I have ZERO memory of writing this, but I found this in my drafts from 2023, and it might be of use to someone, so enjoy – 2025 Heather

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to visit about anywhere off the beaten path – there isn’t much in Prague or Amsterdam that hasn’t been covered a thousand times over already.

Recently I visited Kosovo, and it was nice to be ‘back on my bullshit’, so to speak. There’s a lot here that’s worth noting. In addition to the obvious places – the NEWBORN sign, historic mosques, the fort of Prizren – here’s some other things in Kosovo to consider.

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The Independence Museum… if you can get in 🗽

Information on any museum at all in Kosovo is scarce as hens teeth, and I could find barely anything on the Kosovo Independence House. Still, the nascent country’s political history is the exact kind of thing I find weirdly appealing, so I managed to track down the museum and confirm it exists. It’s right outside the Prishtina FC stadium, down the road from the main entrance.

Unfortunately… it was closed. I’m not sure why, I arrived on a Tuesday afternoon which should be well within the opening hours. But nobody appeared to be home. I peeked inside and saw flags, maps and scale models so it might be worth your time. There’s only a couple of rooms though so it shouldn’t take too long to look around.

As I was leaving, I got too close to a stray dog – it jumped up and started snarling and barking at me. A passerby saved my skin by yelling at the dog. It turns out not all the stray dogs are friendly, so be careful!

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Get up close to a political monument 🌐

Kosovo was mostly saved via intervention from NATO, and they’re very grateful for it. A lot of monuments were built to say thank you, many of which you can see from your coach as you drive between cities. But there’s also one in Prizren if you want a closer look.

About a fifteen minute walk from the old town, next to a busy roundabout, you can get up close to this monument saluting the NATO forces who helped save Prizren from being obliterated by the Serbian military in 1999. There’s lots of NATO flags, and a particular dedication to the Italian soldiers who helped protect the city.

There’s not a huge amount at the monument, to be honest. But if you’re stuck in Prizren for five hours, because it turns out coaches to Tirana are nowhere near as frequent as you thought, and you’ve already seen everything in what’s basically a small city anyway, so you’re bored and trying to kill time until the next bus finally arrives, you might want to consider having a looksie.

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Witness the grim fate of a UNESCO World Heritage Site

As a consequence of the 1999 war of independence, and decades of ethnic tensions between Serbians and Albanians before that, the Serb population of Prizren was essentially ethnically cleansed from the city. There’s now only a handful of Serbs left, out of a population that once numbered in the thousands.

Unfortunately, this mistreatment also extended to historic sites associated with Serbia. The Our Lady of Ljeviš Cathedral is – or was – the main place of worship for the Orthodox Serbs in the city. In 2004, during ethnic riots that gripped Kosovo and led to further international intervention, the cathedral was firebombed and burned to a cinder.

The ruins were placed under UNESCO protection two years later, although in practice it hasn’t done much as the cathedral is clearly falling apart. It’s now surrounded by fences and barbed wire, and some of the windows have been blocked up with plywood.

You can’t actually enter the church, but if you’re curious you can walk around the exterior, to see just how much damage the riots did. Some sources online say there’s been some restoration work, but if that’s true then there’s a long, long way to go.

You can’t get inside though. The gate is locked. Wikivoyage claimed you could show your passport to a policeman on guard to gain access – I did find the guard, sat in a little cabin nearby, but he wouldn’t let me in. Perhaps it’s a new security policy.