Advertisement
Published: March 23rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
the road to town!
I stayed just off this street...you have to be careful navigating down the winding HILLY path when roads are iced over, and no sidewalks are to be seen... Note of caution: avoid taking the overnight bus from Belgrade to Pristina, unless you actually plan to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere at 4:00 in the morning with all your luggage but without a clue as to where the hell you are.
Trying to find your hostel hours before sunrise with an overly simplistic hand-drawn map on an hour of sleep is nothing to sneeze at, mind you.
Fortunately though, a line of taxi drivers were already circling outside the deserted bus stop in Pristina, Kosovo, and readily pounced on the only idiot who chose to arrive at such an ungodly hour. I was immediately whisked away by the driver who spoke the best English, and within the quarter hour, I was dropped off at the doorstep of the Guesthouse Velania.
My room. was. really. awesome. Not only did I have a single (actually, since it was the off season, the Professor bumped me up to a double room for free), which actually had a double bed AND a single, I had cable TV, a huge closet, and a sofa at my disposal...all for 13 euro a night! Since I was the only one staying
hostel room
THE BEST OF THE BEST of "hostel" rooms...I actually got upgraded to a double for free! on my floor, that meant that the bathroom, kitchen, and fridge were basically reserved for my use only. Sweeet.
Consequently, my resting hours were spent watching reruns of Pimp My Ride, My Super Sweet 16, Life of Ryan, Made, America's Best Dance Crew, The Ex Factor, and Next until my eyeballs were ready to fall out of their sockets. Ah, brainless entertainment :D
When I wasn't curled up in my double bed watching German-dubbed MTV ('gleich' means 'next' :D), I was making my rounds around the sprawling city of Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo. Unfortunately, my hostel was located on top of the biggest hill for miles, so most of my time was spent huffing and puffing up and down hill after hill, narrowly dodging cars that whizzed by (pedestrians are generally forced to walk in the street, since cars have long since taken up residence on what were meant to be sidewalks :P).
As an American in Kosovo, naturally I sought out Bulevardi Bill Clinton, one of the biggest and busiest streets in the downtown area. I was tickled pink when I saw several small boutiques simply named "Hillary" located on Bill Clinton's street (lol!
hostel room
this is the TV I watched a bunch of trashy German-dubbed MTV...and also where I learned about Natasha Richardson and the outcome of the Josef Fritzel trial :( :D). Sadly, I missed the supposed 3-story tall portrait of the former president entirely, since I, well....suck :P.
Kosovans LOVE Americans...unfortunately, I was unable to reap the benefits of my US citizenship, since I look NOTHING like the typical American these locals are familiar with. After 5 weeks of wandering around the Balkans, I grew accustomed to the curious stares and occasional 'konnichiwa's' and 'ni hao's'....but seriously, the attention I was getting by just walking down the street was pretty damned ridiculous! haha. I guess if I saw a Chinese girl walking around town here, I'd be scratching my head too! :P
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 31; dbt: 0.052s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
jane
non-member comment
bus
I'm planning my trip to Belgrade and don't have a lot of time to go to Kosovo, but would really like to. While planning from NY, can you tell me the best way to research the bus timetables ahead of time to see if it's feasible for the days that I have free? Thank you!