Macedonia tourism & culture news

Inside the Vrelo cave.

The Ministry of Economy granted Denar 80,000 (about EUR 1,300) to the 'Vrelo' Diving Club in support of its activities for exploring the underwater Vrelo cave of the Canyon of Matka. Next year the Ministry will earmark more funds for promoting the cave as a tourist destination and organizing a new expedition, Economy Minister Fatmir Besimi said Thursday at a meeting with the international divers that have been exploring the depth of Vrelo cave for the last two weeks.
Italian diver Luigi Casati, who is part of the international diving expedition, reached the depth of 192 meters, thus enlisting Vrelo in the deepest caves in Europe.
Vrelo, which was nominated for the new Seven World Wonders, has been researched for several times. Its horizontal length is 450 meters and 98 meters in vertical. According to speleologists' assessments, Vrelo's depth is 330m, thus being the deepest underwater cave in the world, surpassing the Bushman Hole in South Africa, which holds the Guinness Record with 282 meters.
For decades the Macedonian citizens and residents had been aware of the Vrelo Cave, but only recently ventured to investigate it.