As I’ve said before, the spontaneity of our Balkan adventure this October made me get out of my comfort zone while planning. So, when I knew we’d have two nights in Kosovo – one in Pristina, and the next in Prizren – before heading to Macedonia, I wanted to make the day in between really count. I had lofty goals of seeing the Patriarchy of Pec on that day, which would require either bussing between all three cities, or hiring a car.
My typical MO when planning trips to places with less developed tourist infrastructures is almost always to hop on Tripadvisor forums first to see what is possible. This was especially useful this trip as my other main source of information, other travel blogs, are a bit scanty on information about Kosovo outside of Pristina and Prizren. So off to the forums it was, and even then, information wasn’t readily available. No problem, I just started my own thread, and waited for replies to arrive.
What I’ve noticed about Tripadvisor forums in less-developed nations (namely the Balkans, Stans, and Caucasus) is that tripadvisor works as a way for guides to sell themselves that is more organized than, say, waiting outside train stations and major attractions and touting oneself. It was this former method that I was introduced to Arsim from Kosovo Holidays. As a disclaimer, I will say that it can be hit or miss using the “find your guide on Tripadvisor” method – we ended up with an extremely preachy, annoying driver for the day in Georgia last year who really rubbed us the wrong way. But, that being said, Arsim was great.
Arsim met us early in the morning at our hotel in Pristina with a cute old junker of a red Nissan (it seemed fitting for the day and the place), and we were off to Pec. The first (and maybe only?) speedbump of the day came getting out of the city – there was (shockingly! JK not shockingly) a protest in Pristina that had clogged all of the major roads. Democracy is new in Kosovo, and the residents take it very seriously – meaning protests are near everyday occurrences. Arsim was old hat at Pristina’s roads, though, and had us out of the city pretty quickly – at one point he even called the police to ask for alternate routes in order to avoid the traffic!
It only took about an hour to reach Pec from Pristina after driving through some really amazing and historically significant countryside. It was a bit of a somber drive knowing that parts of the country we were driving through were hotbeds of ethnic cleansing during the Kosovo War in 1999 (like the Drenica Valley). Having Arsim as a guide was extremely useful, as we would have missed out on this historical context had we simply taken the bus.
Once in Pec, we did some cursory sightseeing around the town – stopping by the city’s largest Catholic church and dusting off my ten Italian phrases to chat with the priest before making our way to the Patriarchy of Pec.
The Patriarchy of Pec is an interesting place because it is the center of the Serb Orthodox Church, but is located in Kosovo. Everyone I have talked to about the Yugoslav relationship with religion has told me that Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and Kosovars alike are not extremely religious people, but the fact of the matter being that the center of faith of one nation (Serbia) is located in another (albeit contested) nation is quite staggering. There was a bit of tension in the air whenever Arsim (a Kosovo Albanian) and the nuns at the patriarchy exchanged words – no surprise there, seeing as the war was less than twenty years ago.
Oh, yeah, and despite the microcosm of geopolitical tension, the buildings were pretty beautiful as well.
We then explored a bit of downtown Pec on foot, walking through the bazaar and seeing the city’s ethnological museum. It was a museum we were happy to explore, seeing as Pristina’s had been closed when we had tried to visit it.
It was then onward to Prizren – but not before one other stop. Kosovo is famous for its kullas – or fortified houses – especially in the western part of the country close to the borders with Montenegro and Albania. They were built initially during Ottoman occupation as protection from attacks (either from foreign armies, or feuding families). Their construction is fascinating, with livestock usually kept on the bottom floor, then the second and third floors being living quarters, and the fourth floor being a place where men of the family socialized. We were welcomed into a family’s kulla after Arsim made a quick phone call to an acquaintance – someone he apparently knew tangentially as welcoming of tourists into his home. Like most sites we had visited to this point in Kosovo, it was free to visit. I didn’t take any pictures inside to respect the family’s space, but you can see the buildings themselves are quite impressive.
From there, it was onward to Prizren. It had been a busy day, and we were quite tired from travel the day before (Seattle>Frankfurt>Pristina is no joke of a travel day). Arsim kindly offered to show us a few different spots – including the bazaar in Gjakova – but we declined, wanting to reach our final destination. For all we were able to see, it was a 120 Euro well spent.
Kosovo is a small nation, so if you have time, it’s easy to get around on your own. Some places, however, like clusters of original 18th century Kullas in Isniq, may only be reached via your own transportation (or hitchhiking!). We used Kosovo Holidays to arrange our driver and tour for the day, and found them to be very friendly and affordable. We particularly liked them as they were locally owned and operated in Pristina – though they have a sister company that operates in Albania out of Tirana. All of their tours and services are custom built to meet your needs. If you’re heading to Kosovo and want some help on the ground, they are a great provider – you can contact Arsim at Kosovo Holidays via email at contact@kosovo-holidays.com – conversely, if you are cruising the Kosovo forums at Tripadvisor and ask a question, Arsim will likely be the first person to contact you!
2 comments
Kosovo IS Serbia, the Albanians are savages.
Name calling isn’t welcome here, thanks.