We have been cycling the wonderful Trans Dinarica route through the Western Balkans having started in Tirana, Albania 24 days, 15,925 m of climbing and 1057 km ago. (See previous blogs). The route has taken us on and off-road through beautiful mountainous and very rural areas of Albania and North Macedonia. This blog starts as we cross in to Kosovo and goes through Montenegro for a day then on to Serbia. We were unable to cross directly from Kosovo to Serbia because of the current political situation.
Below is a map of our route across this section. If you are looking at this on the email you will not be able to see the map, so click “read on blog” at the top right of the email, this will also give you all the last minute corrections I made after posting!!
From Brezovica to Prizren
Our first full day in Kosovo was great. We set off for an easy climb up to 1509 m through lovely, shady, beech woodland and next to the bubbling Lumbardhi river. This kept the temperature down to a nice 21 C all the way up. We had occasional glimpses of the snow capped Sharr Mountains as we climbed. The top was a bit different, full on tourist land with cafes and lots of market stands selling 1 kg jars of local honey.
Heading down was in full sun but lovely as our speed created a cooling wind. Near the bottom we turned off to visit the Monastery of Holy Archangels. It is a sacred place for Serbians and protected with a Police presence as there has been violance in the past. We had to show our passports before going in. It is a massive ruin now having been founded in the 14th century. It has been destroyed, burned and looted many times over the centuries, and the Sinan Pasha Mosque in Prizren was built out of its stones. Even the reconstruction has been destroyed in the more recent conflicts. After looking around we sat at a table on their terrace and were offered, as guests, complimentary tea, coffee or raki. Also on the table were delicious Turkish delight, which I could not resist. As it was lunchtime they also brought out Balkan filo and cheese pie and meatballs. All this time a visiting volunteer from Serbia was chatting to us and the Serbian family who were sitting with us, telling us about the history both distant and recent.
Back on the road the traffic had built up unpleasantly with dangerous overtaking on the hairpins. Luckily we had planned to turn off onto a gravel track. This took us steeply, at first, up the hill into woods and then across to the Kalaja Fortress high above Prizren. This site was originally bronze age, then after many reincarnations it was Ottoman in 1450. What is here now was mainly reconstructed in 18th century.
From there we dropped, and I mean dropped incredibly steeply down some narrow cobbled streets, barely able to stop, down into Prizren. We suddenly came out into Shatervan Square full of loud busker music, 100’s of cafes, 1000’s of tourists and the old stone bridge. This, in fact, is not so old as it was washed away in 1979 and rebuilt. But the original was built in 16th Century.
Prizren to Djakobe
It was really hot when we set off the next day, 33 C in the shade so much, much hotter in the sun on the tarmac, about mid 40 C something. Thankfully we had a short day and got into our hotel, already melting, at 12.15
The first half of the morning was interesting looking at the different agriculture here at 300 m compared with what we have seen up to now in the mountains. Most of what we have seen has been strip farming where the fields of grain, hay, onions or tobacco were small enough to be tilled and harvested by hand or basic mechanical assistance, and the fields have been full of wild flowers. Yesterday, at altitude, there was a lot of soft fruit, such as raspberries, and large apiaries, for extensive honey harvest for all the baklava they eat! But down here, on the fertile plain between the Sharr Mountains and the Dinaric Alps the fields are bigger. Not big by English or American standards, but big enough to be using larger tractors to plant and harvest and also to spray with chemicals, which is probably why there are very few wild flowers in this area.
Gjakobe to Peje
Thankfully the next day was cooler. It started sunny but a brisk breeze kept us cool and by 10 it had clouded over and was getting misty. So it stayed about 27 C which was great.
It was flattish to start then a slow climb up to Pejë. Generally all the town and villages we have been through in Kosovo have just been full of houses built in the last 30 years, or currently being built as the older houses were destroyed during the war. But today we started seeing some unusual looking very old buildings which are called Kulla. These are 18th century to 20th century fortified residential houses of two or three floors. The ground floor served as a barn, the first floor for the family and the top floor was the men’s quarters. I had taken pictures of several of these as we went through the villages so was very surprised when I found out that we were staying in the oldest Kulla in Pejë. It had been completely destroyed in the 1980s during the war, so it was a restored building, but interesting all the same.
And talking about fortified houses, I have noticed that most of the newer village houses in this area have been built surrounded by a wall at least 10 foot high and with metal gates of similar height. The community here must be feeling insecure and this may be linked to all the Albanian flags that are flying in this part of Kosovo.
Pejë itself, which also didn’t fare well in the war, is a pretty place right under the spectacular Accursed Mountains. We wandered around the town visiting the old (rebuilt) bazaar. It sounds interesting but apart from amazing gold stores is mainly full of tat like most markets these days.
Into Montenegro: From Peje to Rozaje
Our first day in Montenegro we went up, a lot, and then came down, not so much. It was very hot and there wasn’t much shade on the way up. That about sums up the day really.
While we were still in Kosovo we had heard some big explosions on the way up to the border. At about 1400 m we came across lots of Halo Mine Clearance trucks. We chatted to their medic who said they had found two this morning and detonated them, which is what we heard. Halo is based in Scotland but mainly funded by the USA, and have teams all over the world.
Some way from the top we left Kosovo and made sure they stamped us out on our passports, so hopefully we won’t have any issues getting into Serbia. About 10 km later and nearly at the top we finally entered Montenegro. The passport man tried to be a little fierce but couldn’t think what to ask us. It didn’t help that we couldn’t pronounce the name of the town we were staying in that night.
Finally at the top it was 2.30, having left the bottom at 8.30 and climbed from 1385 m to1795 m. So we stopped and ate everything in our food bag. I was glad I was carrying several other drinks apart from water.
We shot down the hill and just before Rožaje we turned down a rough track hoping to find the Jala Natural Resort where we had booked a log cabin. We didn’t have any Internet; as we are only in Montenegro for one day it didn’t seem worth it. But it meant we cycled around in circles for a while until we found it up an incredibly steep hill, of course. We were fed up with towns so thought we would stay in the countryside for a change.
Montenegro to Serbia: Rozaje to Tutin
It was a lovely ride, perfect weather, sunny but not too hot as we were still high up, and beautiful rolling hills of flower filled meadows and rural dwellings mixed with forest. Overall we climbed 585 m but it was all gentle. It was different countryside too, more “Hills are Alive” than the rugged mountains of yesterday. You almost expected Julie Andrews to appear and start singing.
At one point we stopped to photograph a small herd of cows happily munching grass with their bells ringing, when the unnoticed bull in the group started noisily getting a bit possessive. At that point we realized that the only thing between them and us was a light piece of string. So we started pedalling!
We passed through the Montenegro Customs very easily and set off for the 5 km downhill ride to the Serbian border. We were expecting a nice gravel ride but those pesky civil engineers have been at it and are just putting the finishing touches to a wide, smooth tarmac. It was nearly as easy to get though the Serbian border, only we couldn’t find anyone. We shouted and knocked on the cabin window but nothing. It was only when Bernie went through the barrier and knocked on the cabin on the other side that the bleary eyed customs office appeared, all smiles. Then we were through in no time.
One of the things I have been wondering about ever since starting this ride is the number of new houses being built everywhere. Especially as many of the younger people have left the Balkan countries, leaving reducing populations. Apparently most of the housing and commercial building is being funded by the EU and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other international institutions. 1.2 billion euros in fact!
Arriving in Tutin at midday, just as it was getting hot, we were walking around the central square looking for lunch when a waiter appeared from a nearby bar and said one of their clients wanted to buy us a drink as a welcome. That was very kind and the freshly squeezed lemon and soda in the shade was just what we needed.
I will write about our time cycling through Serbia and Bosnia in the next blog.