The old city of Ulcinj is a touristy city that I didn't expect to be a touristy city.
When I took a driver from the city of Bar (where the train dropped me off) to the city of Ulcinj, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was exhausted from the flight and the train trip. I also had no money (cash) on hand. The cab driver took me to an ATM which worked perfectly. I got out some local currency and was on may way to Ulcinj. I wasn't sure where I was going so I got out of the cab in the middle of Ulcinj (the city proper). I bought a pastry to eat and being exhausted, I sat down on a sidewalk. A shop keeper saw me there and tried to communicate with me. I had contact information for Vahida and the colony and she got a cab for me to go to the beach area to get to the old town. When I got to the beach, there was a cigarette vendor on the beach that knew someone who knew Vahida. He caled this guy and he, being a neighbor of Vahida, took me up into the old town to find Vahida. Vahida welcomed me and once I was settled in, I realized how small the town was (in that every one knew everyone - population is about 10,000), but also, how large it was (in the sense that it was populated by 'others' that were only there to "summer").
Old Ulcinj is actually not that old. When I was in Le Mont-Saint-Michel, I was fascinated by the way that the streets were made adaptable for the wheel chairs that were being used by a number of the tourists. It was a truly ancient site that was repurposed for a modern tourist aesthetic. Old Ulcinj is similar in the sense that Ulcinj was destroyed by an earthquke in the 70's. But instead of a tourist visiting ruins, the whole city has been rebuilt from the ruins (a phoenix from the ashes). The same rocks have been used to rebuild original structures, as well as new ones. It is quite hard to see where old ends and new begins (or where new ends and old begins).
As a tourist town, it is not overly luxurious. I was reminded of a spring break town, a beach city like Corpus Christi or South Padre Island. Night clubs going till 2AM. Loud parties. Open containers. But, it seemed like this was where people went when they were not able to go to Ibiza or Mallorca. Slightly decadent, but still affordable. The tourists came directly from Italy by ferry or from Germany, possibly through Belgrade by air and train. There were also a large number of Russians living there in summer homes. And a huge amount of new construction of mini-McMansion on the hillsides overlooking the Adriatic.
