After about a week it became clear to me that Tivat was too much of a resort to really do any serious work on the book. And I needed to get something done. We decided to take a bus into the capital city of Podgorica, which is in the interior of Montenegro and maybe wouldn't look and feel like a travel brochure. We ended up staying in Podgorica for a month (over a month), to the point where it almost starting feeling like home. We made friends there (one, our crazy landlord Godgi. Pronounced "God-gee"). We explored the city. We shopped. We lived. We found a few great cafes and coffee shops and I started writing while Anya worked on her English. It was an amazing month.
The largest church in Montenegro. The Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. Serbian Orthodox.
A river runs through it. The city is divided roughly by the river and a series of bridges. We lived in the new developments on the other side of the river from the city center. Our area was nice and modern and called "City Kvart." There was a GNC for supplements around the corner. A nice mall across the main street. A nice gym. This photo was taken by me while we were crossing the bridge to the city center, on your left looking at the photo.
Anya gets dressed up.
Our beautiful flat with a view out onto the street in City Kvart district. We paid like 20 euro a night, which is roughly 25 bucks. We stayed like I said for over a month, but for the first couple of weeks we bounced around some, before finding this one. Our "real estate" agent and landlord was this guy...
Crazy bastard went by the name of Godgi. He was actually fair and quite friendly. Liked to drink. Said he was running for president of Montenegro with the platform of total freedom and making weed legal. Seriously. And I sort of believed him.
In the Protein Cafe up the street a couple of kilometers from our flat. We spent a lot of time in the Protein Cafe writing and Anya working on English stuff.
This was Anya's dream car. Photo taken outside our building.
In Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, you will find many statues of men on horses. I don't know. I'm just telling you that you will.
Looking towards the city center (what we call "downtown").
In the Protein Cafe, studying.
We walked down this street pretty much every day for a month to the Protein Cafe (up ahead in the buildings you see). To the right the building is owned by Microsoft. I'm not sure what they're doing in Montenegro, but they are there.
City Kvart. The weather was so awesome when we were there. Like, 60s Fahrenheit (or 70s) and sunny.
In a cafe in City Kvart.
Der Hut und der vape! I had lost my other vape somewhere in an airport. I was to lose this little replacement soon enough as well. I lost many vapes.
Godgi running for president.
King Nikola from the Podgorica Royal Palace
The Microsoft building.
Cross the street and in the buildings is the Protein Cafe. They serve coffee, tea, and a variety of protein meals, like protein pancakes. You can almost see the entrance with the tiny green sign off in the distance.
Here it is!
When we first got to Podgorica we stayed in a flat far away from the city here. It wasn't very good. It was far. And it made no sense.
Anya could pack luggage really well. She took pride in it, too, lest anyone balk. I dunno. She was good at it. Here she is expertly handling my North Face carry-on before we departed (can't remember if we left the flat or Podgorica in this photo).
We thought this dog was dead laying in a public square. Later it got up and walked off.
Another flat we stayed in before finding our favorite one. The complex was half built.
This stupid thing. I bought this portable printer in the US before I left, and managed to leave the print cartridges. It was impossible to order them from Montenegro. We went back and forth with this local electronics guy and I think in the end I left the printer with him. It was pointless to carry it with no ink.
Why photos? Again?
Out of our hotel room after our first night in Podgorica. We stayed in this crappy old Soviet era hotel, and I was convinced we made a tragic mistake. Turns out, Podgorica was a delightful capital city. I didn't want to put this up first. So that is it.