Devil 's town

Devil's Town is one of the most unusual places in Serbia. Not far from Prolom Banja, on the slopes of Mount Radan, there is an incredible view: two spacious valleys filled with hundreds of pillars of petrified earth, up to 20 meters high and up to 3 meters in diameter.

Almost every pillar at the top has an andesitic cap in the form of a wide slab of stone. The very valleys in which these "devils", as the people call them, are located, have very suggestive names: Devil's and Hell's Valley.

There are two highly mineral springs near the site of Đavolja Varoš, as well as the ruins of an old church. Many unusual and imaginative legends are connected to this area, not only because of the fantastic appearance of the stone pillars, but also because of the fact that the process of forming the Devil's Town is not over: the figures collapse and grow again, just as if under the influence of some evil force.

History of the Devil's Town


The Devil's Town was created by erosion, ie washing away of the soil, which consists mostly of sand and gravel. The water flows down the slope of the ravine over a vast plateau, and carries away the land — except in places where large boulders weigh down the ground beneath them, and prevent the water from carrying it away. The result of this is a multitude of pillars topped with large stones.

The process of forming the Devil's Town continues today - the erosion of the land continues, so that some pillars collapse or change shapes, new ones are formed ... exactly this, together with the somewhat frightening appearance of the "Devils" themselves, led the people to spin. numerous legends. Here is the one we personally liked the most.

Once, wedding guests from two different villages started, and at the same time, to beg a girl from the third village, so somehow it happened that it was the same girl. God looks at it from above, and sees, it will not work out well ... and the bride and groom go to each other, and meet in a valley. While they are thus facing each other, ready to accept weapons, God, not knowing how to avoid bloodshed, decides to temporarily turn them all to stone, until he finds a better solution. However, in his preoccupation with heavenly things, he completely forgets about them - and that is why they stand, so petrified, even today.

And the very area where the Devil's Town is located is shrouded in a veil of secrecy: it is, some say, a zone of dragon's furrows, or, as this phenomenon is also called, dragon's heads. It is a zone of pronounced electromagnetic action and increased gravity. On the other hand, there is no evidence to support this story.

How to get to Devil's Town?

Đavolja Varoš is located on the southern slope of Radan Mountain, 30 km southeast of Kuršumlija, between the villages of Zebice and Đake, at about 660 - 700 m above sea level. The site itself is some 10 kilometers away from Prolom Banja, which can be crossed in 2.5 hours of easy walking.

More buses depart from Belgrade to Prolom Banja every day, and a ticket that costs around 10 euros is a composite ticket - you will change buses in Nis and Kursumlija, but the ticket in question is valid all the time, until the end of the trip.

When you arrive in Prolom Banja, from the bus station you do not go uphill to the hotel, but downhill, a few tens of meters, all the way to the road that goes along the stream. After about 15 minutes of walking, you will pass by the wooden church of Lazarica, after which the road bends to the right and goes uphill. The road contains a lot of serpentines and for a while you will not meet anyone or see any house. The road ends in the village of Prolom.

In the village, ask further about Đavolja Varoš. You should go down the path to a narrow stream, and then go uphill, along the stream, along a wide forest road, until you come out on a small meadow, where the road forks. There, continue straight, uphill again, pass a collapsed house and break out into huge green meadows. On the left side of the road, something like a farm will appear - next to it, you should turn downhill, into the forest, again along a wide forest road, and go down it all the way to the river. Then you go across the river, for quite a long time, through the forest, and it will lead you to the Devil's Town itself.

If you like adventure, don't turn downhill next to the farm, but continue straight for another two or three kilometers, to a small village of about ten houses, surrounded by a wooden fence, located on a glade surrounded on all sides by forest. Pass by the village and enter the forest by a narrow path, which after a few hundred meters leads to two large bushes. On one of them is engraved, quite illegibly, "Đ. Varoš" - pass between two oaks and after a few minutes of walking you will find yourself on the edge of a steep ravine, and you will see the devils deep below you, in the valley. We do not recommend a descent down this ravine, although we have proven that it is possible :)

From Prolom Banja you have several buses a day to Kursumlija, and from there there is a good connection to Nis and then to Belgrade.

For those who have a car, there is an asphalt road to Rača and then the macadam road gradually climbs some ten kilometers. In the middle of the forest is a small space that serves as a parking lot in the period when it is possible to approach by car. The further road to Đavolja Varoš leads through the forest, and it takes another fifteen minutes of walking.