Читать книгу The Peaks of the Balkans Trail. Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo онлайн

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Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, the declaration being recognised by most EU states as well as by Montenegro – which has distanced itself from Serbia’s stance on Kosovo – but not by Serbia, which still views this area as the cradle of medieval Serbia. A large stretch of the border between Montenegro and Kosovo remains disputed, and a drive from Berane in Montenegro to Peć in Kosovo goes through around 7km of remote and spectacularly beautiful no-man’s-land.

In 1990, the Communist regime in Albania allowed the formation of independent political parties for the first time. However the country descended into anarchy in the late 1990s following the collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes, through which many Albanians saw their life’s savings vanish.

The church in Theth, Albania, built in 1892 (Stage 10)

21st century

In May 2006 Montenegro held a referendum and voted by a narrow margin for independence from Serbia. Although the EU began accession talks with Montenegro in 2012, at the time of writing (2017) any potential prospect of EU membership remains several years away. Both Montenegro and Albania are members of Nato.