Kopaonik

Kopaonik is the first among the mountains of Serbia – when it comes to its vastness and greatness, the luxury of forms and colours, its wealth and historic significance.

Kopaonik was named after the rich and long-lasting tradition of mining (“kop” – the mine). Other names of on the geographic map of this large mountain (Suvo Rudiste, Samokovka, Rudnica) confirm the great significance of this activity which started to develop here in the ancient times. Geologists keep at searching for hidden treasures, and this beauty still stays embellished by thick forests and vast pastures covered with flowers. Snow which covers this mountain during a great part of a year attracts numerous fans of the winter magic. Five month a year this place is visited by a great number of skiers, who can be seen roaming over the slopes of Ravni Kopaonik (“Flat Kopaonik”). 1650-1800 meters above the sea level there is a rolling valley, one of its peaks being the Pancic’s top, a place which looks like a huge skiing terrain engraved with cable railways and sprinkled with hotels and mountain homes. The first snows fall very early here, and they do not melt until May, and experts estimate their appropriateness for skiing as the first class. Winters are not gloomy at all here. There are approximately 1750 sunny days in a year, and great percent of this number belongs to winter time. As for the natural beauties and mineral wealth Kopaonik hardly has a competent among mountains. It is surrounded by clear natural boundaries – deep valleys of Ibar, Josanica, Rasina, Gornja Toplica and Lab. Its surface takes up some 2756 km2. Its length is 82.7 km, and width 63 km. Its highest region resembles a tower with a flat roof: the slopes are upright as walls, and the top part is completely flat, so that the whole area is called “Flat Kopaonik”. Western slopes are somewhat steeper than the eastern, which means that they are more barren and inaccessible as well. Higher parts of Kopaonik are rich in cold and radioactive waters, and the foothill in warm waters. The relief was mostly formed before 70 million years. Strong movements in the Earth’s crust led to creasing and splitting which created these extremely steep slopes rising up deep valleys. Deep cracks made by splitting discovered the andesit-basalt stone mass, which led to formation of the greatest volcanic mass in Serbia, which represents at the same time the greatest mineral wealth in Serbia. The most important ores (iron, copper, lead, silver and other metals) appear as constituents of dacits and andesits. Deposits of chromium and magnesite ores exist inside the serpentine-peridotite rocks. It was the erosion that among other things created the vast plateau, Flat Kopaonik, and the highest peaks made of the most resistant rocks. In the areas of softer, mostly serpentine rocks, which dominate at the western parts of the mountain, rivers flowing down the steep terrains, together with the snow, have deepened many gorges, which gives contribution to the steepness, inaccessibility but at the same time the picturesque ness of these spaces. The climate of Kopaonik significantly differs from the climate at the surrounding valleys. Average annual temperature on Flat Kopaonik is 3.7 °C, -5.2 in January. Winter temperatures are not as low as one may expect, thanks to the location (towards the South), flatness and openness which prevents gathering of the cold air and clouds, and makes the flowing of the air easier. Flat Kopaonik is very well exposed to the sun, which makes it warmer in winter than expected when the height above the sea level is taken into account. Nevertheless, it is the winter sun which is not warm enough to make snow melt, so, approximately 159 days in a year, there is the snow, which is a prerequisite for a long and high-quality skiing season. With 200 sunny days in a year (at the Sunny Valley), this is a perfect “air spa”. Precipitations reach 1000mm per meter a year. The water in the springs coming forth at the highest areas of the mountain are cold even in August (4°C); the most well-known springs are Krcmar voda, Marina voda, Jaram…

The piedmont area and the areas of distinct splitting give space to numerous thermal-mineral springs. The water in the Josanica spa (78.5°C) is used in various medical treatments, then for bathing, drinking, inhaling… It is good for treating a number of diseases: sciatica, rheumatism, diseases of bones and muscles…, neural, gynecological, infectious skin diseases… At the eastern parts of the piedmont area, at the height of 700 meters above the sea level, there is a spa named Lukovska banja, known even in the ancient Roman time. There are eight springs of mineral water rich in alkali metals, 30-56°C. The Kursumlija spa is a natural sanatorium with ten sulfur springs the temperature of which is 38-57°C. Bogutovacka banja is based on three springs of radioactive hypothermal water characterized by low contents of sulfur, and the temperature of some 24.7°C.
The wealth of live world

Types of vegetation vary from the foot to the top, depending on the height above the sea level. The foot of the mountain is characterized by oak woods, “sladun” and cerris. The valley of the Ibar is covered with pine woods. The areas higher than oak forests, up to 1500 meters above the sea level, belong to the beech. Up over 1500 meters, where it is much colder and damper, there are spruce woods. And then comes the zone of the low bushes, dominated by the mountain low juniper, resistant to snowdrifts, sharp winters and strong winds, protecting other plants including blueberries. The edelweiss grows at the most inaccessible rocks in heights of Kopaonik. The animal world merges with the vegetation. The red crossbill is a bird which lives only in the conifers zone. Its beak crosses, which is a specific way of adapting to getting the food. This bird does not wait for the cones to open themselves , it opens it on its own, with its beak. In the highest areas of Kopaonik, above the spruce woods, there lives a grasshopper with the growths on it front legs, which look like the boxing gloves. That is the Siberian grasshopper, which is used to low temperatures, and the climate here is just as made for it. Kopaonik gives shelter to rabbits, foxes, wild boars, various birds, and its cold clear rivers are rich in numerous fish species.

Giant through centuries

The nature of Kopaonik and its piedmont area have attracted people throughout the history, which is confirmed by traces dating from long ago. Several powerful fortresses are still standing defying the time. The region belonging to the mountain of Kopaonik had a very important place in the Serbian medieval state, at the time of the Nemanjic, Lazarevic and Brankovic families. Mineral wealth had been gathered during XIV and XV century, during the period of the despots’ rule. The minimg stimulated development of the trade, primarily with Dubrovnik. Uros, the king of Rashka, brought to Serbia proficient German miners from Sussex. In the middle of XV century, two richest mines, Novo Brdo and Trepca got conquered by the Turks. The mining slowly loses on its significance. In the nearby of Kopaonik, there are several medieval monasteries, which are famous all over the world nowadays: Studenica, built in 1190 by Stefan Nemanja, with some precious embellishments in stone plastics, and the Christ’s Crucifixion made in 1208; Zica, a monastery with seven doors, memorial of Stefan Prvovencani, built in 1215, the first centre of Sava the archbishop (1219); Gradac, memorial of Jelena Anzujska, built in the Gothic style; Sopocani, at the spring of the Rashka river, built about 1265, the most beutiful gallery of Serbian medieval painting. There is also the monastery Djurdjevi stupovi, the memorial of Stefan Nemanja, dating from before 1168, and Peter’s church even older than that (XVIII-IX century), best known because Stefan Nemanja, the head of the tribal state, accepted the Orthodoxy exactly here, in the roun temple of this church. Medieval forts situated at the piedmont areas of Kopaonik, are relatively well preserved; these are Zvecan , Ras, Brvenik, Koznik, Maglic and Vrhlab.

Life and customs

Remains of the material culture suggest pre-Illyrian and Illyrian inheritance, Roman epoch, and Slavs-Serbian ethnical consolidation, Turks’ invasions and other. There are tools which are supposed to having been used in the mining. The ores were processed with help of fire and water power.

There are a few cemeteries, as well as some sacral and profane buildings dating from the by-gone Illyrian and Roman epoch. Many medieval cultural monuments remind of life in the highly developed Serbian medieval state, as well as of the Turks’ invasions and migrations that followed. Today’s population of Kopaonik are descendants of immigrants from the West (Montenegro, Herzegovina) and South-West (Kosovo, Metohija, Polog in Macedonia), who arrived here during XVIII and XIX century. People mostly lived on the cattle raising, and on agriculture and fruit growing in lower areas. They used oxen teams, which can be seen here and there even nowadays. The threshing used to take place at the threshing floors under the open sky, with help of horses and oxen. Vast pastures offered good conditions for the cattle raising, mostly sheep and cows. What is characteristic for Kopaonik, among other things, are the summer mountain pastures. Little log cabins, built at meadows near springs, covered with a kind of board or wattle and daub, were used as temporary settlements for shepherds and women on duty, who made milk and other products there. In the nearby there were sheepfolds. In summertime, there were youth gatherings, organized on special days, usually aroun one of the springs (Krcmar Voda, Marina voda, Metodijev izvor).

Handwork is a significant part of the traditional folk manufacture in these regions. Women used to weave linen and fabric on wooden looms (coarse fabrics from the wool and linen from the flax and hemp yarn). Clothing, everything from jackets to shawls, was handmade. Dresses and footwear used to be embellished with embroideries. Peasant shoes were made of raw cows’ and pigs’ skins. They also used to make various tools (yokes, plows, packsaddles, carts, pitchforks rakes) and dishes (“vagan”, “zastrug” – a wooden bowl with a cover, tub, barrel…). andwork made a basis for development of handicrafts (woodworkers, bricklayers, cartwrights, blacksmiths, cobblers tailors, “abadzije”, tinsmiths, basket weavers…) and a special kind of “industry”, based on building the watermills for grinding the grain, rolling machines for rolling the fabrics, sawmills for cutting the wood, all built on suitable brooks and little rivers.

Oral folk creativity is still surviving. Tradition, stories and legends pass from generation to generation. Optimistic spirit is present everywhere. As it is said in one of the legends, Kopaonik is the only place where you can take the following lunch: young lamb, fresh, ripe, just gathered cherries, and ripe grapes cooled in the natural ice, all together. Because that is a picture of Kopaonik: grapes ripen at the piedmont area, cherry trees grow higher in the mountain, lambs rest in their shades, and up on the mountain tops the snow never melts.

Skiing

The first organized groups of mountaineers and skiers visited Kopaonik in the thirties of XX century. The first mountain home was built just before the First World War. Organized, complex and continuous engagement on the development of contemporary tourism on Kopaonik started with the laborious scientific, investigating, proficient preparations which lasted from 1964 to 1969.

Ski centre Kopaonik nowadays owns 44 km of paths intended for Alps skiing and 18 km of paths intended for Nordic skiing. There is also an illuminated path, “The Little Lake”, for those who enjoy skiing at night. In case of inadequate weather conditions there is a possibility of covering some paths with artificial snow. All the paths are mutually very well connected through cable railways and ski lifts, whose capacity surmounts 28600 an hour. The system is made up of three new foldable four-seater cable railways of great velocity (total capacity: 5400 skiers in an hour), two fixed four-seater cable railways with an assembly line for boarding the skiers  (total capacity: 4200 skiers in an hour), five two-seater cable railways (total capacity: 5880 skiers in an hour) four pulling ski lifts – anchor type (capacity 4800 skiers in an hour) and nine ski lifts – plate type (capacity 7300 skiers in an hour). Apart from the Alps and Nordic skiing paths, the ski centre owns a skating rink and a nicely arranged snow-board park, where they organize various competitions, domestic as well as international.
Zlatibor

Thanks to its favorable climatic conditions, this mountain beauty situated in central Serbia used to be a resort to the rich and idle ever since XVII century, as well as temporary residence of those who searched for healthy and beneficial peace at the slopes of it, where eyes rest and body charges the energy.

Still, tourism in the very sense of the word had not existed until the Transfiguration (19th August) 1983, when a king, Aleksandar Obrenovic, came here. Zlatibor is a large mountain with pleasant tame slopes. Central plateau is at about 1000m above the sea level, and it is surrounded by several heights, the highest being Tornik (1496 m). The microclimate here is extraordinary. There are more than 200 sunny days in a year, and “the rose of winds” blossoms exactly here, above slopes of Zlatibor. Summers are warm, winters are mild. There is almost no fog since there are no ravines to keep it in for longer.

“He who has never been to Zlatibor does not know what a healthy place is” (Jovan Ducic). It has been ascertained by many medical research teams that the atmospheric pressure here is extremely favorable, that the geographical position of the central plateau keeps it protected from cold winds, by the surrounding heights. Sojourn on this mountain has beneficial effects on blood picture, increasing the level of hemoglobin and the number of red blood cells.

That is why Zlatibor has been announced a place recommended for therapy of acute and chronic illnesses of respiratory organs, thyroid gland all sorts of anemia. It is also good for people recovering from infectious diseases and after surgical interventions.

Zlatibor is also famous for springs of natural mineral waters. The most significant is the one near the village Rozanstvo at the Vapa spa. Its water has been used for treating skin and eye diseases.

There are more than 120 species of herbs growing at the meadows of Zlatibor, and many of them have healing properties. Mountain peaks are covered with thick vegetation. At lower regions there are deciduous species (beech, oak, birch, linden, European ash…) and at heights above 600 meters there are conifers (white and black pine, fir, spruce…). Animals living here are: bear, wolf, wild boar, fox, rabbit, marten, badger, quail, partridge, squirrel, as well as the imperial eagle and the griffon vulture, and some other birds of prey which are almost extinguished everywhere else.

Trout, huchen, chub, gudgeon… wriggle in the brooks and rivers. Sojourn on Zlatibor is an experience for itself, rest and enjoyment together. There are many possibilities for recreational walking, riding the horses, as well as offers of various trips to the surroundings:

1. Picnic by the faucet at the “Haiduk mountain” Murtenica;
2. Visit to the Stopica cave, 2000 meters long, with interesting “bathtubs” and water flowing from one down to another;
3. Ethno village Sirogojno, where you can try traditional local specialties and buy handmade woolen products well-known all over the world now;
4. Drive on “Sarganska osmica”, an old steam locomotive which surmounts an ascent of some 300 meters along the path 135 km long, in a form of the number 8, and through an area of impressive beauty;
5. Visits to Drvengrad at Mokra Gora, an ethno village built by Emir Kusturica, the famous director;
6. Visit to the village Zlakusa famous for its potters;
7. Visit to the waterfall Gostilje;
8. Visit to the monasteries Mileseva and Uvac.

Zlatibor is also a favorite residence of topflight sportsmen while preparing for competitions. Apart from the natural terrains there are also the most modern sports objects, a large sports hall, football stadiums, tennis courts, closed and open swimming pools, skiing paths…