If someone said to the tourist workers in Bar a decade ago that the summertime will come when the sea beaches would be empty, while Stari Bar and Crmnica would be full of people, which is exactly what is happening this July, their answer would probably be of disdain.
Just a year ago, an even greater underestimation would have been received by claiming that the Rumija massif would be more vibrant with visitors than the promenade in Bar in the afternoon, but that time has come. Times are changing, with them also the interests of tourists. Bar is now offering more to active holiday lovers, and the undoubted hit of this season is canyoning.
Canyoning in Bar became known to the wide public only this summer thanks to the promotional campaign of the Tourism Organization of Bar, but the passionate nature adrenaline fans all five canyons in Bar are the favorite destination for several years.
On social networks, canyoning tours are advertised on a daily basis, most often in Bunar and Medjurec, and with the beauty and temptations that the two canyons will offer, the widest audience in Serbia will soon be introduced. TO Bar organized a premier media "adrenaline tour" to a group of journalists from the most viewed and most popular Serbian media. They descended down the canyon of the river Bunar, just above the Old Bar, from which they came out with an unhidden excitement.
"Nobody is expecting this only fifteen minutes from the beach, this mountain adventure. It was really spectacular, I’ve surprised myself by passing through the canyon. This is good for a person to test their strength, whether he can or cannot do certain things. Rumija Mountain is full of so many secrets, when we went down to the canyon, they told us - now there is no turning back. What followed next overcame all my expectations. This was the Montenegrin 'Survivor', we jumped into the river basins from 10 and 12 meters, and I was the most afraid of those jumps. We descended a series of ropes, saw the rainbow in the waterfall, the love ecstasy of a dragonfly ... I really did not expect this kind of experience. People who see this, canyoning will be the first for them, and the rafting will be much, much lower," said Gordana Neskovic Lopicic from "Zikina sarenica", a show on TV Pink.
"I'm in Bar for the third time in a short time, and I knew that there are beautiful beaches here. But this canyon is a discovery, just like the Old Town Bar itself. This street in Old Bar, it's a real little Montenegrin old Naples," said Gordana Neskovic Lopicic.
Jelena Djordjevic-Popovic, the editor of the show "Serbia on the Line" on RTS, did not hide her fascination with the beauty of the nature of the massive Rumija.
"As I descended down the canyon, I sat in silence at one point and uttered out loud that this should be included as the obligatory subjects at least in high school in both countries because our children today are overprotected. This is a serious survival school, this is not just adrenaline and extreme sport. All in all - phenomenal, I am speechless. A great challenge, great adrenaline, great experience, but also great temptation. The whole organization of the tour is very good, the guys on the field are brilliant guides and good psychologists, patient. TO Bar did a great job, well done," said Djordjevic-Popovic.
Goran Doljancevic, journalist of the daily newspaper "Serbian Telegraph", was the only one in the group to have a canyoning experience, from the canyon Nevidio. He acknowledges that before descending in Bunar, there was little fear based on Nevidio's experience, "because he is physically ready for something more."
"Bunar is much easier, more relaxed - people with children, teenagers, elderly people can come here, and it's still exotic, it has many parts that are different from Nevidio. This untouched nature is fantastic, that people do not believe that there is something untouched by a human hand and that it is so close to the city."
The travel organizer of the group, journalist Irena Stolic from the agency DPC, who carries out the promotional activities of the National Tourist Organization for Serbia, was particularly emphasizing the city's proximity to the canyon.
During the tour in the canyon (Photo: Goran Senic)
"It gives room for people who are spending their vacation in Bar to make a small trip, I think it has already been surpassed that people are on the beach all day long. There is a growing tendency in tourism that people are looking for content and to move from the beach and from the sea to embark on the untouched nature. This is also a good way to examine yourself and somehow get out of your comfort zone, we all came out empowered from this whole story."
The famous canyon guide Zeljko Pejovic from Kolasin, with his colleague Djuro Martinovic from Cetinje, conducted the journalists from Serbia through Bunar. He says there was a little fear at some jumps, but as far as the vertical is concerned, "all of them mastered everything that was needed were quick, there were no problems."
A route of about 700 meters from the bridge to Menka to Brbot, the group crossed for about two and a half hours, because the verticals of 8-12 meters high required the implementation of alpine descending techniques. At the end of the tour they had only words of praise, they also seemed to be very satisfied. This is otherwise one of the three most attractive canyons in Bar, along the Medjurec and the Vruca Rijeka. Bar is unique on the coast, having a total of five, there are also the canyons of Nikezica potok and Perin potok. Bunar is a true training center for canyoning, ideal for first-time experiences because it is not very demanding. Medjurec, which is probably the most beautiful Montenegrin canyon for me, due to the vertical of 30 meters, is a bit more demanding. For these tours you only need will, no special physical preparations," said Pejovic.
Depending on the canyon, or the number of groups, it is from 40-100 euros per person.
TO Bar Director Emil Kukalj points out that Bar has the highest potential for developing new tourism products for an active holiday, not just on the coast. He points out that this is the first time that a canyoning tour for a media group is organized at the coast.
We will support the development of this and similar adrenaline tourist products, as they extend the tourist season and bring new groups of tourists to Bar ... By doing so, we also position Bar as a place where we can accept groups of tourists who like such adrenaline tours on one-day excursions from other coastal cities. We will insist that groups through the canyons in Bar are conducted by licensed guides," Kukalj said.
"This group of journalists came to Bar for a reason, we asked our offer to be adrenaline, and this is exactly what this canyon Bunar is representing that is not so physically demanding as Medjurec. Here are the representatives of all the media with national coverage in Serbia, which, hopefully, will credibly transfer what they saw here. In the adrenaline tour, besides the canyoning, we also organized a tour of the terrain vehicles in Bar Municipality, from the sea to the lakeshore, from the village Zupci, via Sutorman through the old railway tunnel, to Virpazar and Godinja, where they met with traditional architecture, and in Murici on the beach have tried the traditional products of the region in Bar."
Text by Radomir Petric, on July 28th, 2019, read more at Vijesti
