Even though the war between Kosovo and Serbia officially ended in years ago, tensions and fighting between the two countries have continued. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a separate country and still considers it part of Serbia. Locals and tourists are not permitted to cross the border from Kosovo into Serbia, but travel in the opposite direction is usually OK, at least for non-Serbians. Fortunately we learned that prior to planning our Balkan road trip. 

Just a few kilometers after crossing the border into Kosovo from North Macedonia we were surprised to see the speed limit sign pictured at the top of this post, maybe left from the 1998-99 war between Kosovo and Serbia. During our 10 days in Kosovo we saw a number of road signs with both Roman and Serbian Cyrillic letters with the Cyrillic text mostly covered with spray paint because it is a large part of Serbian culture. The most common language in Kosovo is Albanian. That is not surprising since Albanians account for about 93% of the country’s population, with the rest being equally distributed between Serbs, Bosnians, and Turks.

Kosovo officially gained its independence in 2008 and is the youngest country in Europe. Since then the government leaders of Prishtina, Kosovo’s capital city, focused on tearing down old, but not necessarily damaged, structures in order to build new ones with a fresh, modern look. As a result, there are not many historical places to visit in the city. 

Mother Teresa and her parents were originally from the Balkan Region and several countries like to “claim” her as theirs. She was born in Skopje, capital of North Macedonia, and we visited her memorial chapel and museum while we were there. Her father was born in Prizren, Kosovo and so the country honors her with a statue, name of a central pedestrian street, and a large cathedral, all in the country’s capital city. 

Construction for the Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa began in the early 2000s and even though it is still not completely finished, services are held there daily, weekly, and on holy days. Ibrahim Rugova, former Kosovo President and a practicing Muslim, set the cathedral’s cornerstone in 2005  Five years later the unfinished cathedral was inaugurated as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of Mother Teresa’s birth. Over 90% of Prishtina’s population is Muslim while only 1% is Roman Catholic. And it is significant that many local Muslims strongly support the Catholics as part of the community and some even attend religious holiday services in the new cathedral.  

Made with 20,000 round-headed bronze pins, the Heroinat Memorial in city center represents the 20,000 women and girls raped by the Serbian Army during the 1998-1999 war. The large 3-D piece displays a Kosovar woman’s face and stands 5.5 meters high, 4.5 meters wide, and 2 meters deep.

The Kosovo National Library is one of the few remaining buildings in Prishtina built in the 1980s. Designed in the brutalist style by Yugoslavian architect Andrija Mutnjaković, the library features many large concrete cubes and 99 exterior white domes of varying sizes. Some historians believe the domes represent the white hats (plisi) from one of Kosovo’s national costumes for men. 

From 1998 to 1999 the Serbian army took control of the building to use it as a command center. The military intentionally burned or destroyed books, resource materials, and historical collections; broke furniture; and dumped the card catalog haphazardly into the cellar. After that the building became the temporary home for Albanian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees. Fortunately the library has since been restored to its original purpose. Only the main floor lobby, amphiteather, and meeting hall are open to the public. 

At the start of the Kosovo War in 1998, construction workers and managers abandoned the six-year-old Christ the Savior Cathedral project.  The shell of the unfinished Serbian Orthodox Church stands just across the park from the Kosovo National Library and it is unclear if the builders even got the proper permits before construction commenced.  Some locals would like the structure to be demolished because it is a reminder of Serbian rulership. Over time the abandoned site has been the target of graffiti and vandalism. The University of Prishtina and the Orthodox Church are currently in a legal dispute as to who owns the land and the building.  In the meantime, the local government has fenced off the property to prevent more defacement and damage. 

From Prishtina we drove just 62 kilometers southwest to Prizren. Descriptions and characteristics of our second Kosovo city include: most beautiful city, capital prior to Prishtina, second largest city, and has a culturally plus ethnically diverse population.

The Bristica River runs through center of town and quite a few bridges cross the waterway. The Old Stone Bridge, the most renown one, was originally built in the 16th century. Unfortunately it was damaged during the Balkan Wars and then the remaining portion was washed away in the 1979 flood. The rebuilt stone bridge is a popular photography subject, especially just a bit before sunset with the Kalaja Fortress and Sinan Pasha Mosque in the background. 

On our first morning in Prizren we walked up to the Kalaja Fortress, built during the Roman era and later expanded in both the 14th century Serbian Empire and succeeding Ottoman Empire. Most of the stronghold structures were destroyed during World War I. But fortunately some of it has been restored, including portions of a hammam, mosque, tunnel system, and fortress walls. 

While at the Kalaja Fortress we could easily see the 14th century Church of the Holy Savior. Since 1990 the Republic of Serbia has protected this Serbian Orthodox Church, even though the church is in Kosovo. The church was significantly damaged during the protests and skirmishes in 2004 and has remained closed since then.  The Prizren and national governments refrain from doing any work to make the structure and site less of a safety hazard or demolish the church because those activities would be viewed by the Serbians as acts of aggression. 

Kosovo is a Muslim-majority country, so it was not surprising to see a large mosque in Prizren’s historical center. Named after a Grand General in the Ottoman Navy serving in the mid 16th century, the Sinan Pasha Mosque was built in 1615 with stones from a nearby, abandoned Serbian Orthodox Monastery. The mosque is closed to visitors, so we were not able to see its colorful paintings and high ceilings. 

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor is reportedly where Mother Teresa’s parents were baptized. The Roman Catholic Church, built in 1870, includes beautiful frescoes which artisans restored from 2012 to 2022.  

Pejë, our third city in Kosovo, sits on the west end of the country, near the Montenegro border. The small city, with less than 50,000 residents, is called a “gateway to nature” with rivers, caves, mountains, forests, and lakes nearby. The highlight of our time there was a drive through Rugova Canyon followed by a hike to Lake Liqenat on just a portion of the Peaks of the Balkans Trail. The mostly rocky trail to the lake meanders back and forth across the border between Kosovo and Montenegro. The glacial lake sits at the base of tall peaks of the Accursed Mountain Range and the western 1/3 of the lake is actually in Montenegro. We so enjoyed the abundance of spring flowers along the trail and at Lake Liqenat.

Now on to Montenegro through an official border post.