Podgorica, Montenegro

Podgorica - The tiny capital city of the ex- Yugoslav republic of Montenegro . It is hardly a prime dark tourism destination, but it does offer a few points of interest that may warrant a detour/stopover when travelling around the region. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Podgorica, Montenegro 's cuddly small capital city takes its name from Gorica hill at the foot of which the city centre lies. Having been a favoured spot for settlement (at the northern end of the fertile plain between the mountains and the sea and Lake Shkoder), the city developed into an important trading post and a rampart of the Ottoman empire. The city flourished in Montenegro's brief pre- WW1 period of independence, but fell into relative insignificance in the inter-war years. During WWII , Podgorica was occupied, first by Italy , then Germany , and from 1943 onwards became a bombing target for the Allies, as it was on a supply and (later) retreat route for German troops. Apparently at the request of Tito and his partisan forces, the US Air Force and RAF flew bombing missions over Podgorica several dozen times, with the worst of the attacks taking place in May and November 1944. In the bombings Podgorica was virtually razed to the ground, with hardly a structure surviving. This partly explains the dominance of brutalist socialist housing blocks looming large in the rebuilt city today. After WWII and the founding of Yugoslavia , the city was (somewhat ironically) renamed Titograd in honour of the great partisan marshal. Only in 1992, after Yugoslavia had already begun falling apart, did the city revert to its older name.