Camping Maslina, Montenegro

South Coast, Montenegro

Camping Maslina

We’re calling Petrovac home at the moment and have set up base at Camping Maslina about a 30-minute hike from town. We have settled ourselves comfortably into an olive grove within the camp perimeter. We’re currently experiencing stormy weather so lots of olives to pick up each day or there would be if the park owners weren’t scuttling around busily with their buckets. Camping Maslina is an ideal base to visit in this part of Montenegro. From the campsite, you can walk into Petrovac along the coast pathway in about thirty minutes.

Micheal the owner-manager of this site is such a layback sort of guy and willing to help with any campsite issue. Facilities are new and extremely clean, wifi is strong, and of season rate is only fifteen euros per night. The olive trees in the campsite are said to be 300 years old.

Petrovac

Like most coastal towns in Montenegro that are extremely popular with tourists in the high season, this time of the year is very quiet. It’s still quite warm with daily temperatures averaging around 20 degrees C. Spotted some people swimming and was a tiny bit jealous (Late November 2022). Petrovac would be rated as one of the most Beautifull towns on the coast.

There’s a small island in the bay called Sveta Neđelja. Legend has it, a seafarer who was saved from a shipwreck built a small church on top as a gesture of gratitude.

Budva

Rain, rain, and more rain so it’s not all blue skies, beer, and skittles for these traveling nomads. But today the sky cleared and we escaped the box on wheels for the day. Budva was our destination and another town with more than 2,500 years of history which makes it the oldest settlement on the Adriatic coast,[so I’m told ]. It’s famous for its well-preserved medieval walls and is the centre of Montenegro’s coastal tourism.

Montenegrins named it the Budva Riviera. It has all the trappings of a resort town for the local and international community including Russia, BH, Serbia, Ukraine, and Kosovo and there’s a LOT of building work going on.

Sveti Stefan.

When we first spotted Sveti Stefan Island it reminded us of Pirates and Princesses. As it happens, that’s not far from the truth. This little island and the adjacent beaches have an amazing history of survival and opulence. After being independent since the 12th century, the island became a protectorate of the Republic of Venice in 1423. In exchange, they had to give up piracy against Venetian ships. Fair exchange?

Then after the 16th-century war with the Turks, it became a fortress for 20 Families. By the 18th century, it had become a village of 400 people. The Palace of Villa Miločer on the adjacent beach was built between 1934 and 1936 as the summer residence of Queen Marija Karađorđević (Serbia).

Then in 1954, the Yugoslav Government converted the island it into a hotel and casino for the rich and famous. Visitors included Princess Margaret, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, and Marilyn Monroe.

After the fall of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the Government of Montenegro invited redevelopment bids to recreate the old charm of the island. Aman Resorts won. The refurbished 5* exclusive resort, including the stunning Milocer and Queens beaches, was completed in 2009.

We didn’t get to walk around the island because the hotel has been closed since early 2020 due to the pandemic and remains closed. Word has it that concerns and conflicts with the government are the reasons it hasn’t reopened.

I certainly wouldn’t know whether the word is right, but looking at the photos on Aman’s website (link below) it’s a pity. It’s on my list of things to do when I’m rich and can spend 1000 euros + a night.

Bar

What a great name for a town in Montenegro, BAR. This town is not famous but kind of. Mainly for the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Jovan Vladimir built in 2012. There are a few stories but the Saint carried his own severed head to his burial place and is the intermediary for miracles.

The other famous place is a palace belonging to Prince Nicholas 1 of the reigning house of Petrovac. He crowned himself king in 1910 after defeating the Ottomans. Then he came to Serbia’s aid in 1914 against the forces of the Austro-Hungarian empire and when they took Montenegro in 1916 the only king of Montenegro fled to Italy then France and died there in Antibes in 1921

And did you know he trained in martial and athletic arts? Married at 19 to Milena, 13 yo girl. Studied literature, and composed a Serb patriotic song and the drama “Empress of the Balkan” He visited Russia and met Tsar, Alexander II. He also met Napoleon and Queen Victoria.

Stari Bar

Walking around an old fortress can be eerie and fascinating, imagining the effort to build it and remembering why… protection. It would have been almost as formidable to attack a fortress of this size but it was attacked many times – sometimes successfully.

The old (Stari) town (Grad) was built around the fortress and when an attack was imminent the villagers headed for the safety of the fortress which had its own water supply. It was first established around the 11th century and extended over the centuries by various Roman, Ottoman, Hellenistic, Slavic, Venetian and Byzantine rulers.

But it wasn’t the invaders who destroyed the town. It was an earthquake, in 1979. Many of the townspeople left the ruins and moved to the new town of Bar on the coast, only a couple of miles away.

It cost a massive 3 euros each and took us about two hours to complete our tour of this beautiful site. We finished off walking back down the hillside sampling locally made olive oil and stopping for a foaming glass of pomegranate beer to wash down lunch, Luckily the rain which was lurking behind the hills held off till it was time to head home.

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