Dajbabe, the monastery built into the rock

There are two ways to see Orthodox Podgorica in a single afternoon. One is the Cathedral of the Resurrection, huge, new and covered in gold. The other is on the low hills south of the city and is its exact opposite. Dajbabe Monastery is a church tucked inside a cave and painted by one monk over more than forty years. I’d start at the cathedral and finish here.

A monastery that began in a cave

According to the Tourist Organisation of Podgorica, it’s an Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, close to the city and beside the village that gave it its name. It was founded in 1897 and the natural shape of a cave was used for the church. The cavity was later widened to give it the basic plan of a church, with chapels added on.

From outside, all you see is a large porch with two bell towers. Everything else is inside the rock, which is why first impressions mislead. You expect a building and find a doorway in a hillside.

Simeon Popović and his paintings

What makes Dajbabe special is who painted it. The founder, the monk Simeon Popović, decorated the interior himself, fitting each scene to the natural contours of the stone instead of to flat walls. He carried on until he died in 1941. The result doesn’t have the polish of the great medieval monasteries, and that’s exactly what I like about it. It’s a personal piece of work, done by hand over a lifetime.

If you want a comparison, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, whose construction started in 1993, has frescoes on a gold background in a brand-new church. The two visits play off each other nicely.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Podgorica for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Dajbabska Gora

Right by the monastery rises Dajbabska Gora, a hill above the southern suburbs. The tourist board recommends it as a viewpoint over Podgorica and its surroundings, with a well-kept half-kilometre path to the top at 172 metres, where there’s a communications tower. It’s an easy climb, and the same source suggests spring, autumn or winter. With July averages above 30 °C in the city, I wouldn’t attempt it at midday in summer.

How to get there and how to behave

Dajbabe sits on the southern side of Podgorica, towards the Zeta plain and the airport. The tourist board doesn’t publish hours or a price, so I’m not giving any. It’s a working monastery rather than a museum, so behave as you would in any Orthodox church, with shoulders and knees covered, voices down inside the cave and a quick ask before taking photos.

An hour is enough, two if you climb the hill. If you’re keen on monasteries, the Tourist Organisation of Podgorica also lists Duga and Ćelija Piperska within the municipality, and the country’s great pilgrimage site, Ostrog Monastery, sits above the Zeta valley on the road to Nikšić.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Dajbabe Monastery on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Podgorica for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.