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Sveti Stefan

Sveti Stefan

Big attraction on the Riviera of Budva is Sveti Stefan. The former fishing village situated on a peninsula became  a hotel-town 50 years ago and that’s how one wonderful place, where even the most famous people like Claudia Shiffer and Sylvester Stallone like to spend their time, has been made.

According to the tradition, a fortification  was built in 1442. on the island of Sveti Stefan and in that  period people settled there. A wall was built around the fortification in order to provide protection for families from surrounding places before the Turkish and pirate’s invasion.

According to legend the settlement was established after an armed attack of Pastrovici against the Turkish crew galleys and they built a fortress from what they had confiscated with one house for each twelve Pastrovic tribes. On the balcony above the entering door in Sveti Stefan, court house of Pastrovici  shared justice and solved disputes therefore it’s called  the“place of justice”.

There are small churches in Sveti Stefan: Svati Stefan church, after which the island got its name and it is placed at the highest part of the peninsula; the Church of Alexander Nevski, and the smallest one dedicated to the Holy Converting, is situated at the entrance to the town, which is connected  with the shore by a narrow causeway.

Because of its position Sveti Stefan was a mercantile center of Pastrovici. It was of a big strategic and trade importance during the period of Republic of Venice and traded  with Venice. It started to lose its importance at the end of 19th century when the townsfolk started to leave the town. The complete migration happened in 1955. When the peninsula was completely adapted and transformed into hotel-town. Streets, walls, roofs, house facades kept their original shape and look and the inside of them got the most contemporary hotel comfort. One of the villas, situated by the shore of the bridge that connects the island with the land, named Villa Montenegro, got a “Five Stars Diamond” price in 2006. which is given by American Academy of hotelier Sciences for top-quality service.

Among famous people and statesmen who were in Sveti Stefan are numerous Soviet Marshals: Semjon Timoshenko, Andrej Antonovich Grechko, Ivan Jakubovski, novelists Andre Malraux, Alberto Moravia, Soviet spacemen led by Gagarin, Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, film stars: Sofia Loren, Monica Vitti, Marina Vlady, Kirk Douglas, Sergej Bondarchuk.