Bioče

Bioče is a village in the Podgorica municipality, strung along the road and railway a little north of the capital at the point where the Morača valley narrows into a proper canyon. Downstream the river runs through the open Zeta plain; here the limestone walls close in and rise steeply on both sides, and the water below turns the deep green that the Morača keeps for most of the year. The village occupies the last of the flat ground before that transition, which has given it the same role for as long as the route has existed. That role is passage. The main road north from Podgorica to Kolašin, Mojkovac and the Serbian border runs through Bioče, as does the Belgrade–Bar railway. Just above the village the line crosses the Mala Rijeka viaduct, for decades the highest railway bridge in the world and still an extraordinary piece of engineering to see from the road below. For drivers, Bioče is the natural place to stop before committing to the canyon, and a string of roadside cafes and grill restaurants has grown up to serve exactly that habit. The surroundings reward anyone willing to slow down. Side roads climb out of the canyon toward the villages of Kuči, a wild and thinly populated highland region of stone hamlets and grazing land. The Morača itself is fished, and the canyon walls above the village are a familiar sight to climbers. Further north the same road reaches the Morača monastery and the mountains around Kolašin. Bioče suits travellers moving between the coast, the capital and the northern mountains who want a genuine stop rather than a petrol station, and anyone interested in the geography of the canyon. Any season works for a stop; spring, when snowmelt raises the river, is the most impressive time in the gorge.