Prizren's stone bridge, where the old town meets

Some monuments you visit, others you use, and Prizren’s stone bridge is firmly the second kind. People cross it to get from one bank to the other, to meet friends or just to watch the water go by. That’s what makes it the best place to start reading the town, and the first stop on my one day in Prizren route.

A 15th-century crossing

The DTK, the government’s register of monuments, enters it as «Ura e vjetër e gurit në Prizren», the old stone bridge, an Ottoman monument of the 15th century placed under provisional protection between 2010 and 2014. It locates it in the Shatërvan, the heart of the old town. I won’t give you span lengths or rebuild dates, because I have no source for them, and I’d rather you looked at it without invented numbers.

What I can say is that, being 15th century, it’s two hundred years older than the Sinan Pasha Mosque beside it. In the same database, only the medieval churches of the old town, from the 14th century, and the Roman fortress outrank it for age in the centre.

The river beneath

Below runs the Lumbardhi, a river with 36 km inside Kosovo according to the ASK geography tables. It enters town through a gorge east of the centre, the one the heritage database calls «Gryka e Lumbardhit», and runs straight through the old town. It’s Prizren’s spine, and the historic centre is built along both banks.

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What’s around you

Stand on the bridge and four centuries are within a few steps. From the 17th century, the Sinan Pasha Mosque and its neighbouring fountain; from the 19th, St George’s; and overhead, the hill of Prizren Fortress. From up there, incidentally, the bridge looks small and neat among the rooftops.

The other old bridge, upriver

Less well known is that the database records a second Ottoman bridge, 16th century, in the Lumbardhi gorge near Jabllanicë. It’s in the same area as the ruins of the Holy Archangels monastery, so heading upriver out of town lets you see both. I have no official information on access, so think of it as a bonus on that outing rather than a goal in itself. The one with the most arches around here is on the Gjakova road, at kilometre 7 from that town, the Terzi Bridge, 18th-century and with eleven arches over the Erenik. With children it’s also the easiest stop in the old town, no steps and no opening times, just the river in front of you.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Prizren stone bridge on GetYourGuide.

When to go

It’s free and never shuts, so the only question is timing. I’d go early, before the centre fills up, and come back at night on the way to dinner. Two different faces of the same place, and neither costs a penny, which, coming from a country where a stroll past a listed bridge can still mean a car park charge, is a pleasant change.

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