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Trip to Prizren
It was a beautiful morning in Prishtina and we had a great view of the city and the surrounding area from the top floor breakfast room of our hotel. Afterwards, we walked to the University of Prishtina and heard a lecture on the Kosovo Conflict and the issues of the newly emerging country by Dr. Afrim Hoti, professor of political science. Several students joined us as well and offered their comments and perspectives.
Our afternoon excursion began with a stop at the Serbian Orthodox Gračanica Monastery, just outside Prishtina. It was founded in the 14th century and it is located in a Serbian enclave or municipality. We then continued our van trip to Prizren, about an hour and a half south of Prishtina. The mountain scenery was spectacular!
In Prizren, we visited the League of Prizren Historical Museum, which was destroyed by the Serbians in 1999, but rebuilt shortly thereafter. It was a good opportunity to learn more about Albanian history. The museum staff member gave us half-price tickets to visit the museum since we were Americans! Kosovars are so grateful to us and NATO for the 1999 intervention.
We then visited a Serbian Orthodox Church, a Catholic Cathedral and the Sinan Pasha Mosque, all located within a few blocks of each other in old city Prizren. These visits added to our understanding of Prizren as a model of a tolerant multi-ethnic and multi-religious city in Kosovo. As a woman, I appreciated the opportunity to visit a mosque without having to cover my head and not enter through a separate door. Although most Kosovars are Muslim, religion does not separate relationships and cooperation in the community. Separation of church and state is important to them.
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