Marash, where Prizren's river turns into a promenade

Every town with a river has a stretch where people go to do nothing in particular. In Prizren that stretch is Marash. It lies upstream of the centre, at the foot of the fortress hill, and it’s where I’d finish any day in town.

An Ottoman quarter with its own record

Marash isn’t just a pleasant spot, it’s listed heritage too. The culture ministry’s DTK catalogue includes the «Kompleksi i Mahallës së Marashit», the ensemble of the quarter, as Ottoman, 16th century, under provisional protection since 2012. And the 2008 law setting out Kosovo’s protected areas names the «old Marash quarter» word for word within the old town perimeter, in a list headed by Ljeviš.

I find it telling that the law protects a whole quarter rather than a single building. What’s being protected is the ensemble, the way houses, river and hillside fit together, and that’s precisely what you enjoy on a stroll.

The river takes centre stage

The town’s river, 36 km of it inside Kosovo according to ASK’s geography tables, runs through the town and in Marash becomes a promenade. The photo on this page shows it well, a cobbled path, benches, tall trees and mountains behind. There’s no monument to tick off here, which is why it closes my day, at the point when you’ve stopped wanting to see things and just want to be somewhere.

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Upstream, towards the gorge

Marash is also the doorway to the narrowest stretch of the river. Follow the Lumbardhi upstream and the valley closes into the gorge the heritage database calls Gryka e Lumbardhit, where it lists three pieces from very different eras, the ruins of the Holy Archangels Monastery, a 16th-century Ottoman bridge and the old hydroelectric plant, now a museum of the electricity industry. I wouldn’t squeeze it into the same day as the old town, but if you stay two nights it’s the obvious walk for the second morning, starting from Marash.

Getting there from the centre

From the Prizren stone bridge just follow the river upstream. If you’ve climbed Prizren Fortress at sunset, Marash is the natural end of the walk down. That’s how it closes my one day in Prizren route.

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Eating in Marash

This is the question I’d expect most, and the honest answer is that there’s no official source on restaurants in Prizren. There are places to eat in the quarter, as across the old town, but I won’t recommend one by name without data to back it. What I will say is that dinner beside the river is the best way to round off the day, wherever you choose. My restaurants in Prizren page sets out what has a source and what doesn’t. Prices are in euros, so if you’re coming from the UK it’s worth having some cash on you for smaller places.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Prizren for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.