Montenegro – Podgorica

Podgorica, Montenegro

Another hidden city, still avoiding the mass tourism, so get there soon. A wonderful mixture of old Mosques, quasi-modern Cathedrals, quaint ancient chapels, a roaring deep river through town, old Stalinist Govt buildings but a cute modern art museum inside an old palace. Its new green parks and old quarter impressed me a lot and the newer buildings blend in well with the old. A street full of hip, classy bars and clubs gave away its night-life scene. The big thing to see in Podgorica is the modern, high, white cabled bridge spanning the city river showing the future direction of this place.

I visited here as part of my 3 week road trip I did to see parts of Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina by hire car from Podgorica, Montenegro.

This was combined with crossing the border into Croatia and also Bosnia Herzegovina, eventually returning to where it all started.

See below for the other destinations on this trip. Travelling by car between these places was actually one of the best car trips I have done and so easy. Road conditions were good, traffic light but do remember to get the necessary car insurance upgrade from the hire company to take it across the borders.

Check beforehand if they permit it, tell them and get the stamps etc put on the documents as all border police in the Balkans do check these documents.

Montenegro – Balkans car trip info

Budva, Montenegro

Kotor city, Montenegro

Kotor bay area, Montenegro

Herceg Novi, Montenegro

Adriatic coastline, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Trebinje, Bosnia Herzegovina

Bosnia/Montenegro mountain crossing and Niksic, Montenegro

A little about the history of Podgorica.

As always I want to give you a little info about this city – just to put a few things in perspective.

If you are expecting some grand event in history, a world renown iconic building or some famous site, then you are going to be a little disappointed. Everything here is on a much smaller scale.

However, that will not detract from what I found as one of the most charming and unspoilt by mass tourism capital cities around. It’s not high on many people’s capital city’s “must visit” list and even with the budget airlines having only just discovered this city, it is still relatively undiscovered and advertised.

It is a small capital, the city’s greater area population is only around 236,000, but that makes up over 30% of the whole population of the country. It is a low-rise city, no skyscrapers here or even excessively tall buildings. It would be fair to say that the old Ottoman Clock Tower of 1667 in the Old Town part of the city, is still regarded as a tall building.

A claim to fame? Well, the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s ancestors hailed from a town called Diocle, a few miles from the city (the ruins of the town still remain). Fame indeed !

The city itself has been around since the 5th century and nestled at the confluence of the Moraca and Ribnica rivers, where it still sits now. You can even visit small original foundations of the city there as I did.

It was first known as Birziminium at its inception as a town in the 11th Century. Later it was called  Ribnica (after the river that ran through it), but was first mentioned as Podgorica in 1326,. The town was taken over by the Ottomans in 1474 from the local Albanian Pashas and they built  a fortress with defensive walls and gates here.

Various local battles ensued over the next few centuries and it was taken over, lost and taken over again many times, but still managed to flourish. For centuries. It had a cosmopolitan atmosphere of Muslims, Christians and other faiths living together in relative harmony

Jump forward to 1878 and the kingdom of Montenegro was declared after a bloody civil war between the locals and the Ottomans. The city grew further and was actually famous for tobacco production as its biggest money earner!

The population was still only around 8,000 and ethnically mixed between Christians and Muslims. Today Muslims make up about 20% of the country’s population. the rest are Christian.

WW1 took away Montenegro’s independence and it was merged with Greater Serbia. WW2 brought bombing from both sides as it was taken and then lost with great loss of life and destruction. In 1945 Montenegro was declared a Republic and incorporated into the newly formed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

A year later the city was renamed Titograd in honour of the dictator of Yugoslavia Josep Tito.

As Yugoslavia began to break up, Titograd was renamed back to Podgorica in 1992 but Montenegro and Podgorica were relatively unscathed physically by the Yugoslav civil war but suffered economically. Finally, in 2006, Montenegro declared its independence and became a sovereign state, with Podgorica as it capital.

So, history lesson over – not too taxing was it?

Bear in mind now that the central area of the city underwent massive changes under Tito. Town planning with a grid road layout came into being, Bare, uniform Soviet style housing blocks went up and many town areas still look quite bland. Much of the 19th century buildings still stand however and even some streets – like the well-known Bokeska Street – now house bars, restaurants and more modern shops.

Colour, trees and gardens have now often been introduced into areas to break up the white concrete monoliths of older buildings.

Yes, the city still has areas that jar on the eyes for their unsympathetic, functional,  boring buildings from the decades under socialism. These are gradually being replaced or converted  and for me the abundance of newly restored and well maintained parks soften the blow.

Where to stay in Podgorica

Podgorica is actually a small capital city, so wondering where to stay is not really an issue.

Yes if you want to stay out of the city, that will involve a taxi ride each day. There are relatively few advantages to be found in that, as most hotels are fairly central anyhow.  The quality of hotels varies and local hotels will have standards that may be dated or in more run down areas but usually very, very cheap to most Westerners.

For once I opted to look at a couple of International chain hotels that had recently been set up in Podgorica, I did this because the prices were so cheap for that grade/brand of hotel eg Ramada or Hilton and they were also near the centre.

These brands would certainly maintain their internationally recognised high standards and thus I would not be shocked/surprised by an unknown local one. The Hilton is probably the best hotel in town and being slap bang in the centre, would be so convenient.

Where I stayed in Podgorica

However a Ramada was here too – about a 10 ins walk further out but at half the price of the Hilton and the pictures of the rooms etc looked equally impressive. Clearly these two hotels are in direct competition and for the price, the Ramada may have the edge. Hilton carries more prestige and the public interiors were more grand. I plugged for the Ramada at around £38 per night for a four star hotel (a price unheard of in the UK due to how cheap it was) and it was a great choice.

The room was very modern, comfortable and had everything I needed – comfy bed, great wifi and air con and was very clean. The best feature was the roof top restaurant which doubled as the venue for morning breakfast. Click here for the Ramada Podgorica website

The views from here were amazing – across the rooftops to the city and towards the nearby mountains.

The breakfasts were substantial and varied and so plentiful. I dined in the evening here too and the dimmer evening lighting and atmosphere gave a relaxing feel to the excellent meal and service. I used the lobby bar/café several times and they even serve a smaller food menu in the evening here too.

The hotel arranged my taxi transfers to and from the airport effortlessly and the whole stay felt easy and left me impressed. I would definitely stay here again.

What to see in Podgorica

The walk from my hotel into town was so easy. The hotel did boast of having the “Mall of Montenegro”, adjacent to it – but don’t get your hopes up. The rather grand sounding names belies the fact that it would be just an average shopping Mall in the UK. In fact a few stores were a bit dowdy.

It does have a couple of eateries that looked decent and modern and there was an enjoyable coffee shop there too but it would not be a place on my list of must sees.

Old Town

I headed towards what is called the Old Town area or Stara Varos in Montenegrin

This concentrated area of narrow streets and old buildings still occupied as residences is more like a rural village. Somewhat unkept and underdeveloped it still faces the Morava River and has a large open triangular plaza as a focal point. The square has been redeveloped and turned into a pedestrian area with new pavements and restored buildings that reveal itself as a clear tourist attraction zone. Next door is the Natural History Museum of Montenegro, but I didn’t try it as many reviews say it is small and uninteresting.

Clock Tower and Osmanagic Mosque, Podgorica

The main attraction here is the Ottoman Clock Tower, which luckily, did not meet the same fate as many other Ottoman buildings of the city, ie bombed during WW2.

This 19 metre tall stone tower bedecked with its newer, small clock face was built in 1667 and remains relatively unscathed from the bombings. It stands in the middle of the square and, as I said, even still rivals the nearby newer buildings in height.

The revered person who built the tower is buried nearby in the Mosque that is named after him. The Osmanagic Mosque is about 5 mins away down a small side street and although small and unpretentious has a rural charm in keeping with the old town area.

The local, irregular-shaped stone blocks used to build it was a welcome relief from the many marble and white Mosques I had seen on my travels`

Original site of Podgorica

From here, I wanted to see the site of the original old town nestled beside the river. You can either take the main road from the square into town and enter through the park or take the windy roads through the old town houses. I chose the later and using my map arrived at what are now the crumbling foundations of the old fort.

There is not a lot to see of these ruins dating from the 5th Century AD, but to see them nestled at the confluence of the two rivers lends an insight into what it must have looked like.

The river bank is high and the remnants of the curtain wall can be seen but it is mostly tumble down and foundations. The river bridge still stands and you can walk over the smaller Ribnica river to the other bank . From here there are steep stone steps up the riverbank to the top of the park, passing local anglers as I went by.

The site is small, somewhat overgrown and unkept and in truth little remains of it to see.

Arriving at the top of the stairs (after catching my breath as they are steep and long) I entered into a small park.

Parliament and Presidential Palace, Podgorica

Immediately in front of me was perhaps the most important street in Podgorica. I had stepped abruptly into the modern day here, as although a couple of buildings were of the 1930’s Soviet block style, they were historical.

Five buildings in a row form some of the most important buildings in the city. To my left starting with the Presidential Palace, then the Parliament, then the Central Bank, then the central Post Office and finally …. the Hilton Hotel!

The first four buildings were pretty non-descript and not particularly grand or pretty. Big, white, stark concrete blocks was the design. Clearly a left over of the old regime’s days and if it wasn’t for the flags and Police presence outside I would have walked past them thinking they were old office blocks.

At first I wondered if my mobile map app I always use, maps.me (click here for info), had got it wrong. It was difficult to notice the difference between the Parliament Building and the presidential Palace. They both looked similar and very inconspicuous and plain. They certainly keep Government low key here I thought!

I crossed the road to get closer, aware that I was the only person on that side of the road. All the passer-bys stayed on the other side. Whipping out my camera I was expecting a shout from a policeman, but they barely looked at me and carried on walking by.

I could actually get real close to the buildings as there were just small, unfenced, open lawns separating the building from the street. I refrained from going up to touch the doors but it seemed feasible! Security seemed very low key …. maybe they have snipers on the roofs!

Later in the year, I saw on tv, demonstrators walking by the buildings with banners in a protest march. They were walking within metres of the buildings on the road in front and all seemed calm with very little Police between them and the buildings – interesting indeed.

The area nearby had clearly been renovated recently. The first park I now walked through was carefully manicured with shrubs and trees. A few statues were dotted among the lawns, famous past heroes and Kings and the next door bigger park was even more beautiful.

Kings Park

New pavements, walkways and seating abounded in this park and the area was quite picturesque and calming.

Kings Park contained even more statues but I personally found the trees and gardens so much more attractive. Soaring thick trunked trees and flowering oriental looking bushes and trees garlanded the park. Birds sang out and the smell of pollen scents and flowers filled the air.

New walkways had been installed with a modern fountain, café and kid’s play area. This was a delight to walk through as nature was at the centre of the city.

The old Ribnica river was down a small embankment and the sound of the rushing river could be heard easily

Exiting the park back onto the main road, I was confronted with the Hilton Hotel. In keeping with the look of the area, it is a white, concrete, functional building albeit with a modern twist  and small fountains.

Beside it  is was another park full of walkways and tall trees – they certainly like their greenery here. Across the road was the Podgorica Museum and Art Gallery.

I toyed with entering but had read that there was little of great worth here, unless a good temporary exhibition was on, which there wasn’t. I skipped this one knowing that there was a better one I did want to see tomorrow in another part of the city.

I took the road between the Hilton and the Post office up into the city proper. It took me past what I assumed was one of the main shopping streets of the city as plenty of stores and businesses lined this street of mainly four storey neat buildings.

This ended in where I wanted to be next.

Independence Square

To say this square is rather bland may be an understatement. Yes it is large, open and …. well … bland…. but not ugly. I had read up that this was the case, but I had to see it for myself.

It is usually used for big open air events and whilst it has a pleasant fountain in the centre, the surrounding buildings are low rise and modern/simple in design.

There are a couple of memorials – an obelisk style one and one of a more modern design. These take away the aforementioned blandness somewhat But they can’t completely take the edge off the normality of the square.

Walk through the square however and then through the walkway between the national Library and an office block and you come to the City Hall.

City Hall and Montenegrin National Theatre

This building reminded me more of a 1930s classic London Hotel. Painted white with the city flags adorning the façade it stood out on another small square full of greenery. A nearby statue gave it a graceful appearance but I noticed a side street to it was one of the famous bar and nightlife streets.

Whilst not such a must see in itself I wanted to see it as the photos I had seen of it gave it a very grand appearance – it did not fail to please. With the sun going down behind it, it was difficult to get an unblemished photo though.

To be honest, to me, this building was much grander than the Parliament building and certainly looked more graceful and imposing.

Behind it stood a rather more modern Montenegrin National Theatre. With its brown brick and black glass façade it actually made the City Hall look even more illustrious. How they thought these two contrasting buildings would look good together I don’t know. It was one of the only cases of jarring buildings I saw,

I was now well and truly in the grid pattern of the more modern part of the city that was planned to update the city.

It is in the nearby large square block grid of streets that many of the city’s hip restaurants and bars are situated – usually with an English or American sounding name.

Walking around here can seem monotonous as the buildings are very similar and in a block pattern. Some of the buildings need an update but it is interesting to simply wander theses streets. You won’t get lost due to the grid pattern and it gives an insight into how the locals live, shop, trade and get about this city.

I was headed through this street pattern towards the big football stadium as my next port of call was near here.

To get to this place I had to pass by more modern buildings, some construction work and this mega stadium that dominated the area. How could something from hundreds of years ago be in such an modern area?

St George’s Church 

In the near distance of a huge football stadium and a nearby modern suspension bridge sits the 9th Century Church of St George.

It is the oldest preserved building in the city. Enlarged in the 11th Century it is a wondorous small and picturesque building, with colourful ancient wall  and ceiling frescos. It houses gold embossed wall panels and exquisite painted depictions of saints.

It actually sits in the foothills of Gorica Hill next to the city. Podgorica actually means “in the area below Gorica” and so this is truly a “Podgorica” church. Set apart from the other nearby more modern buildings of the city, it is a unique haven of peace and history.

Beneath the altar there is a small subterranean passage, which was believed to have led to Duklja (or Doclea in Roman), the nearby Roman town.

The church is quite small inside and a caretaker was busy tidying and cleaning the inside and out, stepping aside to allow me to enter.

It has a large rectangular campanile containing three bells built near the entrance that rather reminded me of an Italian Alpine style than a Balkan one. The church itself has a small bell at the roof top edge of its entrance.  The small gardens / cemetery overlooks the city beyond the trees.

So strange to find this ancient building nestled near such modern monoliths of construction.

Millennium Bridge, Podgorica

A 5 minute walk away from the Church, going past the huge football stadium, lies my next stop.

The Millenium Bridge quickly became such a famous sight that it is often used as a symbol for the city itself.

It was opened on July 13, 2005, Montenegro’s National Day, and is a twelve cable suspension bridge of such a unique design. It almost resembles a white stringed harp spanning the Moraca River with the tower gripping the cables from just one end of the bridge.

One of its designers was a professor at the University of Montenegro’s Faculty of Civil Engineering in Podgorica – using home grown talent indeed

It is certainly a majestic sight and gives a nod towards the future that the city wishes to move.

The walk over the bridge was the end point of today walkabout. Nearby, I caught a glimpse of something quite unique and at the same time strange that I was to get up to closer tomorrow.

To get back to  my room at the Ramada I had to backtrack past the Hilton. The thought of its sumptuous coffee terrace that I had noticed in passing earlier beckoned me on. Needless to say my usual coffee and cake stop for the day was made here in its ultra modern and comfy surroundings.

Read on for the next day’s instalment!

Day two in Podgorica

I woke nice and early to make the most of the day as this was going to be another long day. I had given myself only two days to see everything I wanted to in Podgorica to save on an extra hotel night and so I needed to start early.

My first visit would entail me getting across to the opposite end of the city and I was not wanting a long walk just to get there. I decided that without any idea of bus routes I would have to think this through. Podgorica has no tram, train or Metro system – it’s just too small for any of these – so the only option was a taxi.

I rarely take taxis as I prefer to walk or use public transport both for cost and for environmental reasons. Today under the circumstances I would have to go against my better instincts and arrange a taxi due to the distance involved.

My hotel called one for me and helpfully asked the driver how much it would cost so I could have the money ready. Not speaking Montenegrin or the taxi driver English, I didn’t want a difficult guess at what he was saying when we arrived. Turned out the taxi was so, so cheap that I gave the driver a hefty tip as my smallest Euro note easily covered the cost.

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ 

The taxi dropped me off in the huge parking lot of the Cathedral and at first I stood, just admiring the Cathedral from afar, as it was indeed grand.

I had not read up on this place in advance as I got back late to the hotel only in time to shower, eat and then straight to sleep. Unusual for me to not research anything beforehand but my view was becoming ” I’ve seen so many Orthodox Cathedrals/Churches now I can probably work it out myself”.

Yep, it looked traditionally Orthodox, domes, towers, arched windows, gold crosses on the top …… pretty orthodox looking to me, and in a fine state of repair too.

I entered along with quite a few locals who were there to pray and I was at first surprised at the number of worshippers coming in the through the entrance. Many were quite young and seemingly well dressed. It wasn’t Sunday, just a normal Monday morning.

The interiors were lavish. Probably the most painted and full of iconography and saint’s portraits that I had seen since the churches in the Kremlin area of Moscow.

Rich reds and golds adorned the walls, arches and ceiling and various framed paintings were dotted around the interior that worshippers seemed to approach in sequence, kissing the picture, crossing themselves and praying.

Some seemed to have a preference for certain portraits and stood there solemnly praying in front of it and then touching it before moving on. I spent a while just quietly, and hopefully inconspicuously, watching what these worshippers did.

Not being religious myself, their piety was interesting and the rituals something of a wonder to me.

I took as many pics as I could, when not in the way of the worshippers and each pic was a creatively colourful scene in itself.

Every centimetre of the walls was covered in some colourful depiction, rows of saints and heavenly children. Images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and biblical scenes were scattered everywhere, The ceiling had huge frescos and even the floors were marbled scenes from the Bible or mosaics of religious symbols.

About the only thing that was not covered in iconography were some green marble columns – and that was because they were so intricately marbled in their natural decoration.

At the same time as feeling over the top, it also felt incredibly purposeful, it must have taken ages to paint these icons with such detail, The colours stood out so much that at times I had the put on sunglasses to see the depictions, when the sun glistened and reflected off their surfaces as it poured in through the higher windows.

A red, white and gold altar-like piece that framed a gold painting caught my eye for its symmetry of pattern and colour. The huge interlaced copper-coloured lantern object hanging from the central ceiling amazed me. It was hanging as if untethered in mid air like an alien spaceship. It was the defining vision of the Cathedral for me.

Now the biggest shocker came when I got back to the hotel later in the day and decided to read up a little on what had just amazed me.

This Cathedral was not several hundred years old as I suspected. It was actually opened in 2013 !!!

It had been built in a older traditional style and even had weathered stone blocks on the exterior. I did, when I first saw it however, think how they had carefully cleaned up the blocks so well, as they looked almost pristine, but it never triggered a thought that it was a recent build.

Leaving the Cathdedral behind I wondered what could captivate me as much as what I had just seen.

Surpringly, in a while I was to see something that rivalled it !

I wanted to walk a short distance away from here to see the nearby University buildings. The route took me through a quite modern area of the city. New, glass and concrete apartment buildings with stylish shops below and wide avenues were in abundance.

Well maintained pavements and small tree lined streets gave shelter from the sun and I felt I was in an area more akin to a modern Paris or London from what I could see.

I ended the route at a statue that had been heavily lauded in many guide books.

Peter of Cetinje statue

This 7 metre tall bronze statue commemorates the first ruler of what is today Montenegro – Petar I Petrovic Njegos, 1748 – 1830.

He was a great spiritual and military leader of his time, uniting Montenegrins and installing taxes, laws and schools. His actions earned him a Sainthood and is still revered today as a founder of modern Montenegro.

The statue stands in the grounds of the university of Montenegro. looking across to the modern hotel/office/commercial complex across the road.

From here I walked the tree lined avenue towards the nearby park. The trees giving me shade from the sun and again breaking up the concrete aspects of the city. It took me to Dječiji park, yet another restored and carefully maintained wooded park.

The walk through the park then leads into yet another separate walled park -Park Petrovića . This park contained what I had come here to see.

Petrovic Palace – contemporary Arts Centre

The approach to this wonderful art centre through the park, past a bandstand and wooded walkways was a great introduction to this small and unique Gallery.

This was once a Royal Winter Palace, constructed in 1889 by the then King. It now houses a permanent and visiting gallery for all types of modern art, sculpture and painting. It is small by most European standards and is only on one floor in converted rooms of the former palace.

Its rear balustraded gardens overlook the nearby river and bridge, and awkwardly, the very clearly, heavily fortified, modern complex of the American Embassy.

It however packs a punch. I had read of several past exhibitions that had enchanted visitors. Being an art culture-vulture I wanted some of this action and was so looking forward to this. Turns out it was the only art gallery I visited on my whole Montenegro/Croatia/Bosnia trip – unusual for me.

The artwork was intriguing and enlightening, the sculptures left me astonished at their creativity and design. I was certainly not expecting artwork of a standard that I felt I would only see in much more famous galleries in Europe.

The exhibition I saw was a varied one of metalwork, mainly aluminium. 3D images of interpretations of head forms and helmets cut at angles.

Doesn’t sound much but the forms changed shape as you moved around them to give a different suggestion of shape. I enjoyed the simplicity of the artwork and the plain settings they were in that did not distract from the display item.

Some were 3D, some were flat works, some simple cameo styles but all surprised me by their beauty.

After taking in the exhibition I knew it was time for home …. but one attraction still remained to be seen.

I had read about this one but really knew nothing about it and I was anxious to see what all the fuss was about. This attraction was often cited as in the top 5 things to see in Podgorica but for me it was a weird choice. I just had to get there and see it for myself.

I left the gallery and did a long walk through the suburbs of concrete boring residential blocks until I arrived at the steep banks of the Moraca River. Following its trail I eventually arrived at the “attraction”.

Vladimir Vysotsky Monument

This is a monument in the shape of a reflective aluminium huge frame with a statue of  Vladimir Vysotsky inside and a skull sitting on the floor in front of him .

So, who is Vladimir Vysotsky?

Apparently he is a famous Russian poet, musician, writer, theatre and film actor from the 1960-70s. While working on a film for a local TV station he lived in Podgorica. He expressed his love for Montenegro in his well known poem called ”For the Montenegrins”,

Personally I have no idea about him. People come here in droves, mainly an older generation. They actually queue up at busy times to have their photo taken individually next to this iconic (in Russia and Montenegro) singer/entertainer. Apparently this is his only monument outside of the former Soviet Union.

The design is certainly original and it is quite special – especially with the next door Millennium Bridge as a backdrop. It however reminds me more of something I would associate with a Jimi Hendrix type statue. Maybe his music was like his, I don’t know.

I read up this and still cant find out the significance of the statue being framed in an off centre frame and the reason for a skull at his feet.

If anyone knows please put me out of my intrigue and drop me a line explaining it all.

Well, that was Podgorica done.

My thoughts on Podgorica

Podgorica is a city that has been labelled boring, but I found it really absorbing. Yes it is rough round the edges – and those Stalinist style blocks don’t help. I could see the newness emerging and the quite orderliness and tidiness of the city surprised me. The gorge-like surroundings of the river running thorough the centre was beautiful and definitely geographically unique. It is also very cheap which is also a sure-fire winner in my book !

People were very friendly and despite being one of the poorer countries in Europe, they dressed well and were so polite and welcoming to me.

Montenegro has applied for EU membership and so far has met all the criteria needed, so I feel it will be another Croatia or Slovenia in the making for a rise in living standards and security.

Tomorrow I was heading back to the airport to pick up my rental car for my 3 week, 8 destination trip around the Balkans. I was so far reassured about the thought of driving. Having seen that Podgorica standards of driving seemed ok, I was hoping it would be the same for the rest of the 3 weeks.

Just hope there are no long queues at the border crossings.

Feb 2018