Bus from KOSOVSKA MITROVICA to PRIJEPOLJE

Mitrovica or Kosovska Mitrovica is a city and municipality in the northern part of Kosovo. Settled on the banks of Ibar and Sitnica rivers, the city is the administrative center of the District of Mitrovica.

In 2013, following the North Kosovo crisis, the Serb-majority municipality of North Mitrovica was created, dividing the city in two administrative units, both operating within the Kosovo legal framework.

According to the 2011 Census, in Mitrovica live 84,235 inhabitants, 71,909 of which in the southern municipality and 12,326 in North Mitrovica.

In the middles ages the city was called "Demetrius" in honour of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki. When the city came under Ottoman rule, it was renamed "Mitrovica", as happened to other locations in the Balkans named after Saint Demetrius.

After President Tito's death, each of the constituent parts of Yugoslavia had to have one place named with the word 'Tito' (or 'Tito's') included, the city was then known as Titova Mitrovica in Serbian or Mitrovica e Titos in Albanian, until 1991.

The city is now known as Mitrovica and Mitrovicë in the Albanian language and Kosovska Mitrovica in the Serbian language.

The city is one of the oldest known settlements in Kosovo, being first mentioned in written documents during the Middle Ages.[citation needed] The name Kosovska Mitrovica comes from the 14th century, from Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki,[citation needed] but there are some other legends on the origin of its name.[citation needed] Near Mitrovica is the medieval fortress of Zvečan, which played an important role during the Kingdom of Serbia under Nemanjić rule.

Under Ottoman rule Mitrovica was a typical small Oriental city. Rapid development came in the 19th century after lead ore was discovered and mined in the region, providing what has historically been one of Kosovo largest industries.

It became an industrial town, formerly the economic centre of Kosovo because of the nearby Trepča Mines. It grew in size as a centre of trade and industry with the completion of the railway line to Skopje in 1873–1878, which linked Mitrovica to the port of Thessalonika.[5] Another line later linked the town to Belgrade and Western Europe. During World War II, the city was part of Axis-occupied Serbia. In 1948, Mitrovica had a population of 13,901 and in the early 1990s of about 75,000.

Both the town and municipality were badly affected by the 1999 Kosovo War. According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the area had been the scene of guerrilla activity by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) prior to the war. It came under the command of NATO's French sector; 7,000 French troops were stationed in the western sector with their headquarters in Mitrovica. They were reinforced with a contingent of 1,200 troops from the United Arab Emirates, and a small number of Danish troops.

 In the aftermath of the war, the town became a symbol of Kosovo's ethnic divisions. The badly damaged southern half of the town was repopulated by an estimated 50,000 Albanians. Their numbers have since grown with the arrival of refugees from destroyed villages in the countryside.[citation needed] Most of the approximately 6,000 Roma fled to Serbia, or were relocated to one of two resettlement camps, Cesmin Lug, or Osterode, in North Kosovska Mitrovica. In the north, live some 17,000 Kosovo Serbs, with 2,000 Kosovo Albanians and 1,700 Bosniaks inhabiting discrete enclaves on the north bank of the Ibar River. Almost all of the Serbs living on the south bank were displaced to North Mitrovica after the Kosovo War. In 2011, the city had an estimated total population of 71,601.

Prijepolje is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of the western Serbia. The municipality of Prijepolje has a population of 37,059 people, while the town itself has a population of 13,330. It is one of the most proximate cities to the Adriatic sea in the Republic of Serbia, less than 150 miles from the sea.

One possible meaning of the name Prijepolje is "Prija's field", where Prija is the owner of polje, the "field" in English. However, a more likely theory is that the name originates from the location of Prijepolje and its relationship to the travels of caravans. When those caravans were passing through the area which would become Prijepolje, they would arrive at the settlement "before the fields", where the present day neighborhoods of Ivanje and Velika Župa are located. "Prije" means "before", and "polje" means "field", hence, the location might be called Prijepolje.

Prijepolje was established as a settlement in 1234, the same year the Mileševa Monastery was built. Prior to its establishment as a settlement, the area was occupied as far back as the stone age. First settled by Illyrians, who migrated to the area after being forced out of the northern plains, they retreated to the more defensible and less accessible mountainous regions. Later arrivals were the Celts, with whom the Illyrians intermarried. With the arrival by the Romans, the Illyrians were again forced to flee, and after the Romans, the Slavs settled in the area, intermixing with some of the earlier Illyrians. The Goths, Huns, Gepids, Langobards and Avars also passed through this area. The most interesting archaeological site in the territory is the Roman necropolis near the modern settlement of Kolovrat where pieces of ancient glass, silver, ceramics, and gold have been unearthed.

Prijepolje is located at the confluence of the fast-flowing Lim and Mileševka rivers. It is also situated along the road from Belgrade to the Adriatic sea, as well as being a stop on the Belgrade – Bar railway. The Belgrade – Adriatic road intersects here with the regional road between Pljevlja, Prijepolje and Sjenica. This regional road follows roughly the same route as the ancient Roman and Ottoman road known as the Dubrovnik road. Just north of Prijepolje, at Bistrica, there is a road leading towards Priboj, Višegrad and Sarajevo. Prijepolje is surrounded by hills, such as Pušina, Srijeteži, Gradina and Sokolica, which, prior to the construction of the "Potpeć" hydro plant near Nova Varoš, created a unique climate around the municipality. Since the hydro plant's construction, Prijepolje's climate has been changed into one that is typical for this cold part of Serbia. The highest peak in the Prijepolje area is Katunić, which reaches 1,734 meters above sea level.

Forests surround most of Prijepolje, however, along the Lim, there are numerous beaches. Two of the most popular beaches are under bridges, one at the centre of the town, under the bridge in Ivanje, and another under the bridge in Petrovac

Prijepolje has many historical monuments from both the periods of Christianity and Islam. The Mileševa monastery is located 6 km to the east of Prijepolje on the Mileševka River. The monastery is famous for The White Angel fresco, a famous and widely used religious icon in Serbia as well as being the former resting place of St. Sava, Serbia's most honored patriarch.

A famous monument from the Turkish period, the Sahat-Kula, is in town, as well as several mosques, one of which is in Hisardžik, interesting because of a four-hundred-year-old wooden Quran which was recently unearthed. Jusovića's kula tower, built in the 18th century as a protective house tower for the wealthy. Currently in ruins, there are plans being made to reconstruct this building, adding another unique monument to Prijepolje.

The Museum of Prijepolje is a very significant part of the cultural life of Prijepolje. It serves as a gathering place for artists from diverse locations to visit Prijepolje, and corroborate on large projects to improve the town's culture. In addition to the Museum, there is also another major cultural building in Prijepolje, where amateurs, led by Meša Šendelj, are very active in refreshing the cultural life in Prijepolje.