Bus from BAR to ROVINJ

Bar (Italian: Antivari) is a coastal town and seaport in southern Montenegro. It's the capital of the Bar Municipality and a center for tourism. Bar is a shortened form of Antivari, which is derived from the town's location across the Adriatic Sea from Bari, Italy.

Local archaeological findings date to the Neolithic era. It is assumed that Bar was mentioned as the reconstructed Roman castle, Antipargal, in the 6th century. The name Antibarium was quoted for the first time in the 10th century.

Bar is located on the coastal western border of Montenegro on the shore of the Adriatic Sea. It is approximately 53 kilometres from Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. To the east is the largest lake in the Balkans, Lake Skadar. To the west, across the sea, is Italy.

Bar is the administrative centre of Bar Municipality, which includes the town of Sutomore and other small coastal towns. The municipality of Bar is divided into 12 communes (mjesna zajednica), consisting of 83 settlements.

Although there are some nice stony beaches in Bar itself, many tourists choose destinations in other small towns in the Bar municipality, notably Sutomore, with its beautiful long sandy beach. The natural area around Bar is mostly untouched and is rich in vegetation. The Bar municipality stretches to the southern shore of Skadar lake and encompasses Krajina region. This entire area is suitable for leisure activities and hiking. Smaller settlements near Bar, such as Dobra Voda, Sutomore and Čanj, are a favourite destination for sunbathing, as they incorporate long sandy beaches.

Places of interest

The Old Olive of Mirovica is said to be one of the oldest olive trees in Europe and one of the oldest trees in the world. In 1957, it was placed under state protection. Numerous legends and traditions are associated with the tree. For instance, families that had a dispute would come to the tree to make peace. This explains its name, Mirovica, mir meaning peace.

King Nikola’s palace was built in 1885. It was a present from King Nikola to his daughter Princess Zorka and his son-in-law, Prince Petar Karađorđević. The construction included a large palace, a little palace, a chapel, guardhouses and a winter garden. In 1910, a spacious ballroom was added. A botanic garden has Mediterranean vegetation including a cork tree. There is also a large flower garden in a stainless steel structure of interesting shape. it was a gift from King Emmanuel of Italy to King Nikola. It is now a restaurant called Knjaževa bašta (The Duke’s Garden). At the front of the palace, there was a wooden pier. Between 1866 and 1916, King Nikola owned ten yachts. One of them, Sibil, was bought from Jules Verne, the novelist. The last yacht bought was the Rumija. In 1915, it was sunk in the Bar harbour by the Austro-Hungarian navy. The palace complex houses the Bar city museum. It is also used as a venue for festivals, concerts, exhibitions and literary events.

Nehaj Fortress, partially preserved, is located near the small seaside town of Sutomore. It has been held by both Venetians and Ottoman Turks. It was first recorded as the 16th century Fortezza dei Spizi, a Venetian fortified town.

The Bar Aqueduct was constructed during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Rovinj is a coastal Istria’s city and its famous attraction. Primarily a fishing port, or to be precise, the last true Mediterranean fishing port, Today Rovinj is overrun by tourists thanks to the abilities of its citizens to benefit from their natural resources. Rovinj manages to keep up with the modern times in a very interesting way, by combining its rich tradition with the new trends.

The Old Town, contained within an egg-shaped peninsula  and surrounded by luscious forests, is criss-crossed with steep cobbled streets and piazzas. The 14 islands of the Rovinj archipelago are a pleasant destionation for an afternoon away,; the most popular are Saint Catherine and Crveni Otok (Red Island). About 1.5km south is the Punta Corrente Forest Park and the wooded Golden Cape, with its age-old oak and pine trees and several large hotels.

Church of St Euphemia : Theproud ot the town, this imposing church dominates the old town from its hilltop location in the middle of the peninsula. Built in 1736, it’s the largest baroque building in Istria, reflecting the period during the 18th century when Rovinj was its most populated town. Inside,the church visitors can marvel at the marble tomb of St Euphemia behind the right-hand altar. Modelled on the belfry of St Mark’s in Venice, the 60m bell tower is topped by a copper statue of St Euphemia, which shows the direction of the wind by turning on a spindle.

Batana House is a museum dedicated to the batana, a flat-bottomed fishing boat that stands as a symbol of Rovinj’s seafaring and fishing traditions. The multimedia exhibitions inside the 17th-century town house have interactive displays, excellent captions and audio with bitinada, which are typical fishers’ songs. 

The elaborate Balbi Arch was built in 1679 on the location of the former town gate. The top of the arch is ornamented with a Turkish head on the outside and a Venetian head on the inside.

Grisia: Lined with galleries where local artists sell their work, this cobbled street leads uphill from behind the Balbi Arch to St Euphemia. The winding narrow backstreets that spread around Grisia are like a maze where tourists like to lose themselves among windows, balconies, portals and squares which embody a buffling, but pleasant to the eye mixture of styles – Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicism. A special attention should be paid to the unique fumaioli (exterior chimneys), built during the population boom when entire families lived in a single room with a fireplace.

Known as one of the most picturesque and romantic towns on Mediterranean, over the last few decades Rovinj attracts a large number of tourists. Most of them faithfully return year after year due to the unique combination of the breath of past times felt as you walk around old town's cobbled narrow streets, with its  22 islands and islets, the mild Mediterranean climate, carefully designed parks, the tidiness of its streets, the friendliness of the local population or numerous and varied town events.