A Crossroads of rivers, land and destiny Traveling south on the Ibarska Magistrala, beyond the city of Čačak, and passing the wooded hills of Sumadija there are decisive and bitter relieves that announce the Dinaric Alps range. Before the traveler is aware that the countryside is changing, they find themselves at Kraljevo’s door, the administrative economic and cultural center of Raška district. The city lies at the confluence of two rivers, the Western Morava and the Ibar, at the feet of the mountain massif of the Stolovi (1375 m), where the valley opens and thins into the northeastern plains of the country. The destiny of this land has always been associated with the dimension of contact and passage between plains and mountains. [...] |
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 The geographical position as a crossroads and the natural richness of the territory and its subsoil has always put Kraljevo at the center of determining events in the history of the region. The signs of Roman presence are connected to thermal stations found almost everywhere around the city. The most famous is Vrnjacka Banja, others smaller ones are found in Mataruska Banja (a suburb at this point, engulfed into the urban fabric) [...] |
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 The area of Kamenica is found at 15 km southwest of Kraljevo, about 20 minutes by car. This large territory is crossed by the beautiful mountain streams found here: the Meljanica, the Sokolja and the Kamenica and this territory extends to the hillsides of the Goč and Stolovi mountains. These are two mountains and two environments. A Stolovi is bare and cruel mountain where the biting winds have created a [...] |
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 A small village appears as you proceed south of Kraljevo 15 kilometers on the Ibarska Magistrala, where the Lopatnica flows into the Ibar River; this is village Bogutovac, a group of around twenty houses close together and some farms and vikendica (cottage) along the Morainic hills surround the village. The Bogutovac village has ancient origins. In the high medieval period, during the pagan times, kingdom of the Grand Duke Bogut has risen. [...] |
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 Other than the village of Bogutovac, following the Lopatnica River, after 6 km, you will come upon the peaceful territory where another mountain community takes its name from the river itself: Lopatnica. It is the smallest village in the valley and the most tranquil but the less known. The relationship between the river and the town, which here traces sample curves on the land, is even closer here than in Bogutovac: the few houses that line the path of the water, [...] |
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 The town of Usće, which can be found 45 km south of Kraljevo on the Ibarska Magistrala where the Studenica River flows into the Ibar, is the entrance to one of the most beautiful and historically relevant areas in the Balkan region. The Studenica valet has a sinuous profile that alternates between deep and narrow sections, with openings that host some morainic hills. The bottom of the valley also has agricultural settlements and small sawmills [...] |
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 Traveling from Kraljevo through the Ibarska Magistrala towards the South in the direction of Raška to Novi Pazar for 76 km, you will reach the plateau of Rudno, there until you reach the town of Brevnik, where the road rises for the rest of the 24 km. You can also arrive at the Studenica Monastery going up the 12 km hairpin bends that climb up the slopes of Radočelo Mountain. The plateau (average height is 1,200-1,300 m.s.l. m) [...] |
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