To this day, I remember when I entered my colleague's office in Podgorica a few years ago and saw a photo of a beautiful landscape on the wall.
"Where did you take this picture?" I asked him.
"Here, near Podgorica, that is the famous Rijeka Crnojevića ( Crnojevica River). There is also a widely known stone bridge, be sure to visit it...".
"I will...", I thought "Once...".
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From that day, every time I went to Podgorica, I had the idea that it would be nice to visit this beautiful part of Montenegro, however, work commitments and short stays did not allow me to do so.
Last week I was on a business trip to Montenegro.
I predicted a little more time and thought that this time I could get my wish and go to this viewpoint.
The rain that fell that morning made me suspect that there was nothing to be gained from that plan.
I went to the meetings resigned to the fact that I would not have the opportunity to visit this natural beauty this time either.
However, when I finished my meetings, around 3 pm, the rain stopped and it cleared up.
Without much hesitation, after we finished our work, we got into the car and headed towards the outskirts of Podgorica, with the "Rijeka Crnojevića" navigation on.
From the highway, we turn onto the road to which the road sign directs us.
Driving along a narrow road, when we left the forest, we saw a large body of water in the distance. It is Lake Skadar.
After 15 minutes of driving, we come across a large building, a hotel under renovation, next to which there is a parking lot.
We get out of the car and a familiar sight appears...
Yes, that's a photo view from my colleague's office.
We take a few photos here and continue on, to find that famous "old" bridge.
A narrow road, steep cliffs and serpentines are in front of us for another 15 minutes.
We come across a large intersection, on the left a large "new" stone bridge, on the right a small narrow road.
We cross the bridge and park the car.
Although this bridge is not the one we expected to see, we take a picture of it and continue on in search of a smaller bridge and some restaurant where we can refresh ourselves.
The road leads us to Lake Skadar.
Along the way, we come across several locations with signposts for a lookout point, rest benches, stone bridges, a river bank with old abandoned boats...
No, we still don't have enough time to get to the Skadar lake.
We turn back, eager to find the old stone bridge listed as a "must see".
Again, we missed the road and move along a narrow road up the hill, along several serpentines, we reach the plateau on which the church rises.
It is Obod, the old fortified town of Rijeka.
Fleeing from the invasion of the Ottomans, the then Montenegrin king Ivan Crnojević moved to Obod, the capital of the Montenegrin state of Zeta, on the hill above the river, which was later named after his dynasty, from the fortress on Mount Žabljak in 1475.
Obod remains the capital of the Montenegrin state of Zeta for the next 7 years, from where it is transferred to Cetinje.
In those 7 years, the church of St. Nicholas was built, which was demolished by the Ottomans in the middle of the 17th century, so that the new church, as it is today, was built in 1743.
Montenegrin ruler Ivan Crnojević placed the Zeta Metropolitanate in it after its construction.
The first South Slavic printing house was also located in Obod, where the first Cyrillic book in this area was printed in 1494 - "Oktoich prvoglasnik".
It is interesting that this printing house started working only 40 years after the printing of Gutenberg's first Bible, the first recorded printed copy of a book.
The Montenegrin capital, Obod, had a printing press before some of the great empires, and before the great cities of Europe (Berlin founded it in 1540, Moscow in 1553, Warsaw in 1580, Istanbul in 1729, Belgrade in 1552, Ljubljana in 1575, and Zagreb in 1695. ).
From the heights of the fortified town of Obod, we descend to the old bridge, "Danilov's Bridge", which was built in 1853 at the request of Prince Danilo I Petrović. The size of the bridge at that time (for Montenegrin standards) gave it the name "Mostina(Big bridge)".
Right next to the bridge, a vacation house was built, which still exists today, and the restaurant "Mostina" operates in it.
Crossing the old bridge of beautiful architecture with an opening in the middle can easily take you back almost two centuries in the past, when Montenegrin princes and heroes walked on this bridge.
Today the view is marred by sunshades, but the architecture is stunning.
We took a break with coffee in the "Mostina" restaurant.
We were kept company by a cat, which did not want to get out of the frame.
We had to stop enjoying the roar of the water, the chirping of the birds in the pleasant spring sun because the day was already passing.
After the restaurant, we walked along the nice paved promenade along the river bank.
Several restaurants and bars (where beer is served under the open sky) on one side and moored boats (taxi boats that take tours on the river and to Lake Skadar) on the other make for an interesting environment.
There is also a stranded or sunken boat here...
On the boardwalk there is a fountain, as well as stone stalls, which indicates that there is also a market here.
Considering the nets and baskets for keeping the caught fish, it is clear what is being traded.
Further down the promenade are several abandoned and very neglected houses, probably waiting for a new owner.
It is a wonder that the current owners of these houses allowed them to be found in this state, but probably the reduced number of inhabitants of this small town (currently around 200) has influenced that there is no strength to preserve them.
Perhaps in the coming years, this small but historically very important place for the Montenegrin people will manage to secure its place on the tourist maps of foreigners visiting Montenegro, as it was just found on my #pinmapple map.
I hope you found this post interesting and enjoyed the story and photos I shared with you.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the most beautiful place, a true gem of tourism, that I've visited in the last year.
Beautiful nature, a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape, clean air, peace and quiet, the proximity of clear, cold water, all this influenced me to like this place so much, that now I know for sure...
Every next time I pass by, I will stop by, even if only for a short time.
A minute or an hour, maybe even a day, every moment spent in Rijeka Crnojevića is a moment of tranquility and peace.
Thank you for stopping by my post and I hope you enjoyed the photos and the story I shared with you
All photos are my property, taken with a mobile phone