Kosovo by cinxxx

Thread contents:

01. Ferizaj/Uroševac
02. Prevalla/Prevalac
03. Prizren
04. Brod
05. Peja/Peć
06. Patriarchate of Peć
07. Rugova Canyon
08. Gjakova/Đakovica
09. Visoki Dečani
10. Gračanica
11. Gazimestan
12. Vushtrri/Vučitrn
13. Banjska Monastery
14. Zvečan Fortress
15. Mitrovica
16. Pristina

The view I had from my balcony in Kosovo Polje / Fushë Kosovë

Kosovo Polje / Fushë Kosovë by cinxxx, on Flickr

Kosovo Polje / Fushë Kosovë by cinxxx, on Flickr

And my rental car

Kosovo Polje / Fushë Kosovë by cinxxx, on Flickr

Uroševac / Ferizaj by cinxxx, on Flickr

Ferizaj/Uroševac is a city and municipality in Kosovo. It is the third largest city in Kosovo and the administrative center of the homonymous district.

The city of Ferizaj has been populated since the prehistoric era by the Starčevo, Vinča and Baden culture. During the Ottoman period, Ferizaj served as a trading center on the route between Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Ferizaj has always been considered as a city where tolerance and coexistence in terms of religion and culture has been part of the society in the last centuries. In 1999, the base of the United States Army were established in the City. It is the largest and the most expensive foreign military base built by the Americans in Europe, since the Vietnam War.

The city suffered some damage during the 1999 Kosovo War, with some of its Albanian-populated neighborhoods being shelled and burned by the Yugoslav Army. Following the war, the city has seen serious inter-communal unrest, which has resulted in almost all of the Serbians, and other non-Albanian inhabitants, either being expelled or fleeing.

The Big Mosque of Mulla Veseli built in 1891, and the St. Uroš Orthodox Cathedral in the centre of Ferizaj are considered symbolic of religious tolerance between Muslim Albanians and Christian Serbs. Because the mosque and the church are next to one another, many people like to take photos of them. The mosque was destroyed during World War II, but then rebuilt. During the Kosovo War in 1999 neither was destroyed, but in March 2004 during unrest in Kosovo, the church was attacked.

.....

Prizren (Albanian: Prizreni, Serbian: Призрен; pronounced [prîzrɛn]) is a city and municipality located in the Prizren District of Kosovo.[a] According to the 2011 census, the city of Prizren has 85,119 inhabitants, while the municipality has 177,781 inhabitants.

Prizren is a historic city located on the banks of the Prizren Bistrica river, and on the slopes of the Šar Mountains (Albanian: Malet e Sharrit) in the southern part of Kosovo. The municipality has a border with Albania and the Republic of Macedonia.

By road the city is 99 kilometres (62 miles) northwest of Skopje, 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of Pristina and 175 kilometres (109 miles) northeast of Tirana.

The town of Prizren did not suffer much during the Kosovo War but its surrounding municipality was badly affected 1998–1999. Before the war, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe estimated that the municipality's population was about 78% Kosovo Albanian, 5% Serb and 17% from other national communities. At the end of the war in June 1999, most of the Albanian population returned to Prizren. Serbian and Roma minorities fled, with the OSCE estimating that 97% of Serbs and 60% of Romani had left Prizren by October.

On March 17, 2004, during the Unrest in Kosovo some Serb cultural monuments in Prizren were damaged, burned or destroyed, such as old Orthodox Serb churches:

• Our Lady of Ljeviš from 1307 (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• the Church of Holy Salvation
• Church of St. George (the city's largest church)
• Church of St. George (Runjevac)
• Church of St. Kyriaki, Church of St. Nicolas (Tutić Church)
• the Monastery of The Holy Archangels,
• Prizren's Orthodox seminary of Saint Cyrillus and Methodius

The municipality of Prizren is still the most culturally and ethnically heterogeneous of Kosovo, retaining communities of Bosniaks, Turks, and Romani in addition to the majority Kosovo Albanian population live in Prizren. Only a small number of Kosovo Serbs remains in Prizren and area, residing in small villages, enclaves, or protected housing complexes. Furthermore, Prizren's Turkish community is socially prominent and influential, and the Turkish language is widely spoken even by non-ethnic Turks.

Prizren by cinxxx, on Flickr

Prizren by cinxxx, on Flickr

Prizren by cinxxx, on Flickr

Prizren by cinxxx, on Flickr

Prizren by cinxxx, on Flickr

Prizren by cinxxx, on Flickr