Best of Montenegro Coast
Montenegro is a small and still quite unknown country for travellers, but it has a rich history from the Roman times. Here are listed some of the best historic sites to visit on the bays of royal blue Adriatic Sea.
Kotor Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in Kotor is one of two Roman Catholic cathedrals in Montenegro. It was built in honor of Saint Tryphon, the patron and protector of the city, on the same site where an older church had already existed long ago. That earlier church was built in 809 by Andrija Saracenis, a citizen of Kotor, where the remains of the saint were kept after being brought from Constantinopole.
Church of Santa Maria in Punta
Photo from Flickr, copyright Lyall Bouchard
Santa Maria in Punta is one of the oldest pre-Romanic churches in the Montenegro coastal region. According to the preserved written record, this church was established by the Benedictines in 840 AD as their cloister and this was later taken over by the Franciscans. The oldest school in Budva was located in this Monastery. A large number of old tombs have been found in the church. For a period of time, it was the home to an archaeological collection of artefacts discovered in a necropolis in Budva, but the church is currently used for art exhibitions and concerts of classical music.
Budva Citadel
The entire town of Budva is encircled with defensive stone walls. The fortifications of Budva are typical of the Medieval walled cities of the Adriatic, complete with towers, embrasures, fortified city gates and a citadel.
Our Lady of the Rocks
Photo from Flickr, copyright Andrija Zecevic Photography
Our Lady of the Rocks is one of the two islets off the coast of Perast in Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It is an artificial island created by bulwark of rocks and by sinking old and seized ships loaded with rocks. The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rocks is the largest building on the islet; it has a museum attached. There is also a small gift shop close to the church and a navigation light at the western end of the islet.
Stari Bar
Photo from Flickr, copyright Alice.Svane
The Old Town of Bar (Stari Bar) is the largest and the most important medieval archaeological site in the Balkans. It covers the area of 4.5 hectares, where the remains of around 600 public and private edifices are the proof of the existence of various construction phases present in different epochs of the Mediterranean history.
San Giovanni Castle
Photo from Flickr, copyright Have Blog, Will Travel
San Giovanni, also called St. John’s Castle, is perched 1200m high on the hill of St. John. The fortifications date back as far as 532 when Byzantine Emperor Justinian I had the fort built. Since it’s creation, the fort has under seen plenty of changes and battles under Venetian, Russian, and French rule. It’s been bombed by British Naval armies, occupied during World War II, and even survived three separate earthquakes.
Herceg Novi Old Town
Photo from Flickr, copyright Predrag Bubalo
Herceg Novi was founded (on a former small fishing village, existing since Roman Empire times) as a fortress in 1382 by first Bosnian King Stjepan Tvrtko I and was called Sveti Stefan or Castelnuovo. The Turks conquered Herceg Novi in 1482, and ruled for 200 years, until 1687. However, there was a short pause between 1538 and 1539 when it was held by the Spaniards before they were defeated in the Siege of Castelnuovo. Turkey ruled again until 1687, from then until 1797, the town was ruled by the Venetian Republic.
Ulcinj Old Town
Ulcinj is an ancient castle and neighborhood. Today mostly inhabited by Albanians, it was built by the Illyrians and Ancient Greeks on a small peninsula at the right side of the Pristan Gulf. Today, oldest remains are the Cyclopean Wall. The castle has been restored many times since it was first built although major changes were made by the Byzantinians, Serbs, Venetians, and Ottomans. The modern city of Ulcinj was built outside of this castle.
Sveti Stefan
Photo from Flickr, copyright fede_gen88
Sveti Stefan is a small islet in the central part of Montenegro Adriatic coast line. It was first mentioned in 1442 as a fort near seacoast from which Paštrovići, led by vojvoda Radič repulsed the forces of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača during his offensive in Zeta. According to a legend recounted by Stjepan Mitrov Ljubiša, the town fortification was funded after Paštrovići looted Turkish ships moored in front of Jaz during Barbarossa's siege of Kotor in 1539. The town was razed shortly after, during the fourth Ottoman-Venetian war. After continuous pleas by Paštrovići, the Venetian Republic finally agreed to rebuild it in the 16th century. All of the buildings were acquired by the Yugoslav government and turned into an upscale hotel during the communist period.
Fort Gorazda
Fort Gorazda was built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire near Kotor. The fortress"s predecessor was built prior to the 1869 uprising. The current fort was built between 1884–86 and replaced an earlier structure; its most notable feature is a 100-ton Gruson rotating turret on its roof, the last remaining example of its type. The fort was used by the Austrians in artillery duels against Montenegrin batteries stationed on Mount Lovćen during the First World War. The Montenegrins were unable to destroy it and were pushed out of range in 1916 by an Austrian offensive. The damage to the fort was repaired and its guns were removed to support the Austrian field army. It was used as a depot by the Yugoslav Army until as recently as the early 1990s. It was subsequently abandoned and can be visited by the public.