Ulcinj Old Town, a stone ship run aground above the sea

The Ulcinj tourist board likens its old town to a ship run aground, and the image works perfectly from the beach, with the walls rising out of golden rock and the houses squeezed together on top. It’s small enough to walk round in an hour, yet it holds more history per square metre than plenty of old towns with bigger reputations. Illyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans all passed through, along with corsairs, captives and even an exiled messiah.

The oldest part, the Illyrian wall

According to the tourist board, the old town has been inhabited for about 25 centuries and is one of the oldest urban ensembles on the Adriatic. The oldest thing you can see is the north stretch of wall, Illyrian and built of huge blocks in the Greek manner. In the 6th century the town got its two gates, the lower one to the east, which you entered from the sea, and the upper one to the west for anyone arriving overland. Inside, the lanes are narrow and crooked, lined with two and three-storey stone houses and Renaissance, Baroque and Ottoman details.

The Citadel and the Balšić tower

On the highest terrace stands the Citadel and its tower, which dominates the whole town and faces the sea on three sides. Tradition credits it to the Balšić family, who made Ulcinj their capital from 1360 to 1421, and the Ottomans added the third floor and the vaulted ground floor. These days it’s mostly used as a gallery and for poetry evenings. Close by are Palata Venezia, thought to have housed the Venetian governor, and Dvori Balšića on the southern terrace, both of which are now places to stay.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Ulcinj before prices climb.

The slave square and the Cervantes legend

In front of the church-mosque is a small arcaded square that, from the mid-17th century, served as the slave market of the Ulcinj corsairs. The tourist board explains that most captives came from Italy and Dalmatia and were held for ransom rather than put to work. This is where the town’s favourite legend starts, that Cervantes was held here as a captive and that Dulcinea owes her name to Dulcigno, the town’s old Italian name. The same site calls it a legend and says the certain part is that Cervantes was freed in September 1580. To me it’s a lovely story to tell in the square, not a fact to repeat as gospel.

A messiah in the tower

The other story has firmer dates. Sabbatai Zevi, the rabbi from Smyrna who proclaimed himself the Messiah in 1666 and ended up converting to Islam before the sultan, was confined to Ulcinj, according to the tourist board, and spent his last ten years on the third floor of the Balšić tower, where he died in 1676. A Star of David carved in white marble survives on that floor.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Ulcinj Old Town and choose by the reviews.

The museum and visiting

The old town museum holds an ancient pedestal with a Greek inscription from the stonemasons to Artemis, a cameo of Athena and two Bronze Age axes, while the lapidarium has an Ionic capital and pieces from a 9th-century church. Its tourism office doesn’t publish opening hours or prices, but wandering the streets costs nothing. If walled towns are your thing, compare it with Budva Old Town, more polished and much busier, or the ruins of Stari Bar, and find the rest in Montenegro’s castles and fortresses. For food and a bed, head down to the new town of Ulcinj.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Ulcinj before prices climb.