Day 6 Intrepid: Prizren

After breakfast we had (just) enough time to return to the Old Bazaar for another look. 

Having been destroyed twice in the last 80 years, the bazaar has been fully rebuilt after the Kosovo War.

It was quieter and cleaner than the first day we arrived in Peja, no doubt due to it being early in the morning.

This is the northern part of the country where there are still tensions with Serbia.

Many people have left but are sending money back. Sando and Haki suggest some of this is money being laundered; hence the new apartments (often unoccupied).

Today we journey to the south of the country to Kosovo's 2nd biggest city – Prizren. It is approximately 1.5 hours by minibus with Haki driving again.

We stop by Gjakovë to walk along the Carshia (main street) of the Grand Bazaar.

Here we visit the Mosque of Hadumi which was built in the last decade of the 16th century by Efendi Hadum Aga. It somehow managed to survive the terrible damage that Gjakovë underwent during the Kosovo War. Its impressive interior has  striking arabesques, floral paintings, geometrical shapes, and citations from the Kur’an. In 1999, the surrounding complex was burned to the ground and only the mosque and the minaret along with some damaged arabesques survived.

After a coffee, we head to Prizren. We pass by the Ura e Terzive (Tailors Bridge), a fine Ottoman-style 15th century stone bridge.

It is quite a hot day! We check-in (we are thrilled with our room: spacious!! And we are here 3 nights!), and head out for lunch, some baklava and Turkish coffee. Yum.

Then an orientation walk  taking in the cobbled Shadervan Square (which is under renovation and incredibly underwhelming) and the Old Stone Bridge (Ura e Gurit) which crosses the Prizrenska Bistrica River in the town centre. Built in the latter half of the 15th century, the bridge is paved with cobblestone and has three arches. Interesting at night:

Overlooking the bridge and dominating the Old Town, is the Sinan Pasha Mosque.

We have a bit of a rest back at the hotel then head out to visit the mosque - the interior is not that special.

We stroll along the river enjoying the evening light and bump into a fellow who worked for the UN in Africa in logistics for a number of years - Edmund; now adjusting to living back in Kosovo … interesting chap.  

Continuing through back streets a bit more, we find (eventually!) the bar Sando had shown us earlier - had a burger and chips (how Balkan - not!).

We have 2 nights here. Walked 10.5 kms.