Blogs from Kosovo, Europe - page 16

I made it to Kosovo, this is a very interesting place. A bit surreal sometimes seeing UN and different assorted military vehicles driving around. The two biggest pedestrian rules I need to remind myself of are....as a pedestrian most cab drivers see me as a slow moving target, and secondly do not step on any manhole covers, grates, etc. The jet lag has me all confused, I've slept alot, but have slept for more than 3 hours anyone time.....hopefully tonight will be the night. I'll add more pictures and updates as get them. Ted... read more

Instead of getting up at nine and going the forty minutes walk to the bus station and then traveling two hours to a little town called Prizren, followed by several hours walking round the medieval capital of 'Old Serbia' in the freezing snow, we stayed in bed. At about 10 I was rudely woken by the TV turning back on after another power cut but hid back under the sheets to protect myself from the subzero temperatures (electric heaters don't work without electricity). Whilst I dozed, Steph watched Will and Grace on TV until we 'got up' and watched a further episode from bed. Our brunch consisted of more toast with cherry jam and fruit juice while checking e-mails and what not. Outside the kitchen window the snow was thick and heavy; coating every bush, car ... read more

We dragged ourselves out of bed half an hour after the other people in our dorm got up. We were both awake but neither of us wanted to face the coldness. Rob polished off enough toast for both of us and then we went out to get money from the cash machine to pay for the hostel. We arrived at the bus station to find that the times we had been given were wrong and that there was an earlier bus than the one we had planned to get. The bus to Pristine was pleasant and most importantly it was very short. The border was no problem however we were not stamped out of Macedonia which we worried about slightly. I pointed it out to one of the UN guards who muttered something and moved away. ... read more

We were all planned to head onto Albania after Montenegro but we have both become increasingly fascinated by the former Yugoslav republics and so we switched routes and headed up to Serbia to hear the other side of the story. In one of the books I’ve been reading it says that during the nineties journalists used to call Serbia ‘Mordor’ though that was due to good old evil lord Slobodan. So not so surprisingly Serbia has been the most chilled and relaxed country we have visited so far! The people we have met have been super friendly and have been pretty keen to dispel any myths of Serbia or Serbians being dangerous. Its pretty sad they feel they have to do this but their past governments have not helped in giving its people a fair ... read more

7 November Fiona's camera did not turn up but we collected the police report at 3.00 pm. We arrived at the station earlier and were asked to come back in the afternoon. We spent a few of our extra hours in Sarajevo retaking lost photos on Marcus' film camera, sipping Bosnian coffee and trying to relax. We came across a decaying military helicopter on the edge of an unkept park near the Holiday Inn. We took photos from a safe distance. At the autobus station we enquired about ways of leaving Sarajevo. The sole English-speaking gentleman at the "information desk" angrily told us how to get to Prishtina via Novi Pazar (Serbia). We departed Sarajevo at 10.00 pm for Novi Pazar on a crowded but friendly bus. 8 November Arrived at Novi Pazar at 6.00 am ... read more