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At the foot of the Lovcen mountain ridge, in one of the most exotic encounters of land and sea, stands the island of Sveti Stefan. As legend has it, a fort was built on the island in 1442 when it was first settled. The island was fortified by walls so families from the surrounding villages could find shelter from Turkish and pirate attacks. According to legend, the settlement was founded after a Pastrovic band bested the crew of a Turkish galley, and with the booty they seized a fort was built with one house for each of the twelve Pastrovic clans. On the terrace above the entrance to Sveti Stefan for decades the Pastrovic court meted out justice and resolved disputes, the spot known as the "place of justice". Sveti Stefan has three churches: the church of St. Stephen, after which the island was named, located on the highest point on the island, the church of Alexander Nevski, and the smallest one dedicated to the Transfiguration, at the very entrance to the town, joined by a narrow embankment with the mainland.