Hiking Destination: Bogë, Rugova Valley

The word for puppy in Albanian is kalush.

I spent a lovely weekend away from Prizren. The western side of Kosovo is flanked by the Albanian Alps. I've been told that the only areas that were mined by the Serbian army during the war in 1999 was in the mountains along the border with Albania, so, to get my hiking fix, I headed to a small town close to the border with Montenegro.

Note to those who gasp at the thought of me hiking in mined areas: Where I was, there were tons of sheep and cows roaming the hillsides. If there were mines, chances are the animals would have found them already (especially considering I stuck to roads and established paths).

My destination was Bogë, a tiny hamlet in the Rugova Valley a few scant kilometers from the Montenegrin border. On Friday morning, I hopped a bus up to Peja (80 km/50 miles from Prizren, 2 hours, and 4€. The bus times were 7:40, 10:40, and 1:40). After arriving in Peja, it started pouring, so I ducked into a small cafe for lunch (pizza). After the rain subsided, I walked around a bit and eventually made my way back to the bus station where the owners of the hotel I had booked at were waiting to pick me up. Usually, there is no shuttle service into the Rugova Valley and on up to Bogë, but when reservations were made, the owners said they were driving up from Pristina and it would be possible to be picked up at the bus station.

A view of Bogë from up on the hillside.

The white building was where I spent 2 nights.

The accommodations were okay. I stayed at the Alpin Resort Rudi. My two gripes: The bathroom floor had a standing pool of water (thankfully I had flip flops with me for such an occasion), and there wasn't any hot water. There was lukewarm water, but it wasn't warm enough for a comfortable shower. However, the food was quite good. For a night in the hotel, breakfast, and dinner, the cost was 20€. By western standards, that's cheap. But it seemed a bit high for Kosovo especially considering the water situation. Also, I think it would have been quite noisy if there had been other guests in the place. The walls were not insulated against sound. The owners had a little Sharr dog named Sharri (Sharr dogs are bred in the Sharr mountains near Prizren). It was a cute little bugger that liked to lick my toes and nibble on my heels.

The hiking was great. It was all on roads, but the scenery was breath taking. Word was that there are bears, but all I saw were cows and sheep.

The flowers were in full bloom. I was surprised to see familiar-looking flowers like the ones below that are quite similar to forget-me-nots (the state flower of Alaska).

It rained every day. Fortunately, though, there were some breaks in the weather. (And since I always pack a dry bag for my camera, I wasn't too fussed about the rain.) From the hotel, it's possible to pick a road and start walking. I've found that in Kosovo, hiking either means walking on roads or going cross-country. The cross-country walking is pretty easy (no rivers to cross or large sandy mountains to walk over). It also seems pretty hard to get lost. There's always a village that's visible. I have yet to be any place where I can't see evidence of civilization.

Looking back into Kosovo from the border with Montenegro.

The Bradt guide for Kosovo states that you can't actually drive into Montenegro from Bogë. Perhaps you can't do it legally, but there is road the entire way up to the border, and it also looked like the road continued down the other side. If you had a vehicle with decent tires and 4WD, it would be no problem.

Bogë has a small ski hill. I might try going back this winter to give it a try. I was surprised at how dead the town was this weekend. I would have expected there to be at least one other person in the hotel. The only people I ran into on my walks were shepards. Kosovo has tourism potential. I'm glad to be here experiencing it before it gets around to becoming the next Croatia (or Montenegro or Albania).