Bar & Ulcinj: the back story

About Bar & Ulcinj: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Podgorica Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Bar is Montenegro’s main port and the end of the great railway from Belgrade, about an hour from Podgorica by train or car. Behind the modern town lies one of the most atmospheric ruins in the Balkans, and further south Ulcinj, the Long Beach and Ada Bojana bring the coast to a close at the Albanian border.

The Pompeii of Montenegro

The national tourist board calls Stari Bar the Pompeii of Montenegro. The old town stands on a great rock four kilometres inland, one of the largest archaeological sites inside walls anywhere, according to the Tourist Organisation of Bar. Among its ruins are churches, a hamam, a clock tower and a 17th-century Ottoman aqueduct of 17 arches.

Olive country

Olives are the symbol of Bar. There were once up to 100,000 ancient olive trees around Stari Bar, and at Mirovica stands the Old Olive Tree, protected by law since 1963, which the tourist board calls the oldest tree in Europe, more than 2,000 years old. Legend says feuding families met under it to make peace: mir means peace.

Stari Bar is a whole medieval city among the olive trees, four kilometres from the sea.

A king by the sea

In 1885 King Nikola built a palace on the shore at Bar for his daughter Princess Zorka and her husband Petar Karađorđević. Today it is the Homeland Museum, in a botanical garden planted with trees from all over the world. At the railway station, the little Ćiro train and the royal salon car recall the narrow-gauge line from Bar to Virpazar (1908–1959).

Pirates of Ulcinj

South of Bar, the old town of Ulcinj stands on a headland above the sea; it was a pirate base from 1571, and legend links it with Miguel de Cervantes, said to have been held there. Beyond it stretch Velika plaža, the Long Beach, and the river island of Ada Bojana.

Our advice: take the train from Podgorica to Bar for the views over Lake Skadar, visit Stari Bar in the cool of the morning, see the Old Olive Tree on the way to Ulcinj and finish with fish by the sea. In summer, start very early.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Bar & Ulcinj: the back story before you go.