WEEKENDER
Explore this largely unsung Balkan nation and its burgeoning adventure travel scene, with monasteries and minarets on the doorstep of mighty mountain canyons in the southwest of the country.
A youthful energy pervades Kosovo. Europe’s youngest country is also home to the region’s youngest population, with 55% under 30. In the 20 years since the Kosovo War of 1998 to 1999, which culminated in the nation’s 2008 declaration of independence, Ottomanera villages have been rebuilt, Byzantine fortresses have been restored and nature tourism has taken off, with activities centred in the mountain ranges Kosovo shares with its Balkan neighbours. Prizren, the country’s cultural centre during the period of Ottoman rule (1455 to 1912), remains Kosovo’s most charming city. A 90-minute drive north, smaller Peja’s appeal lies in its location at the foot of the Rugova Canyon. Carved over millennia by a retreating glacier, the gorge has been central to the city’s rebirth as an adventure hub. These contrasting cities offer a well-rounded taste of the country — one of Europe’s only Muslim-majority nations — within easy reach of the capital, Pristina. Euros stretch further here than just about anywhere else in Europe, and while Kosovo’s tourism infrastructure is still developing, a reliable bus network makes getting around a breeze.
DAY ONE
Morning
Prizren is home to an intriguing clutch of museums overlooking its namesake river’s undulating northern bank. Begin at the Archaeology Museum, home to hundreds of artefacts unearthed in and around the city. The collection is housed in a 15th-century former Ottoman bathhouse, set beneath a clocktower dating from 1912. Climb its 100-odd stairs for sweeping views over the Old Town before moving on to the Ethnographical Museum on Bujar Godeni Street. Set in one of the city’s few remaining Ottoman era homes, its eclectic displays of clothing, furniture and curios offer a window into 19th-century Prizren, then ablaze with radical ideas. For further insight, pay a visit to the Complex of the Albanian League of Prizren, the site of a 1878 assembly that saw local leaders first propose a united Albanian state that would have included what is now Kosovo.
Afternoon
Cross the 16th-century stone bridge spanning the river and tuck into a traditional lunch at Ambient, a restaurant with tables spread along the waterfront. Work off your tava (a casserole-style dish cooked in a clay pot) with a short but steep hike up past the Old Town’s lofty hillside church to Prizren Fortress. Originally built by the Byzantines and expanded by a succession of Serbian kings and Ottoman rulers, the fortress site has been in use since the Bronze Age. Damaged during the Yugosl
