Podgorica
Podgorica
Podgorica – located 86 km. from from popular tourist destination of Kotor, this is the capital of Montenegro and the largest city in the country (population: 187,085). In Montenegrin, the city’s name means “under the small hill”. More importantly, this city was previously known as “Titograd” during the years that Montenegro was part of socialist Yugoslavia (named after that country’s longtime ruler, Marshall Tito). Much of the city consists of brutalist socialist buildings from the Cold War period, since much of the Podgorica was bombed by Allied warplanes during World War II.
Despite Montenegro’s existence that goes back centuries, few travelers are familiar with the city of Podgorica (although some may have hear of Titograd during the Cold War period), and many are unfamiliar with its very name. Those passing through Podgorica will be reminded of the country’s years as an Ottoman Turk possession in the form of two mosques present there: Osmanagic (from the 18th century) and the remains of Doganjska Mosque (from the 16th century). The most notable site in this city is the Millennium Bridge (built in 2005, as a monument of sorts that celebrate the withdrawal of Italian Axis forces from Montenegro during the latter part of World War II).