Stari Bar

Stari Bar (Old Bar) is an abandoned medieval ruined town in Montenegro, about 3 km inland from today's Bar, some 184 m above the sea and set among mountains and olive groves. Over the centuries the town passed between Byzantine, Serbian and Venetian rule until the Ottomans took it in 1571.

In the war of 1877–78 Montenegrin forces besieged the town for over seven weeks; on 5 January 1878 they blew up the aqueduct and cut off the water supply. The 1979 earthquake destroyed the aqueduct again, after which the site was abandoned and the new Bar was built on the coast. After the aqueduct was restored, people returned.

On site, according to Lonely Planet, you will see a small museum in a 17th-century customs house, the 11th-century fortress, the Franciscan monastery of St Nicholas with remains of 13th-century frescoes, a Turkish bathhouse, a clock tower dated 1752 and the 17th-century aqueduct. Green arrows mark the circuit. Check opening hours ahead.