Peje (or Peja, or Pece if you're a Serbian) has a few things of note, but is not much more interesting than Gjakova - if it is more interesting at all. The "in between" town, Decan, is rather boring, and is no more exciting than the last in between town I visited, Xerxe.
We had to stop before entering the town to make way for six Italian tanks heading out; their guns were turned backward and covered - they were definitely not blowing up anyone today. Peje is run by the Italians, just as Gjakova is, if any of it matters. I didn't see any orthodox churches whatsoever in the town, but did see three mosques - one reconstructed with the help of Saudi Arabia. The most interesting thing in Peja is a massive winding market (or Carsije) of old style, where you can buy anything you need for your house but nothing of interest for a tourist - except perhaps those Albanian hats that the old guys wear.
That is something interesting as well - the old villagers in their traditional dress. Often they are treated a bit rudely by the younger generations of Albanians. Why? Because they're dirt poor, and often don't pay their full fare. On the bus here one old guy held up a bag of pharmaceuticals, and then his one deutschmark, half of the fare. The conductor was feeling nice that day, but on other bus rides these people have been swiftly kicked off when it is discovered that they cannot pay.






Also on the countryside here, aside from a plethora of destroyed buildings - KLA gravesites. I am assuming so because they are always carvings of young men on black marble, with the Albanian flag hanging from them. For a country keen on independence, they sure make that flag ubiquitous.
Back to Peja, though - there is a wonderful vegetable market on the edge of town, with an incredible variety of peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, and some occasional and not so ripe fruits, as well as chickens. All of this is interesting to wander around, but not very interesting to photograph or from which to buy souvenirs. It's an old style market, in an old Turkish quarter of town, and it's one of Peja's only saving graces. The other one is the mountains, which are beautiful as usual, and have the feel of Eastern Europe to them. Unlike the mountains of my own country, Balkan mountains are stained with generations of blood. Hiking through these hills would be a journey through history.





One other thing of intense interest is how Cyrillic has been spray painted out on all of the road signs throughout Kosovo, except in the environs of Mitrovica.






I am positive that some of the people buying vegetables at the marketplace are IC staff, or soldiers, but it's hard to tell. There is a new hotel that's open, south of the bus station, on the main road into town. It's Hotel Jusaj. Tel 03934 456 or mobile phone 044139043 . The Blue Guide does not mention it, so it must be very new. The rooms were clean, affordable at 35DM a night for a single room.

Apparently there is a Serbian monastery near Peje, but Donylla was saying that there was one near Pristina as well that could be visited, so perhaps I will ask her to help me visit that one. And on a saturday night, at 8pm, I was expecting Peje to be at least half as hopping as Prizren - but, instead it is about one tenth as hopping, dead almost, with none of the "pizzerias" to be found that were listed in my trusted Blue Guide as being near the UNMIK headquarters. So instead I bought some beer, Fanta, and cookies from one of the dozens of grocers along every street, and sit here writing this. I guess it's early to bed, and up early tomorrow and back to Pristina to at least chat with Vladim, and maybe even go somewhere with him. Mitrovica is on my list, the last town on my list.
....And the two main suppliers of goods to Kosovo - can you guess? Consumer goods, that is: Slovenia and Turkey. I just do not know how they get their stuff here from Slovenia, without passing through Yugoslavia. Montenegro? Are there not Serbian checkpoints there?













Back to Pristina, Vladim, and Mitrovica....



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