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.  :)