Orjen and stone villages by car from Herceg Novi

Kameno is a village in the hills immediately behind Herceg Novi, beside the road toward Trebinje. Its stone houses and boundary walls reflect the traditional building methods of these villages. From the edges and more exposed positions, views open toward the bay entrance and Luštica.

Kamensko Polje formed from material carried down from Orjen by glaciers and water during the ice age. Its gentler terrain contrasts with the fractured limestone landscapes higher on the mountain.

Parts of a former military fort survive on Tajno Brdo. Its position high above the bay allowed observation of the coast. Today, the visit takes in outdoor remains and a viewpoint, without a museum interior.

Local sedimentary stone was used in Žlijebi for the walls and roofs of houses, boundary walls and old roads. Overlapping rows of slabs are visible on the roofs. They give the village its distinctive appearance, with roofs and facades sharing the color of the same material.

Dry-stone construction means laying stone without a binding material. In Žlijebi, you can examine this technique in the boundary walls beside the passages and compare it with the arrangement of slabs on the houses.

The terrace of the Church of St. Nicholas occupies an exposed position above a cliff. It overlooks the entrance to the bay and the peaks of Orjen.

Vrbanj is the main western approach to this part of Orjen and a well-known recreation area in the hills behind Herceg Novi. Beech forest surrounds the recreation area, with limestone features still visible between the trees.

Orjen is a limestone massif. Water passes through cracks and drains underground, leaving fractured rocks and stony plateaus on the surface. Fossils of marine organisms in the limestone show that today’s mountain massif rose from a former seabed.

Vegetation changes with altitude on Orjen. The maquis of the lower slopes gives way to mountain forests, while Bosnian pine grows in higher zones toward the peaks.