Why I Love Montenegro #7
Reason #7 I love Montenegro: korzo.
If you don't know Podgorica, these pictures just looked like an empty street, but if you look closer, you can see it's the center of the city, and the streets are closed to cars. This is because it's korzo time!
Korzo is a Yugoslavian tradition - in the evenings, the streets in the city center are reserved for pedestrians (and skateboards, roller skates and bicycles), and people just go out and walk, talk, meet with their friends, and maybe do a bit of shopping. If you've lived in Latin America, you may have experienced Ciclovia, which is similar, except that korzo is *every day*, not only once a week.
In Podgorica, about a half-mile of Ulica Slobode (Freedom Street) closes from 5 pm to 2 am. At first, it's just people finishing their last business for the day, then out come the young families with strollers, then the older couples drinking coffee in the sidewalk cafes, then the teenagers hanging out and flirting, then the young people going to bars, and then in the wee hours it's mostly drunk people heading home after a night out. Ulica Sloboda runs right past the main square (Trg Nezavisnosti), and the square often has concerts, or little go-karts for the kiddies, or such goings-on. We like taking Alex to korzo for a short walk before bedtime to wear him out.
What I love most about korzo is that it's a regular activity in a truly public space. Most places we think of as "public" spaces are actually commercial spaces, and you can get kicked out for loitering and not buying anything, or really for no reason at all. But with korzo and other public spaces, you can go to socialize, exercise or just *be* - and that's okay. :) It's something you don't get much of elsewhere in modern life.
#crnagorovolimte #dajevječnacrnagora #ilovemontenegro
If you don't know Podgorica, these pictures just looked like an empty street, but if you look closer, you can see it's the center of the city, and the streets are closed to cars. This is because it's korzo time!
Korzo is a Yugoslavian tradition - in the evenings, the streets in the city center are reserved for pedestrians (and skateboards, roller skates and bicycles), and people just go out and walk, talk, meet with their friends, and maybe do a bit of shopping. If you've lived in Latin America, you may have experienced Ciclovia, which is similar, except that korzo is *every day*, not only once a week.
In Podgorica, about a half-mile of Ulica Slobode (Freedom Street) closes from 5 pm to 2 am. At first, it's just people finishing their last business for the day, then out come the young families with strollers, then the older couples drinking coffee in the sidewalk cafes, then the teenagers hanging out and flirting, then the young people going to bars, and then in the wee hours it's mostly drunk people heading home after a night out. Ulica Sloboda runs right past the main square (Trg Nezavisnosti), and the square often has concerts, or little go-karts for the kiddies, or such goings-on. We like taking Alex to korzo for a short walk before bedtime to wear him out.
What I love most about korzo is that it's a regular activity in a truly public space. Most places we think of as "public" spaces are actually commercial spaces, and you can get kicked out for loitering and not buying anything, or really for no reason at all. But with korzo and other public spaces, you can go to socialize, exercise or just *be* - and that's okay. :) It's something you don't get much of elsewhere in modern life.
#crnagorovolimte #dajevječnacrnagora #ilovemontenegro