Where Mountains Meet History

Golija spreads over some 750 square kilometres between Ivanjica and Novi Pazar, part of the Dinaric range. It runs about thirty kilometres north to south in a shallow C-shape, and its highest peak is Jankov Kamen at 1,833 metres. The name recalls Sibinjanin Janko — the folk-song name for the Hungarian commander John Hunyadi — who is said to have left a stone on the summit to mark his passage.

In September 2001 the mountain was inscribed as the "Golija-Studenica" Biosphere Reserve — the first in Serbia to enter UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere programme. More than 250 springs rise here, among them the sources of the Moravica and the Studenica.

The park has 1,091 recorded plant species, including 117 kinds of algae and 40 mosses — roughly a quarter of Serbia's entire flora on one mountain. Among animals, 95 bird species and 22 mammal species have been listed.

The mountain also holds four lakes — the Košanin Lakes, Dajićko Lake and Nebeska Suza — and the 13th-century hermitages of St Sava. On the northern edge of the reserve, outside the Novi Pazar municipality, stands Studenica monastery, founded in 1196 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

Rogozna rises south-east of Novi Pazar, on the stretch towards the Ibar. Its highest point is Crni Vrh at 1,504 metres — some three hundred and thirty metres lower than Golija, but much closer to the city: this is the massif you see from every viewpoint above Novi Pazar.

Unlike Golija, Rogozna has no reserve status and none of the tourist infrastructure that goes with it. Access is by village roads, without waymarked paths or signed viewpoints, so a trip is worth planning in advance and, if possible, with someone who knows the ground.

Pešter is a limestone plateau in the Sandžak, lying between 1,150 and 1,492 metres; its highest point is Kuljarski Vrh. Most of it falls within the Sjenica municipality and from there it extends into Tutin and Novi Pazar — so although the drive to its middle takes over an hour, part of it is formally Novi Pazar's territory.

At its centre lies the Pešter field, some fifty square kilometres of flat ground — the largest field in Serbia and the highest in the Balkans. Its peat bogs and wet meadows were entered on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance on 1 May 2006, over an area of 3,455 hectares.

Pešter holds the Serbian temperature record: on 26 January 2006 the village of Karajukića Bunari recorded −39 °C, beating the previous −38.4 °C set at Sjenica in 1954. Hence the nickname "Serbian Siberia" — an open plateau with no shelter, into which cold air drains and settles.

The wet meadows shelter rare and threatened plants, and the Pešter field is the only nesting site of Montagu's harrier in Serbia. The economy is pastoral: the sheep of Pešter give the Sjenica cheese, lamb and prosciutto for which the area is known well beyond the Sandžak.

The spa has fourteen thermal mineral springs whose temperatures run from 15 to 60 degrees. The main spring delivers water at around 54 degrees — hot enough to count as hyperthermal — at roughly a litre per second.

The water is carbonated, with some sulphur and an almost neutral reaction; nitrogen makes up about 70 per cent of the dissolved gas, with slightly raised radon, radium and uranium. Total mineralisation is 1.7 grams per litre.

The Romans were the first to capture the springs, and the spa was renowned in antiquity. Its popularity fell after the Ottoman conquest in the mid-15th century, but the Ottomans soon recognised the water's worth: on the remains of the Roman bath they raised two hamams, and a little further off a caravanserai. One of the baths is dated to the year 1002 of the Hijri calendar — 1593/94.

The same hydrogeothermal system includes Rajčinovića Spa, with three hot springs at 30, 38 and 42 degrees, whose water is recommended for digestive and metabolic complaints.

The Raška valley is the densest historical route in the area: within twenty kilometres of road lie the fortifications of the medieval capital, a monastery with 13th-century frescoes, and the headwaters of the river that named the whole region. It all fits into one afternoon.

The river that carves the valley is the same one that runs through Novi Pazar in a channelled bed beside the main square. Upstream the landscape opens out — meadows, fields and hamlets on the slopes — and the road follows the water for almost its whole length.

The most accessible view is from the plateau at Đurđevi Stupovi, north-west of the centre, taking in the whole basin and the knot of valleys the city lies in. The hill of St Peter's church, above the road towards Deževa, gives a lower but closer view over the old core.

A third direction is westward, from the slopes around Stari Ras: from there the city reads at a distance, a patch of roofs at the bottom of the basin with Rogozna behind it. You go there for the landscape, not for detail in the streets.

The shortest routes start straight from town: the climb to Đurđevi Stupovi, the hill of St Peter's church, and the plateaus holding the Ras fortifications. All three are short in distance but steep, over unmade ground — shoes with grip and water are essential.

For a longer day the target is Golija, where you walk forest tracks and pasture up to over 1,800 metres. There is no public transport out there: you drive to the starting point and walk from it. Rogozna is closer but entirely unmarked, so it is better attempted with someone who knows the ground.

Three green points in the centre run into one another: the park inside the fortress ramparts, the promenade along the Raška, and the sports park with its playing fields and pool. The ground between them is flat, which makes this the easiest way to see the city without a car.

Through the centre the river runs in a channelled bed with a made path beside it, so you can go from the fortress to the sports park without stepping onto a main road. It is also the pleasantest part of town on summer afternoons, when the heat gathers in the basin.