Opoja

Our first weekend in Kosova was spent in the Sharr mountains of Opoja on the Albanian border. This is the region I wrote my dissertation about, a land I love, “ku po me flen zemra” (where my heart rests) as they say in Albanian. It was all spontaneous with wonderful surprises – a visit to the village of Bellobrad, reuniting with the bride whose wedding I filmed 34 years ago, a visit to N’Bjeshke mountain resort, a wedding with great zyrla and lodra music, discovering a little cabin with an ethnographic treasure trove including the old mill and the “shkeltore” that pounds wool into felt, seeing production of the famous Sharr cheese, and afternoon thunderstorms that dazzled!