Prishtina

Kosovo is one of Europe’s least visited countries, particularly if you leave out the number of travelers going back to visit their relatives. One of the reasons behind this might be the area’s history of conflict. But that’s all in the past, and today Kosovo is quite a peaceful country. Well, most people agree that it’s a country anyway, but not everyone. Regardless of their political status, I certainly wanted to see it for myself. I decided to spend a few days mainly in Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo.

SATURDAY, October 27th

My direct flight operated by SWISS for Edelweiss departed late because of a late arrival of the aircraft. After I arrived in Prishtina, I got a taxi to the city center. There was no public transport from the airport to the city center. I met up with the owner of the Airbnb apartment that I would be staying in.

It’s a really cool-looking apartment, hidden away in a partially abandoned shopping mall. It was certainly one of the better deals I’ve had on Airbnb, particularly given its surreal location. The entrance door (out of frame) was off to the side in a dimly lit hallway of the mall.

I still hadn’t had anything to eat, so I went out for dinner at a gastropub called Soma Book Station. The restaurant was within a reasonable walk from the apartment. It was late at night, but they were still serving food, while other restaurants had closed. However, I had to take an outside table as I had no reservation. Despite being late October, it wasn’t too cold outside. The most interesting menu item was a mix of “finger food”, a large plate of various snacks. It was more than enough to satisfy my hunger.

Following dinner, I went for a brief detour to walk around the neighborhood. I did so particularly to verify the opening hours of the Museum of Kosovo, which were posted on a sign just outside the building. I was going to visit it the following day.

SUNDAY, October 28th

For breakfast, I found a bakery on the ground floor within the shopping mall that my apartment was located in. Their selection of pastries was quite cheap but tasty.

My first sight of the day became the Newborn Monument. The sign had recently been changed into “New10rn” to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia.

The Newborn sign was unveiled on February 17, 2008, the exact day that Kosovo made their declaration of independence. Before leaving, I checked out the adjacent, seemingly abandoned indoor sports complex.

Its architecture was quite extraordinary. I’m sure the building is still in use, but it looked quite run-down and it was covered in graffiti.

It was a stark contrast to the new, modern sports stadium just next door.

Then I continued walking to a few mosques in close vicinity of each other, namely the closed-down Carshi Mosque, and the Jashar Pasha and Sultan Mehmet Fatih mosques, respectively.

The Carshi Mosque pictured above dates from the 15th century. It is undergoing renovations and is therefore closed for visits.

The other two mosques weren’t open for visitors at the time. They were going to open later in the day though.

Decorations above the doorway of the Sultan Mehmet Fatih Mosque.

I continued north towards the Emin Gjiku Ethnographic Museum. Even though staff members were present, I was told the museum wouldn’t open until 10. At that point, it was 9:30 AM and nothing inside Prishtina itself was open. However, I had two spots outside of the city I wanted to visit, the Gračanica Monastery and Bear Sanctuary Prishtina. The monastery was closer to the city, so I started there.

To reach the monastery with public transport, you have to use a regional bus bound for Gjilan in eastern Kosovo, which passes through the town of Gračanica. I took a taxi to Prishtina’s bus terminal. The ticket system there is a bit odd. You have to buy a ticket inside the terminal for 10 Euro cents to be allowed to get on the bus. Then once you’re seated on the bus, you buy the actual ticket for your destination. I specifically asked to be let off near the monastery. As we passed through the town center, the driver pulled off to the side of the road just by the monastery so I could get out.

The Gračanica Monastery was constructed in 1421. It’s free to enter and look at its fresco murals, or at least what remains of them. It’s a historic sight, but not as decorated as other Orthodox churches I’ve seen.

The setting of the monastery is quite pretty though, with the trees and plants of the surrounding courtyard. The living quarters of the monastery were towards the back of the complex, and are off-limits to visitors.

What does make the visit to the monastery worthwhile, in my opinion, is the fact that Gračanica is a predominantly Serbian town. Serbian flags are flown in the town center. The municipal office is Serbian, and most of the signs are written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Some local businesses accept Serbian dinars. I’m guessing most of the locals still consider themselves part of the Republic of Serbia, even though they live inside Kosovo. It’s essentially the ethnic difficulties of Kosovo and it’s partially-recognized independence in a nutshell.

In the town center, I found a taxi and tried to explain to the driver that I wanted to go to the Bear Sanctuary Prishtina. It was even further away from the city of Prishtina itself. He understood the name of the nearby village, but not the English name for the sanctuary itself. He called his dispatcher on the phone and repeated the English name. Then it seemed like it was translated to him. He suddenly understood what I was referring to. 

The Bear Sanctuary Prishtina was constructed after the abuse of wild brown bears as circus animals and advertising mascots was finally outlawed in 2010. An international non-profit, Four Paws, stepped in to build the sanctuary and rescue the animals. The bears were previously often living in tiny cages.

The Bear Sanctuary Prishtina is essentially like a small zoo with the rescued bears. All the proceeds go to the maintenance of the sanctuary and the care for the bears.

Some of the bears still exhibit repetitive behavior, typical of traumatized animals, and physical scars. One of the bears (not pictured) is almost blind after having fought other bears for entertainment.

Because of their wounds and past trauma, you couldn’t simply release these bears into the wild. There is however a wild population of brown bears in Kosovo.

At least now the bears can enjoy much more comfort in larger enclosures, that closely resemble their natural habitats. The caretakers are also doing their best to help the bears rehabilitate.

Getting back to Prishtina wasn’t super easy. The bear sanctuary was in the midst of some hills near a village, about 15 km (10 miles) outside of the city.

There wasn’t any public transport at all. I decided to walk back to the nearest village (roughly 2km/1.25miles) and wait alongside the main road to Prishtina, near a gas station. I figured that I’d either spot a taxi driving past or hitch a ride on a bus towards Prishtina.

One peculiar feature of Kosovo that I walked past was a faded sign denoting a speed limit for tanks. I’m guessing the occupation forces and UN peacekeepers have been there in such high numbers, that passing tanks used to be a regular occurrence.

Cars kept driving past the spot where I was waiting every now and then. If it took too long I would’ve just resorted to hitchhiking, but fortunately I didn’t have to. Eventually, after 10 minutes a taxi drove past and picked me up. I only had to pay him 10 Euro for the roughly 20 km (12 miles) trip back to downtown Prishtina.

Upon arriving back in Prishtina, I decided to go towards the Emin Gjiku Ethnographic Museum. On the way, I made a stop at Sultan Fatih Mehmet Mosque. It had opened up its doors in the meantime.

It is the city’s most important mosque, built in 1461. The mosque has been renovated twice, after World War II and an earthquake in 1955. The Sultan Fatih Mehmet Mosque is not that big. However, its interior features colorful decorations on the walls and in the ceiling.

I continued towards the ethnographic museum, where I saw the same museum worker as earlier in the morning. This time I was welcomed inside to a rather small museum. Two classic Ottoman houses, one closed while undergoing reconstruction, form the Emin Gjiku Ethnographic Museum.

The rooms inside the houses are kept in a traditional Ottoman/Kosovar style. You can walk through them for a look at how locals lived a few centuries ago. But with just one house open with a handful of rooms, it wasn’t a long visit. There were plenty of original interior decorations on display though, so it was still worthwhile to visit.

I quickly swung by the apartment, which was just a 10-minute walk away. I needed some WiFi in order to search for a restaurant for lunch. The main reason was that I had been recommended to try a specific restaurant, but I wasn’t sure where it was located. Online it seemed as if only its sister location was open on Sundays, so I’m glad I double-checked.

On the way to the restaurant, I stopped by a church, the Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa.

I entered it to have a look inside, and particularly to walk up to the viewing platform on top of its tower.

The cathedral is located in central Prishtina on the corner of a major intersection. There are excellent views of the downtown area.

When I finally reached the restaurant, it seemed little more than a cafeteria. It wasn’t too busy, but that was likely because it was 3 PM by the time I arrived for lunch. Still, it was a more local, definitely less touristy way to taste some regional food. It was very cheap too.

The restaurant was not too far away from the city’s main art gallery. I walked over there for a brief visit after having had lunch.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the size of the country, the National Gallery of Kosovo does not have hundreds of works. Some art pieces were also more related to Albania, which shares a similar language and culture with Kosovo. Nonetheless, some of the paintings were quite interesting and reflected the plight of the Albanian and Kosovar people. Several paintings and art installations dealt with people fleeing from communist Albania during the rule of Enver Hoxha.

Bags of personal belongings, similar to ones allegedly carried by people escaping communist Albania.

Following the National Gallery, I walked past the National Library of Kosovo, a very odd-looking building.

The library was closed at the time, but I would come back the following day.

I decided instead to go to the Kosovo Museum. It was just down the street from the Jashar Pasha Mosque, so I stopped at the mosque first. Unlike earlier in the morning, it was now open. I had a quick peek inside and took a few photos of the beautiful interior. However, I didn’t spend too long, as there were several people praying inside the mosque. I didn’t want to be a nuisance to them.

After visiting the mosque, I walked back to the Kosovo Museum. It is essentially the main museum explaining the young country’s history.

The lower floor displays a collection of archaeological items found within the territory of Kosovo. These mostly included jewelry, weapons, tools and marble slabs with inscriptions.

Some of the items dated back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and even earlier during Roman times. There were also plenty of historical coins, mostly from the period of the Byzantine Empire.

On the upper floor were exhibits related to the fight for Kosovo’s independence. I was one of the only persons visiting the museum. By this time staff members were kind of following me around. They made it clear that I wasn’t allowed to take photos on this floor. I snuck in a few anyway. Weapons and personal effects used by the Kosovar Army in the Kosovo War of 1999 against Serbia and Montenegro are the main focus of the upper floor.

One room displays the flag of every single country that recognizes Kosovo’s independence. It is not yet a full member of the United Nations. When I visited there were at least 111 flags in the room.

The remainder of the UN’s members consider Kosovo to still be part of Serbia. The staff at the museum are very eager to add flags to the collection as more and more countries recognize Kosovo as an independent country. Every now and then they also have to remove flags, I suppose. According to Wikipedia, there are some countries that have withdrawn their recognition of Kosovo’s independence. The museum didn’t mention this anywhere, which wasn’t surprising. 

For dinner, I went to a slightly upscale restaurant close to the soccer stadium.

It was not too expensive, but they served regional dishes with very good quality, along with freshly baked bread.

It was a great meal. Afterwards, I returned to my apartment on foot. 

MONDAY, October 29th

After having had breakfast at the same bakery as the previous morning, I got in a taxi to Prishtina’s bus terminal.

I wanted to take a day-trip to the city of Prizren in southern Kosovo.

The bus ride took about an hour and 45 minutes. I got off the bus a few stops ahead of the city’s bus terminal, to remain closer to central Prizren.

Once I got off, I walked around the old town. First I stopped for photos at a very old, preserved Serbian-Orthodox Cathedral.

The building was closed, mostly for safety reasons. There have been some cases of vandalism in the past.

I continued along the river in Prizren towards one of the main squares in the old town. It featured a statue of one of Kosovo’s more prominent freedom fighters from the Kosovo War.

Not far from there was the main mosque in the city, the Sinan Pasha Mosque from the 17th century. There was a break between prayer times, so I went inside.

The interior, particularly around the ceiling and the corners, is colorfully decorated.

Just behind the mosque, there’s a trail leading up to the Prizren Fortress.

It was a short uphill hike that lasted about 15 minutes. There wasn’t a lot to see of the fortress itself. Rather, it’s what you can see from the hilltop fortress that makes the hike worth it. The views of the entire city of Prizren and the surrounding region are excellent.

It doesn’t take long to realize that the old town area has a dense concentration of mosques. This became even more evident when it was time for the Muslim call to prayer, which echoed all over Prizren.

Behind the fortress are nice views of mountains stretching all the way into Macedonia, Kosovo’s southeastern neighbor.

All that remains of the former castle itself are the outer walls and the bases and foundations of most of the original structures.

In the middle are a group of newer houses which aren’t open to the public. There are a couple of the fortress’ former cannons on display as well. 

By the time I had taken in all the views and walked around the castle, it was time for lunch. I hiked back down and searched for a restaurant in the center of the old town. Eventually, I picked a place right next to the river. The restaurant served Balkan food, mostly a selection of barbeque dishes.

Following lunch, I continued wandering around the heart of Prizren.

I wanted to stop by one of the roundabouts northeast of the city center. At this particular roundabout, there was a memorial honoring NATO and their assistance in securing Kosovo’s independence.

Then I turned around and walked back through the city center towards the bus terminal in western Prizren.

I pondered continuing to another city in western Kosovo. However, I decided it was better to return to Prishtina, to go see the National Library. I wouldn’t have had time for both the National Library and a different city. Additionally, I had no information regarding the bus schedule back to Prishtina from other major cities.

Within 10 minutes of arriving at the bus terminal, I was on my way back to Prishtina. What I found quite funny at the bus terminal was that several of the buses, despite being registered in Kosovo, displayed stickers from Western and Central European countries, such as Switzerland and Germany.

Upon arriving in the capital 2 hours later, I first returned to my apartment to relax for a bit. Then I went for a long walk through downtown Prishtina.

By the time I got to the National Library of Kosovo, it was dark outside. I knew it was going to remain open until late, so I entered. One of the first parts of the library that catches your eye inside is the “American Corner”. It is used for teaching English classes.

The National Library serves mostly as a study hall and library for Prishtina’s university, which is its neighbor.

The library has quite a dated, but intriguing look from the 1970s. The construction was finished in 1982.

From the inside of the building, it’s possible to see several of the characteristic, opaque gray domes that give the building’s exterior its unique look.

For dinner, I went to another of Prishtina’s fine restaurants. This one was located in a quiet side-street, in a residential area just off the main streets of the city center. It’s not easy to find, because there is no sign or name on the door. You recognize this particular restaurant by the two large metal doors that open into a courtyard in front of the restaurant. The staff spoke really good English and the food was really tasty.

The food was literally prepared right in front of your eyes. All the tables have a view of the kitchen in the middle of the restaurant.

The waiters were quite surprised that I found the restaurant, as most of their patrons are locals. As mentioned, there’s no sign on the outside door, so you gotta know the restaurant is there. You need to have heard about it, you don’t just stumble upon it. I showed the staff members the Lonely Planet guide I had. They were fascinated to read what it said about Prishtina and their restaurant, taking pictures of it to show their colleagues and friends. That was a really cool moment that capped off a great dining experience. By the time I was done eating, it was getting late. I walked back to my apartment to prepare my stuff for my flight the following morning. 

TUESDAY, October 30th

After getting up, taking a shower and packing my bag, I left the key on the table and closed the apartment door shut as agreed with my hosts. I walked over to one of Prishtina’s main streets, where I quickly found a taxi to drive me to the airport.

I got there almost an hour and a half before my flight. This left me with plenty of time for breakfast inside the airport terminal. There were two flights with different airlines flying from Prishtina to Zurich at almost the exact same time. The airport had the wonderful idea of placing them right next to each other at gates 13A and 13B. Dozens of people waited in the wrong line. Every now and then the gate agents told them “it’s the other one” after scanning their boarding passes.

My flight with SWISS’ daughter company Edelweiss left early, and it was an enjoyable flight on a sunny morning.