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Photo: Marko.vl, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
River set within ancient rocks and dramatic alpine mountains. Known for its crystal-clear waters, the Vlasina flows for miles of dense woods and deep valleys.
The Vlasina is a river in southeastern Serbia, a 70 km-long outflow of the Vlasina Lake and a right tributary to the South Morava, which also gives its name to the surrounding Vlasina region.
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This 11th-century monastery is 30 km (19 mi) south of Vranje, just north of the border with North Macedonia. It sits on the slopes of Kozjak Mountain, on the left bank of the Pčinja River. It is the second-largest monastery complex in Serbia outside Hilandar. Prohor Pčinjski was founded by Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV but was destroyed a few hundred years later by the Ottomans following the Battle of Kosovo. It has suffered damage and attacks multiple times since, always followed by renovation. The monastery has importance for the Macedonian people because in 1944 at Prohor Pčinjski, the first session of the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) was held in which Macedonia was declared the nation-state of Macedonians within Yugoslavia and the Macedonian language was proclaimed as the official language of the Macedonian state. A memorial center was built in 2004 on the Macedonian side of the border in Pelince.
An important archaeological site (first house approx. 6250 BC). It consists of one large settlement with around ten satellite villages. Numerous piscine sculptures and peculiar architecture.