Gjakova, in western Kosovo

Shops in the Çarshia, the bazaar of Gjakova. In the 16th and 17th centuries the whole area of the old town was a bazaar with over 500 shops, the destination for caravans travelling from Albania, a centre for traders, artists and craftsmen. Today, the wooden shuttered shop fronts still line the narrow cobbled streets, but most of this is a reconstruction: in the Kosovo war of 1999 the Serbian army burnt it all down.