Ferizaj

Understand

Ferizaj was no more than a small collection of shacks and houses until the Thessaloniki–Belgrade railway was laid during the Ottoman era, in 1873. A local landowner, Firuz Agha, whose name was evolved to Feriz in local languages, started to run a hotel then, giving the town its name ("Feriz's").

The Serbian name of the town, Uroševac, was coined in honour of a medieval ruler of Serbia, Stefan Uroš, after the town was annexed by Serbia in 1913 despite heavy Albanian resistance. However, with the population being overwhelmingly Albanian, this name does not see any practical use nowadays (one particular exception being the Slavic-run websites, such as that of Skopje's bus station, which lists the town with its Serbian name and turns no results for Ferizaj), and indeed, the locals may likely be offended by its use given the historical enmity between these two nations.

Get in

Buses from Skopje to Pristina stop at the bus station here (one and a half hours from Skopje, including the border formalities). There are also dedicated buses from Pristina bus station (40 minutes).

The reason of the town's existence in the first place, the train station welcomes trains traversing the Pristina–Skopje line.

Both the bus and the train stations lie on Ahmet Kaçiku St, about 250 m apart from each other.

You can go in Ferizaj also with bus from Gjilan it only costs US$1.5.

Get around

Walk. The mosque and the church (roughly 300 m from the train station, and 500 m from the bus station) can be accessed from Ahmet Kaçiku St through an underground passage below the rail tracks.

Before the center of the city in county of Ferizaj in village Sojeve is the biggest KFOR camp in Balkan.

thumb|right|250px|Camp Bondsteel in Sojeve, Ferizaj

See

thumb|The church and the mosque—the only sight in Ferizaj

Ferizaj is neither a historical nor a particularly beautiful city, and you virtually have one attraction here: the church and the mosque that stand wall to wall. While not unique to Ferizaj, this is of special importance in a region where religious (and ethnic) tensions run high. On a purely artistic standpoint, though, the mosque is just a plain, square building that you wouldn't bat an eye if elsewhere, and the church, dedicated to Uroš, is not the most ornate one, and is somewhat dilapidated.

Eat

There is a great hamburger place in Ferizaj down the main street running through the city. They call themselves McDonald's but don't expect to get a Big Mac.

Go next

Pristina is north, and Kaçanik is south. There are also buses a few times a day to Prizren in the west. You can go also in Viti. Vitia is a small city with a cultural history.