Gjakova Old Bazaar

The Carshia e Madhe in Gjakova is among the oldest bazaars in the western Balkans, a long cobbled street of low buildings with wooden shopfronts and overhanging eaves, laid out from the sixteenth century as the town's commercial heart. Silversmiths, tailors, saddlers and woodworkers traded here for centuries. Much of it burned in the late 1990s and has been carefully rebuilt in traditional style, so what stands is a reconstruction of a genuine form - workshops still operating alongside cafes, with the Hadum Mosque and its old cemetery at one end and a covered stretch that keeps the rain off.

What you actually see

• The cobbled bazaar street - wooden shopfronts and craft workshops.
• Hadum Mosque - the sixteenth-century mosque and its cemetery at the bazaar's end.
• Working craftsmen - silversmiths, woodworkers and tailors still in the shops.
• The cafes - the bazaar's social role, unchanged in function.

When to go

Spring through autumn is the pleasant window, with cafe tables out along the street. Mornings are when the workshops are busiest. Winter is cold and quiet but the covered sections still work.

Honest expectations

The bazaar is largely rebuilt rather than original, which visitors should know going in - the craftsmanship of the reconstruction is good and the trades are real, but this is not untouched heritage. Gjakova is off the main tourist route and has few visitor facilities. Public transport from Pristina is by bus and takes longer than the distance suggests.

Nearby

Prizren's old town, the Rugova valley and the Decani area.