Travelogue 8 - Kosovo Skopje is in the north part of Macedonia near the frontier with Kosovo. We headed north and were soon at and through the boarder despite long rows of trucks on both sides. (Enea said that our US passports helped.) What a contrast. After Skopje, with its full-sized Arc ‘d Triumph and other architectural extravagances, Kosovo, or Kosova as the locals say it, is a small country with a population of 1.9 million; it’s the poorest country in Europe and looks it.

Like much of the Balkan peninsula, Kosovo has a complex history. Several major civilizations occupied the area including the Illyrians, Romans, Ottomans, and most recently, Serbians. By the end of the 19th century, Albanian-Muslims replaced Serb-Orthodox-Christians as the dominant ethnic/religious group, but Serbia reacquired control in 1912. After World War II, Kosovo became an autonomous province of Yugoslavia, but relations between Serbian and Albanian Kosovars continued fraught, with riots and an insurgency. Beginning in 1998, Serbia conducted a counterinsurgency operation that resulted in the expulsion of some 800,000 ethnic Albanians. In 1999, NATO forced the Serbs from Kosovo, and in 2008, Kosovo declared independence. Since then, over 110 countries, not including Serbia, recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Serbia to this day considers Kosovo still to be part of Serbia. By now, most of the expelled Albanians have returned and most Serbians have left; those remaining represent only 1% of the population today. Our first stop in Kosovo was to see the frescos of the Gracanica Monastery. The well-preserved buildings of the monastery compound are in a spacious park behind a tall, barbed-wire-topped stone wall. Albanians returning from their forced exodus have destroyed many Serbian churches, and today many remaining Serbian religious buildings are guarded.

A baptism was going on inside Kosovo’s Gracanica Monetary, and wedding

photography was in progress outside.

We drove on to Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo, where it appears that Kosovars really like Americans. They have a statue of Bill Clinton and streets named for George W. Bush and Bob Dole.

America was among the countries that supported Kosovo’s independence.

Downtown Pristina is an attractive area of wide, tree-lined streets and large public squares. The seat of Kosovo’s national government is in a modern high-rise. The country is still under UN protection, and capital’s UN headquarters also occupies a nearby downtown location.

The seat of Kosova’s government is in this Pristina high-rise.

Near the base of the government high-rise is a statue the Albanian hero, Skanderbeg. The pedestal of the statue includes a small map in gold showing the areas of Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Greece that once comprised the greater Albania. Kosovo is a small, proud country with a long memory.

Leaving the capital, we drove on to Prizren, which after the bloody Serbian takeover of 1912, was known as “The kingdom of death”. Today the town is known as the country’s cultural center. A local proverb says, “Whoever drinks water from our main fountain will find it difficult to leave Prizren”. Another saying goes, “Prizren is the city of song and love”; appropriately, a major folk music & dance festival was in full swing when we arrived. The crowds were so dense it was hard to progress down the narrow, cobbled streets. The festival celebrated Hasi Jehon, traditional Balkan folklore, but a large banner overhead proclaimed in English “Welcome to Bikers”. The leather-jacketed riders paraded down the main street under the banner doing their best to shatter our eardrums.

Prizren has many mosques; we could see Sinan Pasha from our hotel window.

The next day we drove on through beautiful farmland and stopped beside a 260-meter-long Ottoman bridge to watch a large a flock of sheep cross.

Many sheep and their shepherd crossed an old Ottoman bridge near Bishtazhin,

Kosovo.

About an hour further down the road we reached the old community of Gjakova, which includes unusual traditional wooden-fronted shops; they still serve the local community. After a stroll through the small village, we drank strong black tea at Hani i Vjetër, a former Turkish guest house.

They still use horse carts in the Kosovo countryside.

Lunch that day was out in the country at a place called Gryka e Deçanit. We ate at a very pleasant rustic outdoor restaurant in a grove of large shade trees. The dining area was cantilevered over a rushing stream. The meal included various preserved meats, fresh and cooked vegetables, stuffed peppers, cornbread, and warm pita bread.

Not far from this restaurant is the medieval Serbian Orthodox Christian Monastery of Visoki Dečani. The road was blocked with tank barriers and a detachment of Italian/UN troops stood guard. The monastery is considered to be in danger from Albanian mobs; we had to submit our passports to the uniformed soldiers at the gatehouse.

Visoki Dečani was founded in the first half of the 14th century.

The Visoki Dečani frescos are notable for the painting of Christ with a sword.

The Serbian Orthodox Christian church in the center of the monastery compound was similar to the Gracanica church we visited previously, but significantly larger. Virtually every surface of the dimly-lit soaring interior walls and ceiling were painted with frescos. The Decani Monastery was the first cultural monument of Kosovo Province to be designated a UN World Heritage Site.

The next day, our last in Kosovo and our last with Enea, was mainly spent on the long drive to Montenegro. The road dipped back into Albania where we enjoyed one of the best meals, the best wine, and the nicest restaurant of the trip so far. (We say, “so far” only because we still have more than a week to go. We do not expect to exceed the dining experience this trip.) Michelin does not review in Albania, but if they did, Mrizi I Zanave would deserve a lot of stars.

These are a few of the dishes at Mrizi I Zanave.

Enea drove us to our hotel in Podgorica, Montenegro, we said a fond goodbye, and began the next stage of this adventure.