of Prosek.