Stari Bar: The Ruined Town Above the New One

What happened

Stari Bar was a substantial walled town — Illyrian, then Roman, then Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman in turn. Montenegrin forces took it from the Ottomans in 1877, and the following year a gunpowder magazine exploded, destroying much of the town and its water supply.

It was never rebuilt. The population moved down to the coast and founded the new Bar. What is left is about four hectares of walls, churches, an aqueduct and streets, standing open under the mountain.

What is inside

• St Nicholas's church, with fragments of fresco still on the walls
• The aqueduct, Venetian, restored and still carrying its arches across the approach
• A Turkish bath and a clock tower, from the Ottoman period
• The citadel at the top, with the best view down to the sea
• Streets you can walk, roofless, with the mountain directly above

The olive tree

About two kilometres away at Mirovica stands Stara Maslina, an olive tree usually dated at over two thousand years old and among the oldest living trees in Europe. It is fenced, gnarled into a hollow shell, and still fruiting.

Entry is a euro or two. It takes fifteen minutes and it is one of those things that is either underwhelming or quietly extraordinary depending on how long you stand there.

Eating

The village outside the walls has a handful of konobas serving the food of this region — which is more Ottoman-influenced than the coast further north. Lamb and veal under the *sač*, a metal dome buried in embers, and the local olive oil, which is genuinely good and sold at the roadside.

Why almost nobody goes

Because Bar is at the southern end of the coast and most visitors base themselves at the northern end, in Budva or Kotor, and never drive past Sveti Stefan. Stari Bar is forty-five minutes from Budva and it is empty on an August afternoon when Kotor is impassable.

The natural day combines it with Ulcinj further south, or with Lake Skadar inland, both of which are within half an hour.