Prizren Trip

Prizren
After completing our various group tasks at both Slovene Village and the Dujake Village school on Monday morning (see earlier message), we grabbed a bite to eat at our homes and then packed up the vans for the drive to Prizren.

Prizren is a beautiful city in the southern part of Kosovo (between the Albanian and Macedonian borders). Our guide for the afternoon was an American named Rich Sweeny. Rich, a former police officer in Utah, now works for UNMIK (the United Nation's Mission in Kosovo). His job is to help advise the Kosovo Police Force (KPS) the local police agency developed by UNMIK after the war. Rich's wife, Wendy, spends two days a week assisting Liz in Gjakove.

According to Rich, Prizren was once the capital of Kosovo and was part of the Roman Empire. Some of the buildings in the area are more than 1000 years old. There is a Turkish bathhouse near the city center and many mosques. Prizren was and continues to be heavily influenced by Turkish settlers. Because of this Prizren didn't suffer the same level of destruction as other places in Kosovo during the war.

The Serbian Monastery
Before visiting the city center, we drove through the narrow, winding streets of Prizren and continued heading south along another breathtaking highway similar to the road we took to Rugove Canyon last week. Our destination was the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of the Arch Angels. As you can probably imagine, a number of the Albanian children in Liz's group did not want to visit a site so closely associated with the Serbs, so we dropped them off at a recreational area nearby (that included an artificial turf soccer field).

Keith and I visited Prizren one afternoon when we were here in 2002. I remember our driver took us out to the Monastery but we didn't get out of the car then. I remember however, that is was a beautiful place beside a river filled with historic architecture.

Sadly, it doesn't look that way now. The Monastery was badly damaged in the March 2004 riots that swept across Kosovo.

At the time, tensions were running high here in Kosovo and they boiled over after three Kosovar Albanian boys from South Mitrovica drowned in the Ibar River. For context, the Ibar River divides Mitrovica into two sections; North and South. It is what many journalists refer to as a "flashpoint" town. Kosovar Albanians live in South Mitrovica while the population in North Mitrovica is mainly of Serbian decent. South Mitrovica is much more prosperous (in Kosovo terms) than North Mitrovica. Keith and I were allowed to visit North Mitrovica in 2002 (for about three hours) but only because we were accompanied by French KFOR peacekeepers.

According to news accounts that I read at the time, another child who was with the boys that drowned told relatives they were being chased by Serbs. This sparked a wave of violence and riots against the small number of Serbs that still remain in Kosovo. Many of the Orthodox Churches across Kosovo were attacked and destroyed even though KFOR troops had been assigned to guard them. Although I cannot verify it now, I recall reading days after the riots that the child survivor in Mitrovica later told authorities his group was being chased by a dog rather than Serbs. True or not, this one incident clearly indicates that Kosovo has not yet healed from the conflict.

OK...back to the Monastery outside Prizren. The grounds resemble nothing like I remember from 2002. A German KFOR unit now guards the Monastery grounds round the clock. The grounds are surrounded by razor wire, sand bags and improvised rock walls made from mesh, plastic sheeting and crushed rock. It looks much more like a military fort than a place of worship. The military presence is so strong that we were not allowed to take photographs outside of the Monastery but we were allowed to take photos inside as long as we avoided the German tanks and guard towers monitoring various entrances.

We had to cross over a heavily guarded wooden and steel bridge to reach the actual grounds. The bridge reminds me of ones I see in old World War Two movies. We then filed past two German tanks and walked through ornate steel doors to reach the inner grounds.

According to the monk who graciously gave us a tour, the Monastery was built in the 14th Century and was one of the most beautiful in all of Europe at one time. At one time the Monastery boasted, a library, a dining room and hospital in addition to the main church.
The building I remember seeing previously is now a burned-out shell; much of its roof is caved in or missing. It is closest to the road and according to our guide was built in the 1990's after Communism ended in Eastern Europe. It was built as a museum to honor the ancient history of the Monastery and it contained a number of historical artifacts. Many of those artifacts were destroyed or burned during the riots.

I couldn't help but feel sad as I walked into the room that our guide described as the "most beautiful part of the church." The ceiling is charred and large burn patterns in the stone are all that remain of the Orthodox icons that once adorned the walls. The remnants of what must have been a gorgeous chandelier still hangs in the center of the small, circular room; it's twisted metal a symbol of just how much hatred is still here six years after the war has ended.
The Monastery is in the process of rebuilding, but I expect it will be a slow process.

The Long, Steep Hike
After we left the Monastery, we stopped at the recreation area to pick up the rest of Liz's group. Some of our youth and adults cooled their feet in the cool river water (same river that runs next to the Monastery) while others enjoyed a cool beverage.

We then headed back to Prizren to shop in the small stores near the river and visit the city's ancient fortress.

Have I mentioned that...IT IS REALLY HOT HERE! So what did most of us decide to do on what felt like the hottest day in history? We walked a mile up a very steep, winding, and narrow road to the top of the hill overlooking Prizren. This is where the ancient fortress is located.

Let me just say I got a week's worth of exercise on the walk up the hill and another week's worth when I walked back down. This path puts every Stairmaster, elliptical trainer and treadmill known to man to shame! Halfway up I was questioning my sanity but in the end I am glad I made the hike. You can see all of Prizren from the old fortress. Breathtaking (literally!) is the best way to describe it.

Along the path to the fortress, our participants got a small glimpse of the type of damage that was present throughout Kosovo immediately after the war. The area just below the fortress was a Serb enclave up until the March 2004 riots. Now many of the homes and shops are burned-out shells, missing roofs or have been reduced to a pile of rubble. Eerily, it looked like the same destruction Keith and I saw in North Mitrovica in 2002. It is a shame to see so much destruction in what otherwise is a beautiful location.

After the hike, we joined the others who didn't brave the hill in an area filled with small shops and outdoor cafes. Some in our group took in more of the sights in the area, some shopped and others ate dinner and ice cream.

(I've posted some scenic photos from the day below)

We left Prizren after dark and arrived back in Gjakove around 9:30pm. I immediately headed off to the internet cafe to update this blog and send new material to the Muscatine Journal. I didn't return to my house until after 11:30pm.

And if you think you are tired after reading this long entry, imagine how tired all of us here in Gjakove are! The heat combined with days crammed full of singing, art and sight seeing is really wearing us down.

Until next time...