Novo Selo – Novo Selo

19th day

The day couldn't have started better 😉. Breakfast was a mix of German and Spanish. Soft-boiled eggs like my mother used to make when we were kids, ham, and bread with butter.

Today's plan was to visit the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica, and also stop by some markets to buy fresh fruit and vegetables 🥬🥒🥑🧄.
We already knew from comments on social media that the city wasn't much to write home about. People say if you have time, give it a chance, but if you're on a tight schedule, it's a place you can skip 😣. We wanted to give it a chance since last night we decided to stay one more day in the wonderful place we are in.
Let's see, the city has a great history, but today there's hardly anything left of what it once was. In World War II, it was practically destroyed only to be rebuilt (long live human stupidity!!!) with a mix of communist architecture and some contemporary urban development 🧱🧱.

Agreeing with the general opinion on the internet, it's not an essential place if you're short on time, but I don't want to underestimate it because for the reconstruction to be complete and effective, they definitely need the money that tourism could bring.
We took a quick walk because there really wasn't much to see, and also T and I had our differences today ☹️ and the stroll didn't turn out to be as pleasant in the end 🤷‍♂️.

The Clock Tower is one of the few Ottoman monuments that survived the bombings of World War II and is today one of the symbols of the city and one of the oldest monuments in Montenegro.
The historic center doesn't exist as such; instead, you find a bunch of neighborhood houses sprinkled with a few mosques, which is curious because Montenegro, as Marco, our host, explained to us, has Orthodox Christianity as the predominant religion.

Wandering through those streets and following the route of highlighted places, we stumbled upon a mural of Maradona, which appears on the map as a “must-stop” … I suppose that gives you an idea of how little Podgorica has to offer 😪.

The Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ is a modern building in Byzantine style consecrated in 2013. It is an icon and one of the most prominent monuments in the city, and its design combines modern and traditional touches. The exterior is clad in white marble with golden domes that shine under the sun and are visible from various points in the city.

Not much more to highlight, we left there feeling frustrated for not being able to get more out of it to promote it as it deserves 😑 because Montenegro is a beautiful country with wonderful people who are striving to get ahead and have a great sense of national pride.
Today, Marco and Lina dressed their daughter Emila in traditional attire to do a photo shoot for the national day.

I had my doubts when I arrived and thought that being so close to their home, we might not have the privacy we would like… big mistake because in these three days we have hardly seen each other, and when we did, it was to share experiences like lifelong friends with heartfelt conversations that have shown us a lot about the country we are visiting.
Good night… I’ll keep you posted 😘