GRADAC CANYON

For me, personally, canyon of the river Gradac is the most beautiful canyon in Serbia, surely one of the most interesting and the most attractive for walking. All the time you walk by the river, and two monasteries at the start and at the end of the track will calm your restless soul. Walking through the canyon is not hard at all, there are no large differences in elevation, the path is marked and there is no possibility to get lost.

There are several options for visiting this little paradise of Valjevo region. One can start from Valjevo, monastery Celije or from monastery Lelic. Tour from Valjevo is the longest one and most interesting, because you will see Deguric cave and walk through the most beautiful part of the canyon. Walk between the monastery is also beautiful and there is also a lot of things to see. It is not hard to walk and takes about 2 hours, with breathtaking landscapes!

We started our tour from the Lelic monastery, 11 km away from Valjevo, and walk through the canyon to the Celije monastery. The distance between these two monasteries is about 5-6 km. Lelić is known for the one of the greatest spiritual father that serbian nation ever had, bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, which is still highly appreciated beyond the borders of Serbia. His remains are in the monastery church, and it is interesting to mention that his life and work are still respected at Mount Athos.

You can reach Lelic if you drive through Valjevo, in the city there are signposts to this monastery. Distance between Belgrade and Valjevo is 100 km if you are traveling by ibarska highway. We came from the way of Obrenovac, because we wanted to see one of the most beautiful monasteries, Kaona.

Monastery Kaona

From Lelic monastery, path goes uphill by asphalt road, where soon turns left onto a gravel road. On this lamppost, a marking is located.

Monastery Lelic

Another couple of hundred meters and path turns to the left and downhill.

From this turn, there is about 1.5 km to the river Gradac.

Finally, you are in the canyon of the river Gradac!

Kanjon reke Gradac

Easy walk leads you to the ethnic household, which is the end of this relaxing tour. Here you can refresh with fresh trout, juice or something else. After refreshments, you can walk uphill, to the Celije monastery. The monastery is famous for another great orthodox spiritual father, archimandrite Justin Popovic. He is buried in the churchyard. Also, there is a grave of Ilija Bircanin. He was one of the Valjevo local dukes who was killed by the Turks. Turks cut his and many other heads at the Valjevo bridge in 1804. That massacre is known as “The Slaughter of the Dukes”.