Travel Guide Stari Ras (Стари Рас)

The old Ras, located on the side of a green valley, is isolated from the rest of the world and has a magical, almost unreal character. What is today only a flurry of ruins, walls, tombstones and old church, dotting the heights of this valley, was the birthplace of the first nation of the Serbs, the kingdom of Rascia, and their capital. The complex dates visibly from the 10th and 11th centuries, and its eagle's nest at the crossroads of important trade routes to the Adriatic was home to the first Nemanjid princes. Its hour of glory stops abruptly in the XIIIth century, following the invasion of the Mongols, in favour of Skopje.