Mount Rumija, between the Adriatic and Lake Skadar

From the beach at Bar, the mountain filling the skyline is Rumija. Few visitors climb it, which is a shame, because from the top you grasp the layout of the whole of southern Montenegro, with the Adriatic on one side and Lake Skadar on the other, and because its summit hosts one of the most unusual traditions in the country.

A mountain between two waters

The Bar tourist board gives it 1,594 metres, the highest point in the municipality, ahead of Lisinj, Sutorman, Sozina and Vrsuta. It describes Lake Skadar as lying in a valley cut off from the sea by Rumija itself, so the mountain is the wall between the coast at Bar and the lake country beyond. The Ulcinj tourist board also names it as the massif closing off the back of its municipality. It’s the mountain you see behind the ruins of Stari Bar.

The procession of the cross

What makes Rumija famous is its procession. Every year on Trinity Sunday the cross of St Jovan Vladimir is carried up to the summit, and, according to the national tourist board, representatives of all three of Bar’s faiths take part. The cross is one of the town’s most treasured relics and has been kept for centuries by the Andrović family in the village of Velji Mikulići, on the mountain’s slopes. For me it’s the best example of coexistence anywhere in the country, and the national tourist board uses it as one too. The date moves each year with the church calendar, so check it with the Bar tourist board before you plan around it.

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Climbing to the top

The Bar tourist board publishes a hiking map of waymarked routes, and the most direct to the summit starts at Gornja Briska (Šestani) and runs 5.1 km. The same map includes paths over Sutorman, Lisinj and through the olive groves of Stari Bar. There are no official figures for ascent or walking time, so I’d allow plenty of margin and start early with lots of water and sun cream. It’s limestone and grassland, and the face looking out to sea has very little shade. Remember that mountain rescue, like everything else, is on 112. If walking is your thing, I’ve gathered the rest in hiking in Montenegro.

The far side, towards the lake

Over the top of Rumija lies Krajina, the south-eastern shore of Lake Skadar. Its main village is Ostros, surrounded by centuries-old chestnut woods, and the Bar tourist board counts more than 20,000 chestnut trees in the area, protected by law. Here you’ll find the remains of the Prečista Krajinska monastery, from the eleventh century, which the same source calls the oldest and largest place of worship on the lake, and the great freshwater well of Ostros, dated to 1001.

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What the mountain gives

Rumija’s slopes run down towards the lake through chestnut woods and vineyards, and the tourist board says Bar’s cooking is seasoned with its herbs. The local honey owes its dark colour to wormwood and chestnut. On the other side starts the Vruća rijeka canyon, a canyoning route of about 6 km dropping from Veliki Mikulići to the walls of Stari Bar.

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