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Published: October 23rd 2008
PRISHTINA
UNIVERSITY OF KOSOVO BIBLIOTECAStarted to freak out a bit once I realized I did not get a stamp out of Macedonia or a stamp in to Kosovo. The bus was already going and cant really do nothing about it anymore. It happens ther is another tourist in the bus, I asked her when we arrived at the bus station in Prishtina if she got a stamp, she doeas not know not even bothering to look, she saw a police officer and talked to her and when she got back she said the police said it should be fine. Hmmm... for 2nd opinion we tried to ask the info desk at the station but was not any help as he does not speak English! A Spaniard overheard me inquiring about bus to Montenegro or Albania, he does not speak English very well so my Spanish has to work, he said on the same border with Macedonia he did not get a stamp out from Kosovo but when he went on a loop back via Albania he got a stamp and that put him in trouble when he tried to cross into Serbia they did not let him in and poor guy has to hitch hike
back to Prishtina! I guess that is the reason the UN(?)border guards are now hesitating to stamp passports in to Kosovo as tourists are not being allowed in to Serbia. Anyhow, thanked him for the info felt a bit better now he is off to Podgorica in Montenegro and I took a taxi to the Professor's guesthouse.
The bitchy receptionist wont give me my passport back unless i pay upfront for the accomodation, I explained to her i will need to go to a money changer first, she said fine but she keeps the passport until i pay, got ticked off and pulled out my remaining Euros which i was saving for emergency, gave it to her with kind words on how they trust their clients, unfortunately this is the only budget hostel here at the moment so you have to put up with it for now. No infosd on how to get to town, no maps, they werent really that helpful. Wlaked to town and ate at this kebeb place, i didnt order a thing yet and food came and just helped myself very cheap! Then walked to town, this place i noticed is full of barber shops
and and streets are dimly lit. The Spaniard says there is nothing much to see here so we'll see...
Started the day early as i plan to go to prizren on a day trip but have to figure out first how to get to the bus station without taking a taxi, so walked around town aimlessly, asking occasional passersby which way to the central bus station, some people gave me directions , some just ignore me. After almost 2 hours of going around in circles i finally found it without a map or a guidebook on Kosovo, just kind directions from locals. Bought my ticket and off we I go. 2 hours later we arrived in prizren, I got off at the bus station and walked my way to where i thought the centre of town is, past labyrinth streets everytime i see a minaret i change direction to see if it is anything interesting until i got tired of it, there's so many of them! lots of small ones too. Anyway one of the alleyways I took led me to the stone bridge and eventuall made it to the old part of town. Walked parellel to the river
to get some good photos, by now the sun is out around 12noonish, it was cloudy at the beginning of the day. Walked into the cobbledstone streets and found a Catholic church on the Nena Teresa street then back down to the mai9n mosque which is being reconstructed, took photos of almost anything interesting, buildings, people..
Tired of walking i sat down in one of the cafes around and had my lunch, then was on my way back to the bus station when i run into Sarah, the german girl from the bus yesterday from Skopje, she made me feel relieved when she mentioned she too did not get stamped in to Kosovo. She has a Bradt book on Kosovo so decided to walk with her and see the sights again, we saw the hammam, but we did go inside as you have to pay to see the inside and there is really nothing there. From there we tried to find the artisan street and we eventually found it, this local dude making knives, and other tools quite interesting as the handles are made of animal horns and carved into it is the word Kosova or Prizren, would have
been a nice souvenir but I skimped out. We crossed into the old town again and inspected the big mosque, we decided to find the school of music building and some old Serbian house, not sure if we did find it we just took photos of houses up on the hill, we followed a trail that will lead up to the fortress, Halfway through we stopped for a panoramic view of the town, there was a middle aged guy who spoke to Sarah, he spoke fluent german having lived in Berlin where she is from for 10 years but have gone back to Kosovo cause he was living there illegally. He took us to the fortress, we passed by this church which you cant go into , KFOR forces took over it, there are notices everywhere, no entry here, there, mostly dilapidated structures.
Up the fortress we saw a better view of the city, we walked around it for 30 minutes then walked back down, having a snack at a restaurant next to the river. The local dude told us they(Kosovans) cannot enter Serbia at the moment and maybe same with the Serbians into Kosovo. I noticed a lot of
PRISHTINA
VELANIA DISTRICT WHERE THE PROFESSOR'S gH IS. old folks that looks Albanian, well from the photos i see on how they look like, with their white cone shaped hats and all, lots of Albanians here and Serbia isnt happy that they declared themselves independent, Macedonia and Montenegro recently recognized their independence as well that angered Serbia more, hence tensions at the borders.
We visited this orthodox church next to the mosque , the local dude asked the guard if we can see the church, he called in the resident monk and he toured us briefly and gave us a quick history on the Orthodox religion in this area, this is his first day here as well so we are all tourists, he showed us the small chapel and it has some frescoes but needs fixing. Lots of this churches were apparently damaged from the riots years ago when there was tensions between Kosovan Albanians and Serbs. it is peaceul now well it looks it lots of KFOR forces mostly Germans everywhere and they have barracks at the church up the hill, and at the foot of the hill, we saw them lined up as they were being briefed by their commanders. We waited for the 5pm
bus and when it arrived we said goodbye to our
friend.
2 hours later we are back in Prishtina, a bit dark already, I bought my ticket to Albania leaving at 6pm and said bye to Sarah as she was taking a taxi back to here friends house where she is staying. I walked back to town, apst the Bill Clinton street, then to a pedestrian walkway, I need a pee bad and starving so hurriedly walked until i arrived at the restaurant i had dinner last night, ordered liver and burger sandwich and went to the toilet while waiting for it to be cooked, the guys there are very friendly to me. up the hill again to get to the hostel. Took me a good 40 minutes walks from the bus station to the Professor's GH, it is quite far so you need a taxi if you are in a hurry.
Had a goodnight sleep as i was quite tired from walking both in Prishtina and Prizren. As I was trying to use the internet at the hostel a new guest arrived, an israeli coming from Sarajevo, we chatted a bit then i checked out and left
my luggage to the care of the bitchy receptionist, she wsnt happy but I asked the permission of the Professor whom I met stood at the gate of the hostel as i was about to check in, oh yeah i was staying in another building, the main builidng is where you check in. My goal today is to change the left over Macedonian currency i have left which i was not able to change to Euros in Skopje as the bus is about to leave, I went to three backns, Pro Cerdit, BNP, and Raiffesen bank all said no, they referred me to Money gram, no as well, but the dude was kind enough to drwa me a map to where i can change it, near the municipality hall. Took me ages to find it, the map wasnt really clear and I am so tired of walking, asked a security guy and told me to go another direction, unsure now i went to a bank and asked again, and they were pointed me back to where i thought it was, still took some time to find, eventually found it and changed to Euros, they dont change to Albanian dibdobs. There
are i think only 2 money changers here, quite difficult to find as well, so if you are coming here make sure you get rid of all the local currencies from where you are coming from.
Having done my money change my next task is to find food, as I walked back to on another street i saw this off looking building from a distance, next to an abandoned church is the University of Kosovo with the cool Biblioteca building, it looks like bubbles at the top and railings, bars whatever you want to cal it, all over the building, Quite unique, but it is still foggy so when noon time comes i will come back here and take photos when the sun finally breaks. Route 66 on Bill Clinton ave. I had lunch, cannot find the freaking Thai restaurant that VictorT another blogger here, had mentioned, he did not say the name so i was just hoping I find it but failed, so craving for a pad thai!!
Lots of UN vehicles and workers around, they have HQ in town. Planned on visitng the museum of Kosovo later on the wayback to the hostel, right now just chillin
as i will have a long arduous trip into Albania. Maybe worth mentioning there are tons of photocopying places here and barber shops! why? dont know..
Got back to the professor's GH and the blonde bitch receptionist told me to pay 1 euro for keeping my luggage when she did not say anything when i dropped it off in the morning, i said to her oh you are charging me for this, well kiss my f---ing a-s and left. Too bad this is the only hostel here at the moment this bitch is clearly taking advantage of the backpackers i wonder if the professor knows...
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branko
non-member comment
Visas ... for Kosovo?!?!
Well I guss you have learned. When you get in a "country" like Kosovo which tends to selfproclaim it's borders and sovereignity ... I gues you understand that "stamps" and "visas" come in the same package .... ie. they are non-existant! By the way, you should go straight to Albania, to see an original of Kosovo. Your title reference to an "illegal imigrant" is excelent, though! Entire albanian population of, so call - Kosovo is living there for one max. two generations. They are the illegal immigrants from Albania to the Serbian land.