| | Lake Skadar |
Located 7km from the Adriatic, in the Zeta Valley, Lake Skadar is the largest lake in the entire Balkan region. It is 43 km long, 14 km wide and up to 44 metres deep. The area’s exceptionally rich flora and fauna - over 40 varieties of fish and 270 of bird – led to it be designated as a national park. While cruising along the lake, one is impressed by the jagged coastline with its many inlets, islands and peninsulas. The northern shore is swampy and overgrown with tall reeds; the southern one is rocky and covered with primeval forest and horse chestnut trees. The surface of Lake Skadar is a carpet of water plants and lilies. The vast cultural and historical heritage of this area is represented by the many churches, monasteries and sacral monuments built in the 14th and 15th centuries under the Balsic and Crnojevic dynasties. And Lesendro fortress is regarded as the eternal torch of Montenegrin freedom.
| | | Biograd National Park |
This is one of the last primeval forests in Europe. The national park lies on 5, 650 hectares located between the Tara and Lim rivers. The biggest body of water in the area, located in the middle of the park 1,094metres above sea level, is the Biogradsko jezero (Biograd Lake). Bears, wolves, dears and foxes roam the woods, which cover more than three-quarters of the park’s territory. Ornithologists as well as birdwatchers follow the flight of eagles and 150 other types of bird. This diversity makes Biograd park a rare attraction for nature lovers. The Moraca monastery, which with its beautiful 12th century frescoes is one of the most important cultural and historical landmarks in Montenegro, nestles in the mild green vegetation and freshness surrounding Svetigora waterfall close to the Moraca canyon.
| | | Lovcen National Park |
Lovcen national park, which covers an area of 6, 220 hectares, is embedded in the highest and central part of the Lovcen mountain chain. Like all of Montenegro, Lovcen is exciting in its contrasts. Numerous heterogeneous relief forms are specific to the middle part of the mountain with its highest peaks, Stirovnik and Jezerski Vrh. Its slopes are rocky with many crevices, pits and deep depressions. Placed on the border between two completely different natural wholes, sea and mainland, Lovcen is under the influence of both climates. Its history makes it the most Montenegrin mountain of them all. At its top lies the mausoleum of the nation’s greatest ruler and poet, Petar II Petrovic Njegos. This historical heart of Montenegro contains the old capital of Cetinje, with its Court of King Nikola I , the monastery of St. Petar Cetinjski (it has always been a center of Montenegrin spirituality and keeper of the national culture), buildings of the pre-World War I European embassies (French, British, Russian, Austrian, Bulgarian...). Many geographers and travel writers, including George Bernard Shaw, were enchanted by the sights from Lovcen’s peaks and hills. From a belvedere on Jezerski Vrh opens a magnificent view on the “Stone Sea”, Cetinje, the Bay of Kotor, Budva Riviera, and even mountains in Albania.
| | | Durmitor National Park |
Spread across 39,000 hectares in the north-west of Montenegro, Durmitor National Park was proclaimed a national park in 1952 and put under UNESCO protection in 1980. Durmitor is the most beautiful and exotic mountain in Montenegro and the highest range in the Dinaric mountain system. Basic relief characteristics are the spacious plateaus, into which deep canyon valleys (Tara canyon is the second in the world after Colorado) and impressive mountain peaks are cut. The highest peak of Durmitor at an altitude of 2,523 metres, is Bobotov Kuk. Eighteen lakes, or “Mountain Eyes”, created by former glaciers, add unique charm to the Durmitor region. The most famous one is Crno Jezero (Black Lake), which is surrounded by dense evergreen forests under the Medjed ridge. The main town of the area, Zabljak, is surrounded by 23 peaks over 2,300 metres high with white patches of snow even at the height of summer.
| | | Boka Kotorska |
Boka Kotorska (Bay of Kotor) is a magnificent contrast of blue sea and steep mountains. The surface of the bay is 87 square km, the jagged coastline is more than 100 km long. Boka Kotorska consists of 4 smaller bays : the bay of Kotor, the bay of Tivat, the bay of Risan and the bay of Herceg Novi. But Boka is not only a fabulous natural sight. The Old Town of Kotor, with its multitude of churches and palaces is one of the main reasons why Kotor and its cultural environs were included in UNESCO’s world natural and cultural heritage list. The town’s ramparts, which are 4,5 km long and up to 20 metres high, date back to the 15th and 18th century, some even to the times of Venetian rule. Spacious squares are dotted with the palaces of Kotor’s noble families – Drago, Bizanti, Pima, Grgurina...
Further south lies the wonderfully preserved Baroque town of Perast, with its palaces, fortifications and museums. The town’s many manors and churches were erected in 17th century, owing to the development of shipping and trade. In the bay facing the town are two small charming islands: St. George and Our Lady of the Rock. The latter one was built in 1630 on an artificially made island created by local inhabitants who piled stones and soil on an underwater rocky base.
Herceg Novi, the youngest town on the Montenegrin coast is more than six centuries old (1382). The charming old heart of the town has two squares and a number of churches and galleries. Several fortresses have survived the ages, since everyone who ever conquered Herceg Novi (Turks, Spaniards, Venetians, Austrians, Russians and French) would erect a fortress. The symbol of the town is the 1667 Watchtower. One important monument is the monastery complex of Savina consisting of the small frescoed Church of the Assumption of Our Lady (1030), the Great Church of the Assumption of Our Lady built in 1779 by master craftsman Nikola Foretic of Korcula, the 13th century Church of Sveti Sava and the Konak monastery which houses a unique portrait of Russian Tsar Peter the Great.
| | | The Budva Riviera |
The old town of Budva is a single architectural and urban whole, which has existed as a settlement since ancient times. Historical sources and archeological evidence indicate that Budva was one of the first urban centers on the Adriatic, created over 2,500 years ago. The Old Town lies on a little island that was linked to the land by a sandbar and with time became a peninsula. It is surrounded by 15th century ramparts including a medieval fortification system with city gates, defence walls and towers built to protect from attacks by pirate and Turks. Inside the walls, the town is a combination of narrow streets and little squares with valuable monuments of different Mediterranean cultures that marked its development. One will discover the Santa Maria in Punta church built in 840 by the Benedictines and the St. Sava church built in the times of the royal Nemanjic dynasty, in the 14th century.
The Budva Riviera is about 30 km long, and with several beautiful beaches is one of the best partsof the coast.
The famous island of Sveti Stefan, first mentioned in historical manuscripts in the 15th century, lies 9km southeast of Budva. According to a legend of the times, each of the 12 Pastrovic tribes built a house on the island using treasures snatched from the Turks. This beautiful walled fishing village was turned into hotel town, something unique on the Adriatic coast. Nearby stands Milocer Forest Park, which once surrounded the residence of the Karadjordjevic dynasty. Together with its Queen’s Beach, the park is one of the natural treasures of this part of the Adriatic.
| | | The Rivieras of Bar And Ulcinj |
Located at the foot of the Rumija ridge, Bar is Montenegro’s main seaport. This is one of the brightest locations in Europe, where the sun shines on average 270 days a year. The historic fortress of Old Bar is perched on a nearby hill. A need for a strong defensive position and the existence of a freshwater well were the main reasons why Old Bar, as opposed to other littoral towns, was built at a distance from the sea. The town, whose inhabitants lived on handicraft and trade in olive oil and salt, was built successively over the centuries. The most recent archaeological excavations revealed ceramics from 8th-6th century BC, which indicates that the foundation of the fortress are over two and a half millennia old. The town was first mentioned in the annals of the 9th century. Mihajlo Vojislavljevic, the first King of Montenegro, was crowned in Bar in 1077. Today, Old Bar is a big open-air museum spread over 4 hectares. This Montenegrin Pompeii contains the remnants of 600 edifices from all periods of the town’s history. During the summer it is an attractive stage for musical, theatrical and poetic performances. In the new town known as Topolica, the summer residence of the royal Petrovic dynasty, King Nikola’s Castle, now houses the county museum.
Ulcinj is the most southern town in Montenegro, founded by the Greeks. The town obtained its present name under the Romans. In times of Turkish rule it was the “capital” of Mediterranean pirates. Raised over the cliffs by the magnificence of nature, as if launched into the sea, the Old Town of Ulcinj has been defiantly resisting time for two and a half millenia. Legend has it that it was in Ulcinj that the great Cervantes, creator of Don Quixote, had been imprisoned by pirates. In the Balsic Tower lived Sabatej Cevi, a famous interpreter of the Talmud and leader of a Jewish uprising in the Ottoman Empire. Near Ulcinj, surrounded on two sides by the Bojana river and by the sea on the third lies the island of Ada Bojana. Its specific flora and fauna and a beautiful sandy beach which stretches for nearly 3 km make it unique in the southern Adriatic. Velika Plaza (Great Beach), Ulcinj’s most popular beach made of finest sand is 13km long and 60 metres wide.
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