Capitol Sights

Saturday, October 01, 2022
Podgorica, Podgorica Municipality, Montenegro
Today is our last day in Perast and our last day with Nemanja and Yulia. We planned to meet at 11:00 so we slept a little later and finished packing. Our breakfast was always the same so it was difficult to change it up much. The only excitement was when a man accidentally dropped a package on the floor and his wife stomped out leaving him to eat alone. Poor guy!
We asked the person in the Hotel Lobby for an envelope so that we could put 250 Euros in it for Nemanja’s tip. We also wanted to write a note on it thanking him for a wonderful trip.
We were all ready to go and sent Nemanja a note that we would meet at our hotel lobby. Not surprisingly, he said he would be about 10 minutes late. We waited until 11:00 and made our way to the lobby to check out. We waited there until we got a call from Nemanja asking us to get a golf cart and pick him up by his apartment! The woman from the he lobby drove us, but when we got to Nemanja and Yulia, he was in a deep conversation with someone. The driver was not pleased that he was wasting her time.
We packed into the car and drove to the apartment where we had left the car yesterday. Nemanja and Yulia left their two big pieces of luggage and took only a small backpack. Their plan was to drop the big rental car we were in and get a smaller one to go to the mountains near Albania for a couple of days. Then they would take a bus back to Kotor for their luggage.
It rained intermittently all morning and, once again, we were lucky not to be hiking. When we got to Budva, Nemanja asked if it would be alright to wait about 15 minutes for someone to bring him an invoice that he needed for his agency. What could we say? While we waited, we asked him to call the tour company we had booked for 3:00 and let them know where to pick us up. This turned out to be very important because as much as we tried to get that message to them prior to leaving the U.S., it was never relayed and they had no idea how to reach us. Nemanja got his invoice and we continued to Podgorica.
When we arrived to the street in front of our hotel, Julia and Nemanja got out and helped  bring our bags into the hotel. On the way, Dave asked Nemanja if he would like his Glacier baseball cap. He seemed very pleased and said it would give him good memories. Then Dave gave him the envelope with tip and said he’d like it more! We said our heartfelt goodbyes and they were off. We had paid for a junior suite, but we were upgraded to an apartment. The apartment was very large with an entryway, kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom. It also had a balcony with a table and two chairs. 
We changed our clothes, grabbed the things we needed for our tour and went to the Lobby to wait for the guide. After stepping outside, Sue decided she needed a jacket and went back to the room. In the meantime, Milija showed up. He is the owner of the tour company and he would be our guide and driver. Again, we were the only ones on the tour. He said he had been trying to reach us but did not have good contact information. We are glad that our Chase points are used up and the credit card can now be closed. We have had a lot of problems with activities scheduled through them.
The first stop on the tour was a large area of Roman ruins that had been excavated. They had uncovered quite a lot but did not have the money for the entire area so they actually covered some of the ruins with dirt so that when they had money, they would still be preserved. They were very impressive and were built in the same manner as every other Roman community so it was easy to know the buildings and layout.  It was pointed out by Milija that many of the artifacts had been carted off by locals over the years and could be found in many of the front yards throughout Podgorica!
From there we went to a viewpoint where we saw the two rivers running through the area. Podgorica means below the hill and you could see how it got its name. There were many new houses built after the Communists were no longer in power. At that time, people just took the land and built houses because no one owned the land. Today, those who built houses there have no documentation that it is theirs. There was also a memorial to the locals who those had died in World War II, mostly gorilla warfare against the Italian army. Milija pointed out one name on the memorial of a 10 year old, probably a scout.
Next stop was the Serbian Orthodox cathedral. From the outside, it was a pretty church but once inside, it was spectacular. It was built after the breakup of Yugoslavia when there was so much unemployment and little money. The Montenegrins obviously cared more about building the church back than anything else. It is filled with paintings of Orthodox saints, clergy, rulers and even major donators. The temple is truly one of the most impressive churches we have seen. Remarkable, though its appearance could pass for being a 100+ years old, it is only 25!
As we drove from place to place, Milija talked about the history of the Balkans, current politics, the feeling toward other Balkans, etc. It was quite eye opening and he believes there will be more wars between them, and he doesn’t expect today’s borders to remain intact. He also said that currently there is no government in Montenegro and there will not be until there is a new election.
We then drove to Niagara Falls. We were expecting a cheesy waterfall, but it was actually quite impressive. An earthquake created the falls but they later made some dam-like adjustments to make it more dramatic. 
From the falls, we drove past one of the many vacated factories. It was a massive aluminum plant that they have no idea how to clean up or what to do with it. Locals call it Montenegro’s Chernobyl! Not far away, was a monastery built in a cave. When the monk who built it took a torch down in the cave, he found the cave was in the shape of a cross. This monk is now a saint and his remains are in a coffin there. One of the ways you become a saint is if your remains do not decay. This saint’s remains are well preserved since they open his casket for special events!
On to Skadar River and Lake. Beautiful area with a u-shaped river that flows to the lake.
Minutes from the lake is the Mrkan Winery. The property and house are gorgeous. We met the family in one of their storehouses. They were making brandy, but with the fire under the grapes, they were also grilling kebobs. They showed us several vats filled with grapes and explained some of their processes. A little girl about four, came out with her mother. The mother told her that she could speak English with us. She was amazingly fluent. She did some ballerina twirls so we asked her if she is a dancer. She never stopped twirling after that!
We went outside to a veranda near the tasting room to view the vineyards and it was quite lovely. The tasting room was beautiful with a lot of awards framed on the walls. There was a family tree which showed the grandfather’s lineage. He was the one who started the vineyard and his expertise produced wine that was at one time exclusively sent to Belgrade for Tito’s consumption. The current vintner remembers helping pack those boxes as a boy. There was also some wealthy sheik that came to the winery and bought up a lot of their wine. One of the rooms in the tasting room has items such as jams, fruit flavored brandies, tea, herbs, that are made by the wife. 
We sat down at a table with all eight wines that are made, a huge platter of bruschetta, cheese, olives and prosciutto. There were settings for the three of us with a white wine glass, red wine glass and cordial glass, we started with rakija. Nearly every Montenegrin tries his hand at making brandy and we tasted several during our visit, but this one was fantastic. It has received the Grand Gold Medal. We then tried the four chardonnays, some in oak, one from the original recipe of the Grandfather. We really liked two of them, but one was definitely superior. The reds were similar in that they were made from the same grape but in different styles. Again, one was absolutely the best for our palate. Dave loves jam so he tasted several: plum, apricot, and peach. We ended up purchasing a red and white wine and a peach jam. The wines are some of the best we have had and were 10 Euro each. The vintner has been told that he could sell them for 100 Euro, but he loves selling only to his guests and wants them to be affordable. The jam was 4 Euro. We really wished we could find room in our bags for much more.
After the wine tasting we drove back to Podgorica and we were dropped at our hotel. This 3-hour tour was six hours. We gave Milija a large tip and a good Trip Advisor review.
Although it was late, after all of that wine tasting, we knew we should eat dinner. At the suggestion of the hotel staff, we walked a short way to Porto. It was a nice place, but somewhat smoky. Dave had a sea bass fillet and Sue had grilled squid (for the third time)! 
Another good day and we learned a lot. We found Milija to be an excellent, informative guide whose wife also guides. He is a former military officer who had done some training at Fort Benning, GA.  We would highly recommend him since he is a native Montenegrin and seems to know the history of Montenegro as well as the current state of affairs, not to mention, every hiking trail. 

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2025-02-17

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