Kosovo anyone?

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SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2009 *PRISHTINA

Up pretty early so nothing new there. The plan today was to basically wander around Prishtina and see what the city had to offer. Turns out on a Sunday - not much as all of the shops were closed.

After orientating myself in town and working out some landmarks to work out how I could get back to the guest house later on; I wandered on past a few mosques (all of which were boarded up) before heading towards tourist information - which I am not sure actually ever existed; and if it does - certainly not on a Sunday. After that I made my way to the Kosovo Museum. I was there just before 10:30am and my guidebook said it opened then. Turned out that was incorrect. Another lady from an ex-USSR country (just next to Kazakhstan) showed up and we got chatting while waiting for the museum that wouldn’t open. After it was clear it wasn’t going to open at 10:30am we headed off wandering - down Bill Clinton Boulevard, Mother Teresa Street, through the pedestrian shopping area (all closed) and past various monuments of war heroes and other people - like the aforementioned Mother Teresa. Went and looked at the university library which is quite an interesting building in and of itself (iron and bubbles is the best way I can describe it!) and also past a wall dedicated to those that gave their lives to the various wars - most from 1999 although some from quite recent and some from the 1960s I think. Also had a good wander through many of the back streets around the city. The amount of litter is astounding. And there is quite a contradiction in the city itself as well - a lot of new buildings, a lot of buildings under construction, while at the same time a lot of buildings closed and run down, barely in any condition to enter, some boarded up, some falling apart.

While wandering around we came across a Canadian guy who was out in Kosovo running some development theatre workshops. Had finished the work part of his trip and was just seeing some more of the city before flying out the next day. He was telling us that he knew of a museum that was supposed to be good and on Sundays it opened at midday. By this stage it was 1pm so all three of us headed that way. Turned out it was the same museum that we had been to earlier - and it STILL wasn’t open. So we grabbed some food and cold drinks and sat in a nearby park for about an hour.

He had to get back to the guesthouse to move his bags to another hotel as he had an earlier flight the next day, so the ex-USSR lady and I grabbed some lunch at a café on the pedestrian strip. It was probably an expensive place as they had an English menu, but for pasta, salad and two small beers I paid about six euro - pretty good value nonetheless.

By that stage it was late afternoon so I said goodbye to the USSR lady and headed back to my guesthouse; via the war memorial on the way. Had a very chilled night chatting to some of the other guests in the hostel - lots of tips for Macedonia and Albania when I finally get there!!

MONDAY 17 AUGUST 2009 *PRIZEN, KOSOVO

Two of the people in the dorm room left at about 6am for an early bus so since I was disturbed I got up early, ate some breakfast, checked out and headed towards the bus station. Ended up sharing a can with a guy from the hostel who was heading to the bus station as well so saved me about a 40 minute walk!!

There was a bus to Prizen waiting when I showed up, so I got onboard and read and napped for the two hour bus ride. Very comfortable and modern bus too - double decker with air conditioning that actually worked. Got into Prizen, which is another town in Kosovo at around 11am. The bus station as usual was a bit of a walk from the main old town section so had a wander through some of the backstreets, which were quite similar to Prishtina in that there was a definite mix of old and older and new and rundown. Also probably triple the amount of litter and rubbish on the streets than what Prishtina has - presumably because they are used to even less tourists than Prishtina and haven’t yet caught on to the whole tourist market thing.

Managed to find a clean (and free) toilet at a shopping centre on the way through. Made it into the old town which reminded me a lot of Sarajevo and Mostar - mostly I think because of the Turkish influence, but also the amount of mosques and also they had a small cobblestone bridge and streets in much the same style.

As with Prishtina, most of the mosques and cathedrals and churches all seemed to be under construction and closed for renovations. I attempted to make my way up to the castle but after trying several different streets and attempting to ask for directions with no success, I pretty much gave up on that idea!! Was quite a pretty city to wander around though. There were quite a lot of cafes in the old town section which were pretty much dominated by men drinking coffee - needless to say I didn’t feel like I could sit down and have a drink on my own there!

After a few hours wandering I found myself back at the bus station and got the 2pm bus back to Prishtina.

When I arrived back I asked at the bus station about buses that afternoon to Skopje, Macedonia. All I was told was ‘all day, all day.’ So I took my time walking back to the guesthouse; mostly because I wanted to see what Prishtina was like on a weekday rather than a Sunday. Quite significantly different. The town centre was a hive of activity; traffic was insane and stop-start and all of the shops appeared to be thriving.

Got back to the guesthouse, grabbed a taxi back to the bus station to discover that there were no more buses to Skopje after all - all day meant up until 3pm or so (I think). A guy was trying to help me - in broken English and having no real grasp of the language - and then at the end of it asked me for 20 euros!! I think not. I gave him one and headed walking to find a taxi outside of the station (cheaper). He followed me - trying to help me I think but also clearly wanting more money. I wasn’t giving him any.

Got a taxi back to the guesthouse, checked in and had a very chilled out evening as I was exhausted and planning to get a 6am bus the next morning.

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