Grahovo

Grahovo lies in a karst field in the west of Niksic municipality, close to the Bosnian border and about 40 km from Niksic itself. The road from Risan on the bay climbs to it, making it a link between the coast and the interior.

A Montenegrin victory over an Ottoman army in May 1858, fought in the field below the village. It forced the powers to arbitrate a border for Montenegro for the first time, and it is remembered as a turning point towards recognised statehood.

Yes, a monument on the field and a small memorial in the village. The site itself is the main thing to see: an open karst plain ringed by bare hills, which explains a good deal about how the fighting went.

High, stony and largely treeless — a classic Montenegrin karst polje, green in spring and burnt by late summer, with drystone walls and sinkholes. Winters are hard and the field holds snow after the coast is already warm.

Only sparsely. Emigration has emptied much of it, and many houses stand shut for most of the year, filling briefly in summer when families return. It is one of the clearest places to see what depopulation has done to the Montenegrin interior.

For the battlefield, for the karst scenery and as an unusual route between Risan and Niksic that almost no visitor takes. There are no facilities to speak of, so fill up and carry water before you go.