The fifth day of my epic road trip through Albania and Kosovo began with a drive to Gjakova, Kosovo! Join me as I enjoy some hearty Kosovo food and then explore Kosovo’s oldest bazaar in Gjakova, Kosovo!
My day started at Terzijski Bridge, an Ottoman Bridge near Bistražin, between Prizren and Peja. It’s a beautiful medieval bridge that dates back to the 15th century. It’s an awesome example of Ottoman architecture in Kosovo!
My boy Erjan from Travel Media EU and I were both starving, so we set out to grab some food before exploring the city! We stopped at Hotel Carshia e Jupave, a hotel and restaurant in Gjakova that’s all about serving delicious traditional food. It’s Erjan’s favorite restaurant in the city! In the kitchen, I watched the cooks bake bread and make meatballs, vegetables with meat, and much more!
At our table, we had an amazing-looking meat-and-vegetable tava, meat cooked on a stone, kofta (a meat patty with cheese on top), bread, cheese, and a salad. The meat was unreal, as was the beef tava. The beef was super tender and fell apart in my mouth. It was so juicy!
The beef-and-vegetable tava almost tasted like ajvar because of the red peppers in it. Ajvar is a paste made from red peppers and mashed eggplant. It was so tasty! Then, I tried some of the ajvar with the fluffy bread, which was fantastic. I loved it!
The kofta was nice and medium-rare, just the way I like it. I couldn’t get over how good everything was. The best thing to do is to grab some meat, ajvar, and goat cheese with the bread and try it together. It’s unreal!
We finished with some local raki, which was nice and smooth!
Outside, we headed to a nearby café to grab a coffee to wake up after such a filling meal. Then, we headed to Old Bazaar, Kosovo’s oldest traditional bazaar, in the center of Gjakova, Kosovo. It’s non-stop restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops. This used to be an open-air market but has now been converted into commercial spaces.
The bazaar is huge. It consists of several shops, so there’s a lot to explore. We stopped by an arts and crafts shop where they can make sculptures of your family’s hands! From there, we stopped in a clothing shop with lots of traditional clothes with the Albanian double eagle! From there, we finished up by checking out a beautiful mosque!
What an awesome morning exploring Gjakova! Huge thanks to my friends at Travel Media EU and Rental Car Albania for making my trip to Albania and Kosovo one I will never forget.
I hope you liked coming with me to try some hearty Kosovo food before we explored Kosovo’s oldest bazaar in Gjakova, Kosovo! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss any of my travel/food adventures around the world!
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