Under the Hill

Montenegro may seem like a strange name for a country in Eastern Europe. Not strange because of its meaning, which is the phrase Black Mountain. It is strange because of the language, Spanish, which is not the language spoken in Montenegro. And it may not be the language of the name either.

There are some mountains, not black exactly.

What do we know? In the local language, the Montenegrins call this country Crna Gora. (Keep in mind that "c" is pronounced like "ts", so this transliterates as "tserna gora". This phrase also means Black Mountain with Crna meaning black and Gora meaning mountain. The name comes from the many pine covered mountains which can look black from a distance. In particular, Lovćen is a mountain of national pride, a symbol of the country, and often considered the black mountain.

See the pretty red roofs of Podgorica

Where does the name Montenegro come from? That's not entirely clear. It may have been from Spaniards, but it may have come from Venetian sailors or from the Dalmatian language. Regardless of where it originates, it does mean Black Mountain and that is the one element on which everyone seems to agree.

In the Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian/Montenegrin language, you form the diminutive of a word with the suffix -ica (pronounced eetza, like the end of pizza.) So if gora is mountain than gorica is little mountain or hill. This leads to the name Podgorica which means "under the hill." If being over the hill means getting old, then maybe being under the hill means getting young. Or staying young? Though, from my observations, there are older people in Podgorica along with younger ones. Perhaps they age the same as the rest of us. Or perhaps they only aged during the time Montenegro was part of Yugoslavia. In this period, the city was renamed Titograd.

Some of the manhole covers still say Titograd (this one in Cyrillic)

There is a particular hill in the city called Gorica which has a very nice park on it. I went hiking there and saw some lovely views of the mountains that surround the valley in which Podgorica sits. Also in the park are a Mediterranean Garden (which is a lot less bloom-filled in December), the Partisans Memorial (to commemorate those Montenegrins who fought in World War II), lots of exercise equipment and fun rope bridges, biking paths, and a restaurant.

Partisans Monument

Though Podgorica has been settled for a long time, it doesn't have a lot of historical buildings. Most of them were destroyed during the bombings of World War II. Very few survived, and we saw many of those as we enjoyed a walking tour of the city.

A piece of the old fortress, not so effective any longer

One is the clock tower. It was built during the reign of the Ottomans, not originally intended for a clock. It was a lookout tower. The Ottomans built a fortress and walled city southeast of the confluence of the Ribnica River and the Morača River. They wanted to hold this land, a good place for trading, against the native Slavic people. At some point after the Ottoman Empire fell, a clock was placed on one side of the tower, though today it isn't working. Still, this building wasn't destroyed in the war.

The Clock Tower (from the clock side)

We walked to the confluence of the two rivers, an area called Skaline. It is much lower than the surrounding lands, quieter as you are away from the road noise, and has two lovely and very transparent rivers. Crossing the Ribnica River is the Old Bridge, also built in Ottoman times, and another piece of architecture that survived the war. The Skaline area is a favorite for the people of Podgorica. In the summers, they come here in the evenings after it cools outside. There are concerts or movies. Though in the summer the Ribnica is dry and the Morača has a lot less water.

The Old Bridge crossing the Ribnica River

Independence Square is in the cultural center of Podgorica. Nearby are the National Theater, the governmental buildings, and King's Park. But at present, Independence Square is home of the New Years' Bazaar. This seems to be the same as a Christmas market, but named for New Years instead.

We tried some wonderful traditional Montenegrin foods. We had podgorica popica. This is a pork cutlet which is pounded flat (like you would for schnitzel). It is then rolled with proscuitto and cheese, breaded, and then fried. Ours was served with a sauce, (I have no idea what was in it, but it was off-white if that helps.) Very tasty. We also tried japraci, which is a roll of seasoned beef and cheese in grape leaves, served in a bowl of red soupy sauce. It is similar to sarma, the Greek or Turkish rolls, but the leaves are darker.

Today is New Years Eve, so we are planning to go out tonight to see the Podgorica celebration, something like Times Square but on a Montenegrin scale. It should be a delightful way to ring in a New Year. And best of all, we won't be aging when we turn over to 2025, because we are "under the hill."