Podgorica – Europe’s newest capital city

Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates
Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates

On the evening of Tuesday 20th October, we drove into Podgorica, the capital city of Montenegro having crossed the black or dark mountains that gives the country its name. The name Montenegro comes from the Italian for black or dark mountain and dates from the time of Venetian control of the Adriatic coast. Montenegrins themselves call their country Crna Gora which is black or dark mountain in Montenegrin!

There are some who would challenge the title I’ve given this blog post by saying that Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, is Europe’s newest capital city. However, Montenegro is internationally recognised, even by Serbia from whom it separated following a referendum in May 2006, and the country has since become a member of the United Nations. On the other hand, Kosovo is still only recognised by 64 counties worldwide though these do include the USA and the UK but obviously NOT Serbia.

A few kilometres south of the Serbian town of Novi Pazar, we joined the road that leads from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, via Pristina, heading westwards into Montenegro. Here once more I began retracing my journey of 35 years ago, but this time in the same direction as in April 1975. The mountainous scenery we passed through and the various viaducts and tunnels en-route were very much as I remembered them, but unfortunately, the fading light meant I didn’t get any photos to reproduce here. Sadly, some of the most scenic parts of our journey this time took place in complete darkness, the disadvantage of travelling in late October!

When travelling in 1975, I stayed overnight in Podgorica but I have no recollection whatsoever of the hotel in which I stayed or of the city itself. Actually, I stayed overnight in Titograd, the name by which Podgorica was known from 1946 until reverting to its original name in 1992. As we searched for somewhere to stay, a helpful policeman directed us to Hotel Keto, a modern hotel about ten minutes walk from the city centre. We booked in, deposited our belongings in our room and then walked into the city centre, eventually finding a pleasant bar-restaurant in which to eat.

Whilst the accommodation was perfectly good, I was greeted by two surprises when I came to settle my bill the following morning. The first was that the invoice declared that my place of residence was Sjeverna Irska which is Northern Ireland in Montenegrin. Bearing in mind that I have never set foot in Northern Ireland during the whole of my life, I found this a little odd. It no doubt arose out of the receptionist completely misreading my passport which states that I am a citizen of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’!

The second surprise was that, in addition to the amount agreed for bed and breakfast, there was a further charge for three drinks from the bar. When I queried this, pointing out that we had not drunk at the bar during our stay, the explanation was that it was the three cups of coffee we had drunk between us as part of our breakfast. Please therefore be aware that should you ever have cause to stay in the Hotel Kato in Podgorica, breakfast doesn’t include coffee!!!

Sadly, there is very little in the way of historic buildings in Podgorica as the city suffered severe structural damage during the Second World War. However, one of the most striking new buildings is the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. Begun in 1993, it is still under construction but it does make a most stunning addition to the skyline. Inside, floor mosaics were still being laid. But the outside is almost complete except that the front doors are yet to be hung. On the outside there are these two wonderful stone carvings shown below.

Stone carved illustration of Noah' Ark on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates
Stone carved illustration of Noah' Ark on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates

Stone carved Chi Rho symbol surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates
Stone carved Chi Rho symbol surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates

Collecting stickers whilst driving across Europe

We bid farewell to our couchsurfing hosts in Istanbul on the morning of Monday 19th October and set out on a two day drive to reach Montenegro. Using the older of the two suspension bridges that span the Bosphorus, we crossed into European Turkey and headed out of the city on the motorway that leads to the border with Bulgaria.

Once out of the immediate urban confines of Istanbul, the motorway is subject to toll. On entering the section subject to toll, there is a barrier where you obtain a ticket that shows the date, time and location where you joined the motorway. When you leave the motorway or reach the end of the section subject to toll, you present your ticket at another barrier and pay the appropriate fee. Motorway tolls are collected in the same manner in Serbia and Croatia as they also are in France, Spain and Italy.

However, many other European countries that charge motorists for the use of their motorways do so by means of a ‘vignette’. A ‘vignette’ is a sticker, usually purchased from a roadside shop or garage, indicating that the appropriate road toll has been paid for a certain period of time which can range from a few days to one year. Cameras and random police checks are used to enforce compliance.

Whilst the system is good in principle, it does mean that if you drive in and through as many countries as we have in 2009, you end up with a windscreen full of vignette stickers! Different countries require vignettes to be displayed in different locations on car windscreens meaning that we now have stickers in three separate places!

Vignettes from Slovenia (top left), Switzerland (top right) and Austria (bottom right) © Ricky Yates
Vignettes from Slovenia (top left), Switzerland (top right) and Austria (bottom right) © Ricky Yates
Vignettes from Slovakia (left) & Montenegro (right) © Ricky Yates. Although Montenegro has no motorways, a 10 Euro environmental charge has to be paid by all foreign vehicles entering the country.
Vignettes from Slovakia (left) & Montenegro (right) © Ricky Yates. Although Montenegro has no motorways, a 10 Euro 'environmental charge' has to be paid by all foreign vehicles entering the country.
Vignette from Czech Republic (left) & Bulgaria (right) © Ricky Yates
Vignettes from Czech Republic (left) & Bulgaria (right) © Ricky Yates

On reaching the Turkish-Bulgarian border, we began retracing our steps, travelling the same route across Bulgaria as we had used for our outward journey but in the reverse direction. We continued along this same route in reverse as far as Niš in southern Serbia where we once more stayed overnight. The following day, we ventured into new territory, wending our way across southern Serbia towards Montenegro.

I deliberately chose a route through southern Serbia that avoided passing into Kosovo as the car is only insured to be driven in ‘those parts of Serbia under the control of the government of Serbia’. Our route therefore took us through the mountains of the Kopaonik National Park just north of the Serbia-Kosovo border.

Only three days earlier, we had been experiencing daytime temperatures in excess of 25 degrees Celsius. It had become much cooler ever since passing through a series of thunderstorms as we drove into Istanbul. But as we climbed into the mountains of the Kopaonik National Park, through ever increasingly attractive scenery, the temperature dropped sharply and, much to our surprise, we found ourselves surrounded by the first snowfall of the winter. Fortunately, the road had been cleared which allowed us to cross the mountains, drop down the other side and make our way to the border with Montenegro.

Snow alongside the road through the Kopaonik National Park, Serbia © Ricky Yates
Snow alongside the road through the Kopaonik National Park, Serbia © Ricky Yates