Day 30 (Montenegro): rest day in Podgorica

today’s distance: 0km
total distance: 2530km
riding time: 0h

Thought it would be a day with nothing to report. Seemed like a good day to take a rest … more rain coming in. Supposed to be better tomorrow.

Until the evening I ran some errands and managed to replace my Swiss Army pocket knife. The ersatz knife I was able to secure in Cetinje wasn’t any good.

When I went back to the hotel, I met Leroy going up in the elevator and we chatted it up for a bit. Turns out that he was here to give a jazz concert. I thought - good idea, asked where it would be and thought about joining it later on. It was fantastic, a rendition of Aretha Franklin. Great musicians I thought. The singer with a great and powerful voice, in good harmony with the pianist. As was true for the contrabass and the drummer. Perfect evening for a rainy day. I talked to Roland, the pianist afterwards. From what he said both the drummer and the bass player are big shots in the New York jazz scene … thanks Leroy for letting me know about the concert.

On the way back to the hotel I also encountered a bunch of street kids. I had seen them a couple of hours before, ranging between 7 and 10 years old, a couple of them smoking and all of them pushing passersby quite hard for money.

To end on a more upbeat tone, my guidebook thought practically nothing of Podgorica. And it was right when it comes to sights. There really aren’t any. But there was - even on a Wednesday night - a good bar scene. Fun places and good people to talk to.