Part 2: Brod to Novo Brdo

I left Brod on Sunday afternoon, happy with my hike and disgusted by the accommodations. As if to rub it in, I passed several piles of drying sheep manure on my way out of town, which made me giggle a bit. Because there are no trees in the area for winter heating, dried sheep manure is used to keep the home fires burning.

I drove back to Prizren and headed east into the Sharr mountains towards Brezovica. In the winter, Brezovica is Kosovo's ski destination. In the summer, the resort is empty but there were plenty of people enjoying their vacation homes and fresh air. Brezovica is considered to be a Serbian area, and, as such, there are restaurants that serve pork.

A snowless ski area.

After checking out the ski area, I headed for a restaurant with creekside tables that looked busier than any of the other restaurants. There was no menu and the waiter spoke no Albanian and only a smidge of English. Since I have absolutely no Serbian, I just asked for "mixed pork" and a "mixed salad." The salad was good: grated carrots, shredded cabbage, tomatoes, olives, and potato salad. The plate of pork was okay. The sausage was a bit greasy and the chop and kebap were overcooked. However, pig is pig and I was happy to have a little bit of pork to eat.

Full of pork and ready to continue my journey, I started the long drive to Novo Brno where, supposedly, there were castle ruins worth looking at. One ice cream and many hours later, I arrived at the castle ruins at dusk. The ruins look nice and imposing from afar, but once you get up to them, there really isn't much to see. I walked around a bit and a sign caught my eye:

The sun was setting. I was tired, and I had no idea where I might stay, so this was perfect. The price was unbeatable. 10 € (about $14), including breakfast. I asked if anything was possible for dinner, and Feimja whipped up some peppers and cheese served with a hunk of homemade bread. Simple but good.

Interestingly, Novo Brdo received some kind of tourism grant from the Dutch government. What this has meant is that there are signs pointing out areas of historical interest and marking homes that offer lodging or food. Additionally, families who are participating in this initiative have received training in how to provide services to tourists. If nothing else, it meant that the toilet in the house was clean!

A view of the fortress from below

I woke up early in the morning on Monday due to the fact that my room had an eastern-facing window with only a gauze curtain to block the light. It was very bright very early, but I managed a bit more sleep by pulling the blanket over my head. Breakfast was traditional Kosovar fare: homemade burek, roasted peppers cooked in oil, tomatoes, and homemade cheese. It was really good.

With a filling breakfast under my belt, I went back to Pristina to return the car, which needed to be back before noon. I was back in Prizren by 1 pm, and I was able to stuff in half a day's work even though Monday was a holiday (Constitution Day).