Deer Leap Bridge – Elenski Skok


The Deer Leap Bridge – Mostot Elenski Skok – Мостот Еленски Скок

The ancient bridge, the Deer Leap Bridge, is located in the Debar Region.  Legend has it that a provincial ruler (a Bey) of the Debarsko region during the Ottoman Empire, and his men were hunting deer.  The Bey successfully wounded a deer but the deer managed to evade their grasp.  The deer never surrendered, even when cornered and kept escaping the hunting party.  The Bey and his party thought they had the deer trapped on the high banks of the Garska River but before the men could grab the deer, the deer jumped to the other side of the river and died.   Impressed by the deer’s bravery and driven to catch that deer, the Bey honored the deer by building this bridge and had it built in the shape of a deer’s leap.  We have not yet discovered the age of the bridge and can only tell you at this time that it was built during the Ottoman Empire’s occupation of Macedonia which had lasted five centuries.  We visited this bridge right after touring the Jovan Bigorski Monastery.

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About Brko

I am a Macedonia enthusiast and an adventurer. I really enjoy being immersed in the Macedonian culture, meeting people from all over Makedonija and sharing their traditions and cultural heritage.