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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
86 km from Peć to Peć, about 1 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Dečani Monastery, Lumi i gashit and back through Dečani Monastery. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Kosovo into Albania - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Dečani Monastery.
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 comes up about 19 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 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Lumi i gashit. Next is back through 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.
back through Dečani Monastery, late in the day. Next is 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 at Medieval Monuments in Kosovo. That is the ride.
Medieval Monuments in Kosovo → Dečani Monastery is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dečani Monastery → Lumi i gashit is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lumi i gashit → back through Dečani Monastery is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dečani Monastery → Medieval Monuments in Kosovo is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.