Risan

In a beautiful valley on the coast of Boca Bay of Kotor, at the foot of the mountain, there is one of the oldest towns in this region - Risan. The earliest mention of it is almost 400 years BC, when it was the main fortress of an ancient Illyrian state with a Queen Teuta. The legends say that being unable to cope with invaders, the prideful Queen climbed a cliff, cursed the town which had betrayed her and threw herself into the sea.

The beginning of our era was marked by the Roman legions arrival there. The city, which received a new name of Rhizinum, became a part of the Roman Empire. Then it began to flourish and prosper. Time passed, the empire fell apart, and only 5 ancient Roman mosaics remained of that period. The best preserved one, which shows Hypnos (the Greek God of sleep) is the only known image of this kind in the Balkans.

The further history of the town is associated with endless changing of the owners. The invasions of the Avars and even Slavs sacked Risan several times, the Ottoman Janissaries and Venetian Doges ruled here. The French and the Austrians are also added to the list, for a short period of time it was part of the former Yugoslav Republic, nowadays Risan is part of independent Montenegro.

Of course, each ruler tried in his own way to change the city and build something of his own, but the real, noteworthy sights no longer appeared

Going to Risan, it is necessary to take into account the age-old wisdom of the locals. It says that the main duty of a man after his birth is to laze around, so even the atmosphere of life in this city, carrying the heavy weight of thousands of years past, fully confirms it. It is impossible to come across people rushing anywhere, time seems to slow down its course, while kind hearts and good nature of the locals can be therapeutic for visitors and remove their nervous pressure. Therefore, even just to sit and soak up tranquility in the coming work period, it is worth coming to this small (with a population of a little more than 2 thousand people), but beautiful town.