After a delay caused by paperwork, and a wait in Tiranë, we finally got to Kosovo. It is only a short stay in Kosovo, we intentionally avoided Prishtina, and there are government warnings about travel in the north, so we’re just visiting Prizren. That may be a good thing as there were protests in Prishtina yesterday after several Kosovoan (Kosovan?) people were sentenced for war crimes at the Hague yesterday.
After we arrived and settled in we went for a walk to find some dinner. It turns out our hotel is perfectly positioned right next to the old town. We ate and wandered a little.
Prizren is the first place we’ve been (we think) that has calls to prayer five times a day and loud church bells every hour!
After breakfast this morning we set out on a self-guided/self-planned tour of Prizren.
First up was the church across the road from our hotel.
The church has a glass floor in one area to show the original wall of the church that stood here in the 4th-5th centuries.
From there we crossed the river and headed to an Orthodox Church that was not open for visitors,
then to the Prizren Archaeological Museum that is located in an old public Hammam.
The museum was really interesting and covered from the Paleolithic era to the Ottoman era. Apparently there are over 1000 additional artifacts that were taken from the museum by Serbia in 1998. We also climbed the 94 steps to the top of the tower for a view over Prizren.
Our next stop was a bit of an odd one known as “Door 52”. It is an old Ottoman doorway standing alone by the side of the road at the base of a hill.
We wandered along the river, had a cold drink, crossed back over the river to walk a few more streets and took advantage of the lovely day to have an icecream.
How much longer will icecream weather last? We’re currently enjoying the break from temps in high 30s, 30 itself feels much more reasonable!
After crossing back across the river we sipped water from the Çezma në Shatërvan, an ancient fountain that legend has it, if you drink from it, you will return to Prizren.
Then it was beer of the day time.
After our beverage in the shade we went to visit the Sinan Pasha Mosque – it’s 400 years old and has a beautifully painted domed ceiling.
The marble outside was lovely and cool on our feet before we put shoes back on!
We went to visit Orthodox Cathedral of St. George but that wasn’t open so we proceeded to the Mother Teresa Museum. The museum is here because her father was born here, she herself was born after the family moved to Skopje – it was all still one country back then.
We left Prizren and drove towards North Macedonia, hopeful that our updated paperwork would make crossing the border possible. It did, but after lining up at the regular border we were told we had to go back into Kosovo and cross using the truck facility because our car is a commercial vehicle.
So again we u-turned, drove back and followed a truck to the other border crossing road. Our one little 2 seater van between semi-trailers and B-Doubles. It felt a bit insane, but what could we do?! We eventually got to the weighbridge and had to show passports, car rego, car insurance paperwork, the permisison and copies of Mark’s ID that he had prepared for us for this reason. We then had to go to another building to get a customs approval document to be allowed to enter. Luckily we had nothing booked!
We found where our apartment is, grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch then met the host to get entry.
A few hours later we headed out for dinner to ‘Le Petite Chef’-significantly cheaper to do that here than in Brisbane. The meal was nice and entertaining.
It was located near Macedonia Square so we saw the Alexander the Great fountain and half a dozen other statues in the one square.
This morning we walked into town along the river. We noted dozens and dozens of statues all along the river, on bridges, on top of buildings, around buildings…basically everywhere. There are SO MANY STATUES!!!
We decided to go to the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle for Independence as that’s something we don’t know much about and is unique to here. It was a really well done museum. It covered from around the 1700s to the 1980s.
There were obviously information boards, but also wax figures of key people, historical artifacts related to the relevant era and a huge number of very large paintings that really added to the story. Some of the artwork was amazing.
Unfortunately the museum story stops before Macedonia actually got independence so there’s no information about that at all! It took a good few hours to get through and read everything.
After that we walked around a bit, passed some statues, crossed a bridge and ended up back at Macedonia Square where we were last night.
We had some lunch then returned to our apartment. Kevin later popped out to a pub that was showing the Leeds game and I knitted.
Today we walked back into town to visite the old bazaar of Skopje, what we’d been told was amazing and second only to the Istanbul Grand Bazaar. Sadly it was underwhelming. Perhaps following the beauty, scale and bustle of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul we were always destined for disappointment. We didn’t find the promised artisan stores, no traditional craftsmen, no folk art or filigree anything. However if you want gold, a wedding dress, a suitcase or a magnet, it’s the place to go.
We walked up the hill to the Mustafa Pasha Mosque, as with other mosques, shoes off outside, cover up and step inside.
This was less grand than others we’ve seen. It was built in 1492, partially destroyed in 1963 due to an earthquake. It has been restored.
There was a nice view over the city from there too.
This evening we did a 6 course Macedonian tasting menu with paired Macedonian wines. It was delicious. The staff were great with their descriptions of the food and wine and how they relate to Macedonian history and culture. The wines were all fabulous. Who knew?!
First up was a cheese in a filo pastry. The cheese is fermented for 3 months and is served with a fig preserve to combat saltiness. This was paired with
white wine, Zhilavka. Both were delicious. This was Sarah’s favourite dish.
Course 2 was chicken breast and liver pâté accompanied by strawberry jam and slightly grilled bread. The wine was Smederevka another white.
Next up was a wild mushroom risotto. The smell as it was delivered was amazing, however the taste did not match the smell. This was accompanied by a Stanushina rosé.
Course 4 was a trio of aged/dried meats. The restaurant dries their own meats. We had our first red wine, Prokupec, we both liked this dish.
Our final main course was pork fillet with leek, carrot, macerated plums and artichoke cream. The pork was a bit dry but helped by the accompaniments. The Vranec reserva red wine was really good.
We finished with a very tasty apple dessert served with home made whipped cream – forgot to take a photo! (3/6 pics will have to do!) This was Kevin’s favourite dish of the night. It was served with Temjanika dessert wine, a bit like a muscat bought a really good evening to an end.
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