Užice is built into a canyon. The Đetinja River has cut a narrow gorge through the hills of western Serbia, and the town spreads along it, with the ruins of its old fortress stuck onto a rocky spur above the water. People have defended this chokepoint for centuries, first the medieval Serbs, then the Ottomans, who rebuilt the fortress, and the town still feels hemmed in and a little defiant. With nearly sixty-four thousand people it is the main city of the Zlatibor region.
Its most notable moment came in 1941. After the German invasion, partisans led by Tito liberated Užice and the area around it, and for a couple of months in autumn it was a free territory, the Užice Republic, with a weapons factory that made rifles and ammunition, a radio and even a newspaper. German forces crushed it in late November, and the Kadinjača hill nearby is a memorial to the partisan stand. The history is worth knowing because it explains the solemn monuments you meet on the roads.
The riding around is good. South and west, the road climbs onto the Zlatibor plateau, a rolling highland of meadows and pine forest that Serbs treat as their mountain resort, with the village of Čajetina and the tourist centre of Zlatibor about eighteen kilometres away. The Zlatibor road is a wide, mostly well-surfaced affair with long bends and good views. Further west, the road to Mokra Gora and the narrow-gauge railway called the Šargan Eight winds through a landscape of steep green slopes, while the Tara and Drina canyons beyond are a major reward, with deep gorges and tight bends. Surface quality varies on minor roads, and trucks and tourist buses add to the mix in July and August. Fog in the valley can last into the morning.
Užice has all the services of a regional city, with fuel stations on the approach roads, bakeries, grill places and plenty of coffee. Zlatibor is famous for smoked ham and kajmak, a creamy dairy spread, and a plate of both with warm bread makes a good lunch. Autumn is clear and quiet, and the beech woods turn gold.