Nikšić is the second city of Montenegro, with about fifty-eight thousand people, and it has the character of an industrial and university town rather than a tourist one. It lies on a broad plain in the west of the country, surrounded by bare mountains, and the wind can come off them hard. The old name of the settlement goes back to Roman Anagastum, and the Ottoman era left a fortress, Bedem, on a rise above the town. In the late nineteenth century Nikšić was taken into Montenegro and rebuilt with wide streets and a planned layout, which is why it feels more orderly than many Balkan towns.
If you want a Montenegrin ritual, it is a beer. The Nikšićko brewery, founded in the 1890s, is among the best-known in the country, and a cold lager in a café beside the main street is a standard end to a hot day. The town also has a big steelworks history, which gave it jobs and some of the grey concrete character that goes with it, and the university and young population give the cafés a lively mood in the evenings.
For riders, Nikšić is a useful point of arrival and departure. The road north climbs from the plain up through the Piva region, passing the canyon of the Piva and the great lake with its tunnels, and then reaches Plužine and onward to the mountains. The road is a mix of long, easy curves, climbing sections and tunnels, with views over bare limestone hills that look pale in the sun. East of town the road follows the Zeta plain toward Danilovgrad and Podgorica, while to the south the old road drops toward the Adriatic with big views. Surfaces vary, and in winter ice and snow are common above the plain. Summer afternoons on the plain can be hot, while the heights stay cooler.
Because Nikšić is large, it has plenty of fuel stations, supermarkets and repair shops, and is the sensible place to fill the tank before the mountain roads north, where services are sparse. Eat something solid, drink water, and consider arriving in the early morning, when the light is soft and the air is cool.