Pristina to Belgrade

We said goodbye to Pristina yesterday before taking the bus back to Belgrade.  Once again, we lucked out majorly by catching the bus just before it left the station, thanks to some very nice station workers and drivers (we <3 you, Adio Tours).  Before leaving we visited the museums we missed during our earlier attempt.  First was the Kosovo Musuem, which is home to prehistoric archaeological objects found in Kosovo, its most famous item being the Hynesha në Fron (Goddess on the Throne).  The statue is 6000 years old and represents the earliest sign of civilization in the Kosovo region.  While it was returned to the Kosovo Museum in 2002, after having been loaned for an exhibition in Belgrade in 1999, several artifacts of its ilk remain in Belgrade - a fact the museum is very openly displeased about.

Blurry shot of the Goddess on the Throne

The Kosovo Museum is very adamant about retrieving the others.

A better view of the pre-historic creatures

Afterwards we visited the Ethnographic Museum, located in a characteristic 18th century house.  It took several tries to find it, as it is located on a small street in the old bazaar area of Pristina, but we had fun passing through the marketplace nearby.  The guides showed us artifacts related to Albanian birth and death rituals as well as explaining traditions for weddings and guest accommodations.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the inside.

We are now back in Belgrade and spent the day catching up on some of the sites we missed on our first few days here.  It was rainy again, but walking through Belgrade is always lovely.  We went inside St. Mark's church as well as the Cathedral Church.  Both are beautiful.  We returned to Kalemegdan and I got some photos this time, even though the weather was still not great.  We ate dinner at Kafana '?' (Znak Pitanja), which first opened as a tavern in 1826 and is Belgrade's oldest traditional restaurant.  The meaning behind the name dates back to its having once been referred to as "kod Saborne crkve" (meaning "at the Cathedral Church"), but had to be changed due to the church's protests to being included in the restaurant's name - at which point the owner put up a question mark during the interim and the name has lasted ever since.  It serves delicious authentic Serbian food and was perfect for the final meal of our trip.

Saint Mark's Church

Old Palace

Horses in front of the Parliament Building

Kalemegdan in the rain

Fortress in Kalemegdan

Victor Monument in Kalemegdan

Cathedral Church and Patriarchate (in background)

Knez Mihailova Street

We fly home early tomorrow morning.  The trip was a great success, filled with plenty of delicious and cheap meals, great hotels, fascinating landmarks and incredible hospitality.  Both Serbia and Kosovo were awesome.  I hope we will be back to visit soon.  Thanks everyone for reading!

Peja/Peć

On Monday we took a day trip to Peja/Peć, a town in western Kosovo.  The town is very small, but very scenic and in the middle of mountainous terrain.  Inside the town there are several mosques and kullas (traditional Albanian houses).  The tourist agency in Peja is especially helpful and they gave us armloads of brochures and postcards.  From the city center it is only a 20 minute walk to the beginning of the Rugova Gorge, which is beautiful.  Along the way we saw a goat herder as well as some questionable looking tracks that may have belonged to bears (there was a sign for the hunting area with a bear on it, so we aren't getting too far fetched with that idea).  Also at the start of the Gorge is the Peć Patriarchate; once the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church.  The Patriarchate is beautiful, but security measures to enter are very strict.  We had to leave our passports with KFOR and they had to call ahead to the get approval from the monastery before we were allowed to enter.  It is very serene once you are inside and has a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains.  The patriarchate is comprised of three churches linked together.  Since we were the only tourists, one of the nuns showed us around and pointed out the meanings behind the various scenes depicted.  We were especially lucky because she unlocked the church dedicated to St. Nikola (normally locked) and pointed out the paintings' meanings.

The offending paw prints.

Peć Patriarchate

Kulla

Afterwards we headed back towards the city and had an early dinner.  We have been drinking Peja beer (the national beer of Kosovo) throughout our trip, but it seemed especially appropriate to drink it in its hometown.  For 1 euro it can't be beat.

Gračanica + Pristina

On Sunday we visited the Gračanica Monastery, which is an Orthodox church located about 5-10 minutes drive outside of Pristina.  Taking the drive was interesting because you can definitely see the difference traveling from an Albanian region to a Serb enclave.  There were no cameras allowed in or around the monastery, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of my own, but it was gorgeous and probably one of my favorite churches that I've visited yet.

Image of Gračanica via Wikipedia page:

After seeing Gračanica we went back to the center to visit some of the sites we missed on the first day.  On Sundays everything generally shuts down and both museums we tried to visit were locked, despite the guide saying they had Sunday hours.  We expanded our walk to the further corners of the center, including a trip down Bill Clinton Boulevard, where they have a statue and billboard of his likeness.

After that we walked back to the eastern portion of the city to see Martyr's Hill - a park in the Velania neighborhood.  It is an uphill walk, but you have a nice view of the city from up there.  The park contains the cemetery of UÇK fighters as well as Ibrahim Rugova's grave.  Ibrahim Rugova was one of the key figures in Kosovo's movement towards independence, serving as president of the LDK (Democratic League of Kosovo) and known for his non-violent resistance strategy.

Martyr's Hill Monument

Graves of the UÇK fighters

Ibrahim Rugova's Grave

After that we continued walking and saw the Yugoslav Monument for Brotherhood and Unity.  The 3 pieces represent the 3 ethnic groups of Kosovo - Albanian, Serb and Montenegrin.  There are some interesting statues painted with international flags next to it.

I was also able to get some better shots of places we saw on the first day - the Newborn monument is backwards in this picture, but at least now you can read what it says.

Statue of Mother Teresa

That's all for now, will post more soon.  We have been eating very well in Kosovo and it hasn't been any trouble for the vegetarian in the group either.  :)

Prizren

Today we took a day trip from Pristina to Prizren, the second largest town in Kosovo.  Our bus drive from Pristina was very simple (and cheap!) and lasted just under 2 hours.  We saw a lot of cool scenery of mountains and valleys on the drive.  Prizren is located to the south of Kosovo, near the foot of the Sharr Mountains and along the Lumbardh River, close to the Albanian border.  The city was settled during ancient times, when it was known as Theranda.  It is very pretty, though likely even better in the summer and spring (it rained for us).  We walked along the river and saw many mosques and churches, including some that served as both a mosque and a church in their histories.  While walking around we were able to hear the call to prayer for the mosques, which was very cool.

Sinan Pasha Mosque

We visited the site of the League of Prizren, which was very interesting and made me wish that I knew more about Albanian history.  The League of Prizren was a political organization formed in 1878 aimed to defend Albanian inhabited territories from occupation.  The museum has traditional Albanian costumes and crafts as well as replications of destroyed historical artifacts from the League.

Pristina (Updated 1/15/11!)

We arrived in Kosovo last night via bus from Belgrade (after nearly missing the bus altogether and having to run after it until the driver took notice and stopped).  We are staying on the outskirts of Pristina, but our hotel is very nice.  Its obscure location has led to many interesting taxi drives, usually involving swerving around on the highway after we miss the exit and onto a very potholed road.  This problem only occurs when we hail a taxi from the center however, as we have a regular taxi driver who picks us up from the hotel that we have fun interactions with, despite the language barrier.  People in Kosovo are very friendly towards Americans and our driver happily made references to Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright.  Our hosts at the hotel are great - we have been communicating in French (Mom) and Italian (me) as they do not speak English.  Our stay comes with a really good breakfast and we have been drinking lots of NesCafe, which reminds Mom of her Dad, Fred.  

We made a trip into the city center today and were able to see a fair amount of landmarks while walking around since the center is somewhat small.  It is not difficult to get around, but street names are challenging at times since they have recently been changed to commemorate Albanian or international figures instead of those during the Yugoslav era.  Locals generally refer to things by landmarks.  We saw many political monuments, including the Newborn Monument which was put up when Kosovo declared independence in 2008.  

The graffiti isn't entirely vandalism - it was originally covered with Kosovar signatures and was first signed by the President and Prime Minister.

There are many people out and about in town, especially young people since schools and the university are very close by.  The National Library, just next to the university, is a very interesting architectural structure.  Evidently the head of the Communist Party asked at the official inauguration ceremony why the scaffolding hadn't been taken down (see picture below).

Just next to the library is the incomplete Serbian Orthodox Church, built during the 1990s with the intention of being the largest Orthodox Church in Kosovo, but construction halted in 1999.  It is still intended to be finished, but for now it looks fairly abandoned.

We are enjoying our stay very much.  Restaurants and taxis are incredibly cheap and the people are great.  And on a very happy note, the hotel has an adapter so my camera is back in business!

Belgrade Day 2

Got off to a late start this morning due to jet lag.  Some of us were able to shrug it off, while some of us did not...

(cheap shot picture of my mom sleeping removed! sorry Mom!)

While my Mom napped I got my bearings around the city.  Knowing Cyrillic has been very helpful for navigation.  After circling particular blocks many times before figuring out where I was going I finally reached the bus station and got our tickets to Pristina.  My Mom joined me afterwards and we went to the church of St. Sava (largest Orthodox church in the Balkans).  It is still under construction, but very cool nonetheless.

Afterwards we walked back towards the city center and had dinner at a restaurant called Caruso.  The meal was great and we took a walk back along Knez Mihailova towards Kalemegdan (a large park and fortress in Belgrade).  It was rainy and there was a lot of fog so the view wasn't as awesome as it usually is.

Trg Republike.  A popular meeting place for Belgraders (everyone says "kod konja" meaning "meet by the horse").

...and on that note, my camera battery died and I realized that my adapter only works on Apple products.  This either means camera phone photos or some kind of miracle.  Sorry everyone. :(