All activities / Culinary / Cooking / Stari Bar
Culinary / Cooking in Stari Bar
The olive country below the ruined old town of Bar, home to a 2,240-year-old tree and a hundred thousand of its descendants.
Why here
Stara Maslina at Mirovica has been radiocarbon-dated to roughly 2,240 years, among the oldest olive trees on earth and protected since 1957, and it anchors a plain of over a hundred thousand trees of the native Zutica variety below Stari Bar's ruined Ottoman old town. The education happens around the monument: the municipal House of Olives runs the site with structured group visits, and the Novakovic family's Olive Queen estate, groves since 1861, teaches tasting properly, defect recognition, harvest participation in season, the difference between supermarket oil and the real thing. It is olive oil as terroir, taught where the terroir is older than Rome's empire ever got.
Best months
April to June and September to November are the pleasant windows, with October-November the harvest and pressing season. The old tree costs one euro to visit; estate tastings are small-group and book ahead. Rail connects Bar to Podgorica.
Getting there & around
Stari Bar sits above the port of Bar, an hour from Podgorica by rail or road. The tree, the ruined town, and the estates sit within minutes of each other.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Kuca Maslina
OrganizerThe municipal House of Olives running the Old Olive Tree site at Mirovica with group visits and an olive shop.
Olive Queen
OutfitterThe Novakovic family estate at Kuril, groves since 1861, running structured olive oil tastings and harvest experiences.