Blogs from Kosovo, Europe - page 3

Imagine a place where the streets are named after Tony Blair and George Bush, where the main roads have speed signs for tanks and where the inviting looking mountains can't be hiked owing to land mines. You're probably not thinking of Europe, but Europe it is. These oddities are all part of the experience of visiting Europe's newest country, Kosovo. Starting from Skopje in Macedonia, my wife, I and our 11 month old daughter crossed the border into Kosovo for a couple of days to explore what is perhaps Europe's least known country. We turned off the main Skopje to Pristina road (look out for another signs thanking NATO and the EU) and drive across the Sharri mountains int he direction of Prizren, Kosovo's second city. The Sharri mountains looked great but some of the paths ... read more

...so I've been eating! Oh, and doing other things too! I've had so many wonderful experiences these past couple of weeks, it's hard to name them all. I have a new office-mate, Fiona, who is absolutely awesome. We've had lunch a couple of times. I ran into Leurata after work and we went out for coffee and went clothing shopping. I didn't buy clothing then, but later I bought socks and I hope to get some t-shirts and scarves soon. I also bought some amazing silver earrings, but they are going to be gifts for people so I'm not going to upload pictures of them yet until they've been given (probably end of March after I come back to take the MPRE and then return to Kosovo). For those curious about the price of handmade silver ... read more

So, this was an interesting weekend. I decided to go out and see some sights. I bought a lonely planet guidebook which described some places I wanted to visit, but I worried that I would get lost on the way. However, I wound up being able to find my way around nicely. All I had to do was always know where the street "Agni Ramadani" was. As long as I knew that, I knew how to get back to my apartment. I went down to the city center and visited the Kosovo Museum. Some of the museum seemed to be closed, or they had switched exhibits between what my guidebook described, because instead of general cultural artifacts they had two exhibits: an exhibit on a specific family's life in Kosovo pre-war and their sacrifices during the ... read more

So, short post. I'm alive and at my destination. That's a serious victory.... read more

I originally planned to come to Kosovo for a few days, seeing more than just the capital, and I think that would have been a much better decision. Frankly, Pristina is just boring. At least, as a day trip. There was not much to see. It is a new city and still under dispute. Serbia doesn't even consider Kosovo to be a separate country, so there is still tension. But for me, it was more just a bit dull, so I didn't even stay as long as I could have that day. Back at the hostel in Skopje, I met a Japanese guy who, due to some confusion, only had an hour in Pristina that same day, and said he thought it was enough. :)... read more