Djavolja Varoš - Devil’s Town

After breakfast (omelette with smoked ham and local cheese), we headed to Djavolja Varoš, which means “Devil’s Town”. While hiking through a wooded area across creaky foot bridges created by logs, we encountered streams and still pools with a distinctive rust color. The Djački potok stream was devoid of life, due to the high concentration of iron and sulfur. According to some literature I read, acidity levels range from 1.5 to 3.5 pH. The water is regarded by locals as having healing qualities (such as on the skin), and is collected and sold. Our driver (a resident from Prolom Banja) explained that the best water  was found higher up, so he hauled his bags of plastic bottles up to our destination. While walking up, we passed the remains of an ancient temple, of which the foundation remained. Some religious artifacts and pictures of saints were placed inside, surrounded by a large collection of coins left by visitors.

Natural Phenomenon

Emerging from the wooded area, the famous reddish stone columns began to appear above us. The unique natural phenomenon has similarities to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado. Climbing up more stairs, we reached the observation deck surrounded by the 202 stone columns, ranging in height from 2-20 meters (6.5-65 feet) and .5-3 meters (1.6-9.84 feet) in width. I had expected the columns to be much larger (like those in Colorado), but suspected that part of it was due to our relative position. Most columns were clustered together and lined up in rows. At the top of each finger-like column was a dark rock, serving as a protective cap, preventing the same level of erosion as occurred to the surrounding area.

A few trees twisted by winds dotted the reddish rocky landscape. As it was a sunny day with only a light breeze, I did not hear the ghostly wind sounds described by previous visitors. After enjoying the panoramic view of the rock formations and tree-covered mountains in another direction, we headed down a different direction towards the water source where our driver was busily filling bottles. After soaking our feet in the thermal orange water and enjoying the warm sun, we headed back down the rocky terrain.

There are two mineral water wells in Djavolja Varoš.  The “Devil’s Town” well is a cold and extremely acidic spring (pH 1.5) and high mineralization (15 g/lit of water). The “Red Well” has a pH of 3.5 but slightly lower levels of minerals.

Legends

Several legends have been created to explain the origin of “Devil’s Town”. In one, the figure-like columns represent wedding guests petrified by God in order to prevent them from encouraging their devil-urged encouraging of incestual marriage by a brother and sister. Another legend indicates that these are devils turned into stones by people who had been forced to carry them on their backs, suffered misfortunes, and tried to get rid of the devils while in the area.

The rapid change of the pyramids, according to locals, (which quickly erode when their protective cap falls off) occur as devils fight each other for power.