Last fun-packed day exploring the sight of Podgorica. Ish.
We had an unusually early start the day after the game. BBC Radio Wales wanted to interview us on the Breakfast Show to get the views of travelling fans in Montenegro.
The item was due to go live at 8:50am, UK time. Taking the fact that there’s an hour time difference, we dragged ourselves out of bed and sat patiently waiting for the email link for the zoom call. And waited. And waited. Then I realised I had made a school boy error. I had got the time difference the wrong way around. We were two hours early. We went back to sleep.
Five minutes before the correct time still no zoom link. With two minutes to spare I check my spam folder and we are in. With thirty seconds to spare they ask if we want to do the interview ‘on camera’. Given that we are pretty much naked sat under the air conditioner, we politely decline.
The call goes well. We discuss football, weather and travel. Dot Davies is amused by the thought of my pants from last night being still wet and hanging up in the shower to dry.
In my expert opinion, the torrential rain was to our advantage. Sunday it was 36 degrees. It was hard work going from one pub to another, let alone run around a football pitch. The Montenegro squad are probably used to it though. On game day it was like an average day in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Our boys are used to that. *
(* I didn’t actually think of that witticism till after. I make a mental note to actually prepare myself next time I’m on the radio.)
Once the call is over my phone starts pinging with comments about my pants.
We get dressed, which involves putting plastic bags over my socks to avoid getting trench foot from my still wet trainers.
We head to Kristal once more for omelettes and ciders.
Then we head into town to catch the ‘sights’ we have not yet seen. I take the unusual step of leaving my ‘proper’ camera in the apartment. I’m not expecting any Instagram moments.
The first ‘attraction’ we see is an old Ottoman period clock tower. It appears in most guide books as a ‘must see’, simply to emphasise how little there is to see in the city. We had expected it to be underwhelming. We were not disappointed.
We then head for an Ottoman period stone bridge over the formerly dry river that we had watched flood yesterday (See yesterday’s blog for that exciting story.) It’s actually quite picturesque. I take a few photos and we have a beer in the bar next to the bridge. There’s terracing leading down to the river and a faux beach. Overlooking the ‘beach’ is a stage with DJ decks. I imagine it would be a great spot for a ‘beach party’, but it’s Tuesday morning and the vibe is relaxed.
After one beer, nature calls, but the toilets, carved into the side of the mountain, make the toilet in the film Trainspotting look like a Wetherspoons. Heading back up to town level, we go off in search of somewhere that has toilet facilities. A pub maybe?
We always try to stick to local type pubs, and steer clear of things like Irish Pubs. But the first pub we come across is a Hard Rock Cafe. Needs must, so we pop in. Whilst Megan powders her nose (I’m not as fussy as her, I pissed in the unlit troglodyte khazi), I order Somersbys and Mohitos. With the exception of the Russian pub last night, the only cider we have seen is Somersbys. Odd that such an obscure and unremarkable cider has got a foothold here. Although they do seem to like everything to be unremarkable here.
Talking of unremarkable, the Hard Rock Cafe is situated on the edge of Independence Square, the centre piece of the city. Trafalgar Square, Time Square and St Mark’s Square are just three of the squares that Independence Square would never be compared to. It’s more like Gwent Square in the middle of Cwmbran shopping precinct. But without the free parking.
We consider going off in search of St George’s Church, which is supposed to be half tidy, but we decided we need to leave something to look at next time we come here.
We consider walking thirty minutes to the only restaurant listed on the veggie restaurant app, Happy Cow. It’s called Paradise Food and gets good ratings from almost everyone. Apart from the woman whose husband had food poisoning from there. She’s probably American, they generally moan about anything.
But if we walk thirty minutes to get there, we have to walk forty five minutes to get back to the apartment. So we opt to stick with our regular pub, Kristal. It has served us well. As with everything in this city, it’s unremarkable. But they are friendly, serve food at all hours of the day and they make a mean veggie omelette.
And so it is, our trip ends, the way it started. In a pub one hundred yards from our apartment.
When our taxi driver picks us up the following day, he is shocked to hear that we had spent four days in the city. Even the locals are underwhelmed.
But I don’t want to be all negative. We have enjoyed the trip. It’s Wales Away after all. We’ve had a great craic and made new friends. And Wales won.
Masala Art served up the most phenomenal Indian Food, the inside of the Cathedral was more spectacular than the inside of Liberace’s imagination, the Russian pub (Bogarts) and the Library Bar were both worth a visit. The ‘beach bar’ by the old Ottoman bridge is probably a great place to party, if you can control your bladder.
But these things don’t really add up to enough reasons to visit this city.
As our taxi takes us to the airport, we spot huge mountains surrounding the city. They probably hide more interesting treasures. If staying more than a day or two, I think day trips to lakes up in the mountains are the thing to do.
Like all trained Brits, we arrive at the airport three hours before our flight. After ten minutes of queuing, we are advised you can’t go into the departure lounge until an hour before your flight. They even closed the security desk, so for ages there was no queue. When they finally open the desk there’s a mad scramble and a queue (and I use the term ‘queue’ in the most liberal sense of the word) which takes an hour and a half to get through.
Still. Three points eh!
Watch this space – next up, Iceland v Wales in October 😀