Ras was the cradle of Serbia. In the twelfth century Stefan Nemanja, founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, made it the centre of his state, and its fortress, set on a hill above the Raška river, was the political heart of the Serbian lands for generations. The old town has largely fallen into ruin and lies on a green hill called Gradina, near the modern city of Novi Pazar, with walls, a fortified gate and traces of buildings in the grass.
Below the hill stand two great monuments of Serbian religious life. The Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Petrova Crkva, is among the oldest surviving churches in the country, with a round tower and early Byzantine-influenced architecture, and nearby the Djurdjevi Stupovi monastery, the Pillars of Saint George, was founded by Nemanja himself in the 1170s. A few kilometres away, Sopoćani monastery, built in the thirteenth century by King Uroš I, has frescoes regarded as masterpieces of Byzantine painting. They were painted in a luminous style, with figures that seem to breathe.
Novi Pazar, the nearby city, is quite different in feel: an Ottoman-era town with a large Bosniak Muslim population, mosques, a bustling old bazaar and fine grilled meat. The region is known as Sandžak and sits between Serbia and Montenegro, with a mix of cultures. The Church of the Virgin of Leviša, in Prizren, Kosovo, is the ride's other stop, part of the same heritage listing of medieval monuments.
The roads here wind through green hills and pastures, with orchards and small farms, and are mostly decent, though trucks make the main road busy. Fuel is easy in Novi Pazar. Sunday visits to the monasteries are respectful occasions, and modest dress is expected. Burek and cevapi are everywhere, with yoghurt to drink. Late spring has the best light, and winter brings snow to the hills.