Montenegrins got Ulcinj a little more than a hundred years ago, in 1880 it was taken from the Ottoman Empire and the Montenegrin coast became one of the sunniest cities of the Adriatic.
The symbol of Ulcinj is, of course, the Old Town - a fortress crowning a steep cliff above the sea. An incredible accumulation of eras in which a rare historian will not break a leg. Remains of Illyria-Greek fortifications, towers of medieval Serbian rulers, Venetian chambers and a church with an attached minaret. Confusion is added by local residents, who skillfully weave into the history of the city legends about Algerian pirates, black slaves, Jewish false prophets and Miguel Cervantes, who was captured by these same pirates, sadly looked out at the sea from that window, and also fell in love with one of women of Ulcinj You must wander through the narrow streets of the Old Town, see how goats graze, indifferent to the concentration of history and, looking from the vertical wall to the sea, see on the horizon the sails of pirate ships returning to the bay with rich booty.
At the end of the 16th century, Ulcinj was recaptured by the Ottoman Turks from the Venetians. The city stood in a favorable position - at the intersection of trade routes, on the border of two worlds - Christian and Turkish - the territories of Venice and the Grand Port. The light ships of the Ulcinian pirates caused a lot of trouble for Venetian merchant ships. They patrolled the coast, attacked port cities, and did not disdain the slave trade. On the Small Beach of Ulcinj - right under the walls of the Old City, looted goods were distributed, and on the stone square inside the city walls, black slaves were sold. Every local resident hopes to find pirate gold, hidden somewhere in the city for a rainy day by one of the thugs.
Nowadays, those who want to sunbathe on the sand peacefully share places on the Small Beach - aka the city beach. The Adriatic coast is not full of sandy beaches. There are two of them in Ulcinj. The names of the beaches are not wise. One is called Small (Mala plaja), its length is only 360 meters, the other is Big (Velika plaja). Thirteen kilometers of fine gray sand and the Mistral - a summer wind that carries surfers along the waves and lifts kites over the sea. The Great Beach is completed by the triangle of Ada Island on the Boyana River. Interestingly, this is where the most famous nudist beach of the Montenegrin coast is located, a blessed island for lovers of naked sunbathing.
