Herceg Novi Old TownFrom the harbour to Kanli Kula

You are standing on the Škver, the small town harbour, at the entrance to the town from the sea. The bronze figure with a crown and a cross is King Tvrtko the First Kotromanić, the Bosnian king who founded this town. According to the plaque in the clock tower, he laid its foundations in May, thirteen eighty-two, and named it Saint Stephen. He wanted a harbour at the entrance to the bay and, as his charter to Dubrovnik says, a market for selling salt. Salt was then one of the most valuable goods on this coast. The name Saint Stephen did not stick. People called the town Novi, the new one, because it really was new, much younger than Kotor and the other towns of the bay. In the fifteenth century, Herceg Stjepan Vukčić Kosača kept his court here, and he died here in fourteen sixty-six. His title, herceg, meaning duke, gave the town its name to this day: Herceg Novi. In front of you opens the entrance to the Bay of Kotor, and above the harbour, on the rock, rises the fortress of Forte Mare. That is where we are heading, but first a short stroll along the seafront.

This is the Pet Danica promenade, the backbone of Herceg Novi along the sea. The tourist board gives its length as about six kilometres, from Igalo in the west to Meljine in the east. Much of it follows the route of an old narrow-gauge railway. The line reached Zelenika in nineteen-oh-one, and trains ran from here towards Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. It closed in nineteen sixty-eight. When the rails were lifted, a level path along the sea remained, with a few short tunnels. Its name means Five Danicas. It honours five young women, all called Danica. They came from the Bay of Kotor, joined the Partisans and were killed in the Second World War. If you head west, you will reach Igalo. There stands Villa Galeb, the Seagull, built in nineteen seventy-six for Josip Broz Tito. Today it is part of the Igalo Institute. Now look up. The rock above you carries the fortress of Forte Mare. At its foot there is a spring, and above it a marble plaque with verses about the bay by the poet Aleksa Šantić. According to the tourist board, in sixteen eighty-seven the army of the Holy League drained this spring to leave the town's defenders without water.

In front of you is Forte Mare, Italian for the Sea Fortress. It guarded the entrance to the town from the sea. The Herceg Novi tourist board believes this was the core of the town that Tvrtko founded. The fortress was built and rebuilt from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. The largest reconstruction was carried out by the Ottomans, when it got its present size. The Venetians restored it in the seventeenth century and gave it the name it still bears, and it owes its present look to the Austrians, who rebuilt it in eighteen thirty-three. Of the oldest period, only a short stretch of wall on the south-east side and a narrow staircase on the east side remain. On the upper side is the Sea Gate, with parts of the fortifications from the Bosnian period. Inside the walls, a passage leads from the shore to the top of the fortress. Since nineteen fifty-two there has been an open-air summer cinema here. Films have been shown under the stars for more than sixty years, and the fortress is also one of the venues of the film festival. There is an entrance fee. Inside, the stone stairs are steep. From the ramparts you can see the entrance to the bay, the town harbour and Igalo.

From this viewpoint, look down towards the sea. This is where the Citadel stood, also called Mezzaluna, the half-moon. It was built right on the shore, so that its southern walls stood in the sea. In seventeen-oh-two the Venetians joined it to the upper town with a strong wall, and so enclosed the whole town in walls. The earthquake of the fifteenth of April, nineteen seventy-nine, was fatal for it. The Citadel collapsed into the sea, and its remains still lie below you. The church beside you is linked to the end of Ottoman rule. After taking the town in sixteen eighty-seven, the Venetians built a Capuchin friary here the following year, with a small church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Later it was dedicated to Saint Francis. Since nineteen seventy-six it has borne the name of Saint Leopold Bogdan Mandić. He was born in Herceg Novi, spent most of his life as a Capuchin friar in Padua, and was declared a saint by Pope John Paul the Second in nineteen eighty-three.

This is the lower town square, Mićo Pavlović Square. On it stands the Catholic Church of Saint Jerome, the patron saint of the town. The present church was built in eighteen fifty-six. In the seventeenth century an older parish church dedicated to the same saint stood on this spot. It was pulled down in the nineteenth century, and the new one was built larger and more spacious. Inside are paintings by Tripo Kokolja from Perast, one of the most important Baroque painters of the bay. This square is a good place to remember a great siege. For about two hundred years, from fourteen eighty-two, Herceg Novi was under Ottoman rule. In September, sixteen eighty-seven, the army of the Holy League arrived at the walls, led by the Venetian commander Girolamo Cornaro. It included Venetian mercenaries, Florentines, Knights of Malta, Montenegrins, Herzegovinians and local rebels. Ottoman reinforcements were defeated nearby, and the town fell. Herceg Novi remained Venetian until seventeen ninety-seven. After that, Austrians, Russians and the French took turns, and then Austria again.

This is Sahat Kula, the clock tower, which locals also call Tora. According to the tourist board, it was built in sixteen sixty-seven, under Ottoman rule, and it was then the main town gate. It is sixteen metres high. Today the tower is the symbol of the town and appears on its coat of arms and flag. The clock once showed the times of the daily Muslim prayers. The old town clock kept working until nineteen ninety-five, when it was replaced by an electric one, a gift from the friendship town of Zemun. In the passage through the tower stands a statue of the Virgin Mary, known as the Black Madonna. Legend says that during the fighting of sixteen eighty-seven, three men from Perast took shelter behind an olive tree. A cannonball hit the tree, they survived, and they vowed to carve a Madonna from the charred wood. During restoration in two thousand and three, experts confirmed that the statue really is made of olive wood. In the passage there is also a relief of King Tvrtko, put up in nineteen eighty-two for the town's six hundredth anniversary. The text in the old Bosnian script quotes his charter on the founding of Saint Stephen.

You are on Nikola Đurković Square. Turn round and look up at the clock tower, with the steps that lead through it into the Old Town. According to the municipality, there was once a canal here. It was filled in during the nineteenth century, and the square was laid out. Today this is the town's living room, with cafés and concerts, and this is where Herceg Novi sees in the New Year. Herceg Novi is called the town of stairs, and in February the town of mimosa. When most of Europe is under snow, the mimosa blooms here, a fragrant yellow tree that covers gardens and hillsides. The Mimosa Festival has been held since nineteen sixty-nine, and it is one of the oldest tourist festivals in Montenegro. Parades with the town brass band and majorettes pass through the streets, there are masked balls and a carnival, and fish and wine are served along the seafront. If you are here in February, just follow the music. You will find the exact dates on the festival page of the Travel to Montenegro website.

This is Belavista, the upper town square. Its official name is Herceg Stjepan Square, but everyone calls it Belavista, the beautiful view. The square is dominated by the Orthodox Church of Saint Michael the Archangel. Building began in eighteen eighty-three. Several architects worked on the church, the final design was signed by Milan Karlovac in nineteen-oh-five, and the church was consecrated in nineteen eleven. The church is shaped like a Greek cross, with four equal arms, and it is built of finely cut stone from the island of Korčula. The space is Byzantine, and in the decoration you will recognise Romanesque, Gothic and Islamic motifs. The iconostasis is made of white Italian marble, the work of master Bilinić from Split, and the icons were painted by a Czech artist. The palm trees around the church are about a hundred years old. On Orthodox Christmas Eve, a Yule log is burned in front of the church. Behind the church, to the east, is the eastern town gate. In front of it is the old Karača fountain. According to the municipality, its name is linked to the spring that supplied the town with water for centuries.

This is Kanli Kula, Turkish for the Bloody Tower. Ottoman builders gave it its present form in the sixteenth century, at the northernmost point of the Old Town, about eighty-five metres above the sea. It is first mentioned in writing by the Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, in sixteen sixty-four. It got its name from the prison, which had a terrible reputation under Ottoman rule. It was built on the foundations of an older structure bearing the inscription pro pace, for peace. Inside, a water cistern survives, which was later turned into a prison cell. Carved into the walls are drawings left by prisoners: galleys, crosses, dates and coats of arms. In the nineteen sixties the interior became an open-air summer stage with about a thousand seats, which can hold up to fifteen hundred people. After the earthquake of nineteen seventy-nine it was rebuilt again. Today it hosts the film festival, concerts and folklore evenings. There is an entrance fee. Inside there are many steps and uneven stones. From the ramparts you can see the whole Old Town, Forte Mare down by the sea and, up on the hill, Španjola fortress.

You have reached Španjola, the fortress on Bajer hill, about a hundred and seventy metres above the sea. Old documents call it the Upper Town, and the name it bears today, the Spanish one, was given by the locals. In June, fifteen thirty-eight, the fleet of Admiral Andrea Doria took the town, and the Spaniards began building a fortress here. They ruled for only a year. In fifteen thirty-nine the Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa won the town back after a hard siege. The Ottomans rebuilt the fortress between fifteen thirty-nine and fifteen forty-eight. An inscription over the entrance named the builder and ended with the words: oh, how lovely you are, wonderful building. The fortress has four round bastions at its corners. On the west side are remains of Ottoman building and parts of a mosque. The Venetians added a large semicircular wall and an inner courtyard, and the Austrians built new structures next to the fortress. During the Second World War it was used as a prison. Entry is free, but there are no paths laid out inside, and the ground is uneven. The view takes in the whole town, Kanli Kula, Forte Mare and the entrance to the bay.

Welcome to Savina Monastery, about two kilometres east of the Old Town. This Orthodox monastery has three churches, surrounded by cypresses and a stone pine more than two hundred years old. The small Church of the Dormition is the oldest. An inscription from eighteen thirty-one gives ten thirty as the year it was built, but experts date it by its style to the time of the Kosača family. Inside, the oldest frescoes in the area were discovered, from the middle of the fifteenth century, attributed to the Kotor painter Lovro Dobričević. The large Church of the Dormition was built from seventeen seventy-seven to seventeen ninety-nine by master builder Nikola Foretić from Korčula. Its iconostasis was made in seventeen ninety-five by Simeon Lazović and his son Aleksije. On the hill above stands the small Church of Saint Sava, which tradition dates to the thirteenth century. The monastery is named after it. The treasury keeps the crystal cross of Saint Sava from the thirteenth century and the icon of the Virgin of Savina, which the faithful consider miraculous. This is a living community. Shoulders and knees should be covered, and please speak quietly in the church.