Between 2014 and 2017 I lived in the village of Isniq, Kosovo as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have very fond memories of my time there; I lived with a wonderful host family and taught English at the local school alongside three great counterparts. An important component of Peace Corps service is to spend the majority of time in your host community, which I happily did, but during my three years I was also able to explore the rest of Kosovo (although there are many places I’d still like to go to!) and the Balkans.

One of my counterparts was the late Rexhep Maksutaj, who passed away in 2018. I am so lucky to have known Rexhep, who was so dedicated to the preservation of Albanian heritage. My fondest memories of Kosovo are of sitting by the stove in his living room, drinking Turkish coffee and listening to him tell stories about the history of the Balkans. The 2nd edition of the Bradt Travel Guide for Kosovo, which was published in 2011, mentioned Rexhep as “the most knowledgeable person on Isniq and the area.” In 2002, Rexhep published the work Isniq Through the Centuries. In that work Maksutaj writes that the, “present-day Albanian people are descended from Illyrian tribes… autochthonous inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula.” Maksutaj also tells us that Isniq was mentioned in a written source for the first time in 1330. Following the end of the Albanian-Ottoman Wars in 1479, Isniq was divided into three timars. During the Ottoman period, many embraced Islam and a mosque was built in the center of the village in 1630.

In 1976, the Norwegian anthropologist Berit Backer lived in Isniq. She submitted Behind Stone Walls, which details Albanian social organization, as a masters thesis to the University of Oslo in 1979. Backer was sadly killed in 1993. In 2002 her thesis was published as a book by Dukagjini Balkan Books. Ann Christine Eek, a Norwegian-Swedish photographer, visited Backer in Isniq and took thousands of photographs, which were recently featured in an exhibition in Prishtina.

Backer writes that according to tradition, three brothers from the Shala Clan in the Great Mountain Land north of Shkodra, Albania had to flee due to a blood feud. One of the brothers, Lek Vuka, settled Isniq with his three sons. In the 1970s Backer wrote that, “foreigners going to Yugoslavia rarely pass by Isniq, a village off the main road between the towns of Peja and Prizren. This is not because the area lacks attractions for visitors.” Nearly 40 years later, I found the situation to be the same. During my three years in Isniq, I only met two tourists, which is a shame because it is a lovely, welcoming, and bucolic place. Here are some of the sites in the village of Isniq:

Isa Boletini Park: in the center of the village is a small park with a prominent statue of Isa Boletini, an important Albanian freedom fighter active at the turn of the century.

Accursed Mountains: this was my view leaving my host family’s house on the way to school everyday–pretty spectacular!

Isa Boletini Primary School: when I first moved to Isniq in 2014, school was held in an older building. In Kosovo, above each chalkboard you can find an image of Skanderbeg, a 15th century Albanian hero, except in Prekaz where you will instead see an image of Adem Jashari. During my time in Isniq a new school was constructed, which you can see below.

Tahir Sadriaj’s water mill: I used to walk by this mill every day on my way to work. It was built in the 19th century and is still in use today. There is another mill in the nearby town of Deçan, the Shabanaj mill, which operates as a small shop of artisanal handicrafts. In her work Behind Stone Walls, Berit Backer mentions that Isniq in the 1970s had two carpentry, two sawmills, and one maize mill, which I believe is in reference to the Tahir Sadriaj Mill (sometimes referred to under the name of its current owner, Rrustem Berisha).

Osdautaj Kulla: A “kulla” is a type of stone towerhouse, this particular one in Isniq has been inhabited by the Osdautaj family for more than 200 years. Following the war, it was restored and turned into an Ethnological Museum. Today, it is the most noteworthy touristic site in Isniq and does draw the occasional foreign tourist. You can learn the history of the structure through a video I made with Rexhep Maksutaj. In Behind Stone Walls, Backer writes, “with their very closed appearance, they give a visual impression rather contrary to the Albanian custom of hospitality” and that they, “have the charm of irregular individuality.”

Xhamia: the historic mosque in the center of town

Berit Backer Theatre: near the school, one of my secondary projects with the Peace Corps was renovating the space with the help of local donations and a grant from USAID. The space held meetings, national day celebrations, and theatrical performances, including a play entitled Tri Motrat by my counterpart Rexhep Maksutaj.

Sharr Dogs: known in Albanian as qeni i sharrit, this breed is unique to the Balkans and can grow to weigh 100 pounds.