Elevate April 2021 | Air Serbia

RITAM SRBIJE / RHYTHM OF SERBIA

B ehind physical matters exists spirit. Every year for decades, more than a hundred thousand tour- ists have visited Novi Pazar, which has also been visited by many travel writers throughout its long and rich history. The nature that a traveller sees here is the jewel- lery of this world. Located in the im- mediate and further surroundings are a total of sixteen mountains: Rogozna, Crniš, Mojstirsko, Draški, Hajla, Turijak, Žilindar, Jarut, Nina- ja, Giljeva, Ozren, Jadovnik, Zlatar, Javor, Golija and Vinik. And then there‘s the Pešter Plateau, which is known far and wide. Long ago, when my cousin drove cattle to Thessaloniki, a mer- chant asked him if it was possible to ride a horse on snow on the Pešter Plateau, and then dismount in No- vi Pazar and encounter people sit- ting in front of teahouses with their sleeves rolled up. My cousin con- firmed this climatic phenomenon, which didn‘t surprise him. There, nestled on the Pešter Plateau, is also

MY NOVI PAZAR: FROM THE PEN OF AUTHOR ENES HALILOVIĆ

the village of Karajukića Bunari, the coldest inhabited place in Europe. The Novi Pazar area has been inhabited since the Stone Age and the Iron Age. It has the ancient for- tresses of Ras and Jeleč, the old- est church in the Balkans, Peter‘s Church, the monasteries of Đurđevi Stupovi and Sopoćani, and between the villages of Postenje and Dolovi stands the westernmost fortress of Bulgarian Tsar Samuel. In the city itself are the Kula motrilja [watch- tower] and the Bedem [Ramparts], as well as the Altun-Alem Mosque – a work of famous mason Musli- hudin Abdul Gani, the Hamam and the Amir-agin han (inn). Not far from Ras Fortress is a marketplace that was once home to merchants from Dubrovnik, in- cluding among them the father of Ruđer Bošković. The city was most likely established sometime before 1461. Its founder was Ottoman mil- itary leader Isa-beg Isaković, who previously founded Skopje, then lat- er Sarajevo. Today we can talk about the

Our nature is the jewellery of this world

Inviting people to visit the Novi Pazar region is nothing strange, because travellers and passersby have always come to this valley, between the mountains, to see, hear, buy and try food from a rich spread

Nemojte doći u Novi Pazar, a da ne probate nadaleko čuvene mantije / Don’t come to Novi Pazar and fail to try its widely renowned manti dumplings

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