CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
716 km from Deçan to Deçan, about 22 h 27 of riding. On the way it passes Patriarchate of Peć Monastery, Lumi i gashit, Medieval Monuments in Kosovo and Stari Ras and Sopoćani. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses Kosovo, Albania and Serbia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Visoki Dečani is a monastery that looks as if a Romanesque church from Italy had settled in the Balkan mountains. It lies in the valley of the Bistrica river, in western Kosovo, under the steep wall of the Prokletije or Accursed mountains, and its main church, built between 1327 and 1335 for the Serbian king Stefan Dečanski, is a large block of pink, grey and yellow marble, with carved portals, lions and a rose window, the work of a Franciscan master from the Adriatic coast. Inside it is a different world, with more than a thousand painted scenes covering every inch of wall and ceiling, one of the largest surviving cycles of Byzantine painting in the Balkans. It was listed by UNESCO in 2004, with other medieval monuments of Kosovo.
Read the complete Dečani Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dečani Monastery is where the day begins. Next is Patriarchate of Peć Monastery.
The Serbian Orthodox Church has had its seat at Pec since the thirteenth century, and the Patriarchate stands where the Rugova gorge opens onto the plain, with the walls of the mountains rising straight behind it. Three churches, joined by a shared porch, make up the complex, and inside them the walls are covered in frescoes that range from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The oldest, the Church of the Holy Apostles, was built under Archbishop Arsenije and has a serene, early painting style, while the later churches added by his successors show the growing wealth and ambition of the medieval Serbian state. UNESCO lists it together with Visoki Decani and other monasteries as the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo.
Read the complete Patriarchate of Peć Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Patriarchate of Peć Monastery comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lumi i gashit.
Here the borders of Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania meet in the Prokletije, the Accursed Mountains, a rugged range of limestone peaks that rises above two thousand metres and is among the wildest country in the Balkans. The label uses the Albanian name for a stream, Lumi i Gashit, the river of Gashi, and the nearest places on the Montenegrin side are Plav and Gusinje, where Albanians and Bosniaks make up a large share of the population. Plav sits on a glacial lake, a cold, clear body of water ringed by high peaks, with a small mosque, an old Ottoman tower house and a quiet lakeshore promenade.
Read the complete Lumi i gashit write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 131 km into the recorded legs you reach Lumi i gashit. Next is Medieval Monuments in Kosovo.
The Patriarchate of Peć is a cluster of four churches under one red-tinged roof, tucked at the mouth of the Rugova gorge on the edge of the town of Peja in western Kosovo. It was the seat of the Serbian Orthodox archbishops from the thirteenth century, and the heart of the church for centuries, with the frescoed churches built and extended over generations. The effect inside is intimate, with low arches, dim light and walls covered in saints, and the nuns who live there today run a small shop with candles and icons. The place is part of the UNESCO listing of medieval monuments in Kosovo, from 2004, along with Dečani, Gračanica and the church of Our Lady of Ljeviš in Prizren.
Read the complete Medieval Monuments in Kosovo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Medieval Monuments in Kosovo, about halfway. Next is Stari Ras and Sopoćani.
In the hills of southwestern Serbia, near the town of Novi Pazar, lie the ruins of Ras, the first capital of the medieval Serbian state, and the monastery of Sopoćani, which holds some of the finest Byzantine painting in Europe. Stefan Nemanja, founder of the dynasty that ruled for two centuries, was born in this region, and the monuments here were the heart of his realm. Ras was a fortress on a hill above the river, and a short distance away the little church of St Peter, one of the oldest in Serbia, stands on a mound of an earlier cemetery with a round, early plan that suggests Byzantine and local roots.
Read the complete Stari Ras and Sopoćani write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stari Ras and Sopoćani sits at 159 km, about halfway. Next is back through Medieval Monuments in Kosovo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Medieval Monuments in Kosovo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Medieval Monuments in Kosovo comes up about 479 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Lumi i gashit.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lumi i gashit write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 586 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Lumi i gashit. Next is back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Patriarchate of Peć Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery, late in the day. Next is Dečani Monastery.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dečani Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 716 km.
Dečani Monastery → Patriarchate of Peć Monastery is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Patriarchate of Peć Monastery → Lumi i gashit is 109 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lumi i gashit → Medieval Monuments in Kosovo is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Medieval Monuments in Kosovo → Stari Ras and Sopoćani is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Stari Ras and Sopoćani → back through Medieval Monuments in Kosovo is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Medieval Monuments in Kosovo → back through Lumi i gashit is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lumi i gashit → back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery is 108 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery → Dečani Monastery is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.