Kosovo: A Recovering War Zone

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Overview

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Kosovo itself has not come into its own as a tourist destination. A good decade of war will do that to a country. Thus, the tourism industry is all but completely absent. Guidebooks don't exist and finding out just what there is to see can be next to impossible. I am sure there is plenty out there to see in Kosovo but I had neither the time nor the resources. Plus, my main reason for going was just to see and learn. I had always heard about Kosovo and Prishtina, usually bad things, and I had always been intrigued to see just what it is like. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go, so I took it. For me it was less about seeing sights than just seeing the country itself, talking to people and ...Read More

Kosovo itself has not come into its own as a tourist destination. A good decade of war will do that to a country. Thus, the tourism industry is all but completely absent. Guidebooks don't exist and finding out just what there is to see can be next to impossible. I am sure there is plenty out there to see in Kosovo but I had neither the time nor the resources. Plus, my main reason for going was just to see and learn. I had always heard about Kosovo and Prishtina, usually bad things, and I had always been intrigued to see just what it is like. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go, so I took it. For me it was less about seeing sights than just seeing the country itself, talking to people and learning so that I can form my own opinions on just what happened in Kosovo and what lies ahead for this fledgling state.The only site to speak of that I had the pleasure of visiting was the capital, Prishtina. On the surface it is just a mess of concrete, but below that is much more. It has a pleasant museum, mosques, parks and plazas. It is also home to some lovely outdoor cafes and friendly people.

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Tourism hasn't become a regular thing in Kosovo yet, and it probably won't for a while. Walking around, seeing sights, and pulling out the camera, I definitely felt a sick voyeuristic feeling in my stomach. The few times I pulled out my camera to take photos of a mosque or the museum, I got numerous stares. People aren't used to tourism. The war is still fresh in everybody's minds. Loved ones are still missing. The people are trying to move on, but haven't yet. I can see how walking around and snapping pictures of everything and everyone could be a bit offensive. While nobody explicitly said anything, that was the sense I got. Maybe I was overreacting, but I wanted to play it safe. This explains for my lack of pictures. Something about taking a picture of a memorial to missing Kosovars while people are still crying in front of it, seems to to be proper to me, so I didn't.The war and the events of the last decade have not gone away. People still deal with the effects everyday. When talking you have to be careful. Don't ask too many questions, don't pry too much and don't take sides. My philosophy was to just listen and hear what people wanted to say. People there have experienced more than I could ever imagine and it can be a bit overwhelming.

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transport isn't terribly widespread. Buses link Prishtina to the other main towns as well as foreign cities like Skopje. Inside the city, however, it's all about walking. The city isn't large enough to worry about taxis or buses.Prishtina has an international airport to which most major European carriers fly.Trains do not exist.Rental car is the way to go. It's the easiest way to get around. Maps are readily available, and the roads are surprisingly good. This may also add to your sense of security. Reputable international agencies are easily found in Kosovo. Read Less

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Grand Hotel Prishtina

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Hotel

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When I strolled up to the front desk at the Grand Hotel Prishtina, to inquire about a room, I was greeted by a lovely young lady with a nice smile. I asked about available rooms, she looked and me and asked in excellent English "And what name is the reservation under?""I don't have one," I replied. Silence and then that same confused look I was met with at the border. She then asked what group I was with or who I worked for, assuming that I had to be here for some specific reason. When I finally made it clear that I had no reservations, was with no group and didn't work for anybody, she just laughed. "So you are here just for tourism, then?" She asked, and then laughed again.I was worr...Read More

When I strolled up to the front desk at the Grand Hotel Prishtina, to inquire about a room, I was greeted by a lovely young lady with a nice smile. I asked about available rooms, she looked and me and asked in excellent English "And what name is the reservation under?"

"I don't have one," I replied. Silence and then that same confused look I was met with at the border. She then asked what group I was with or who I worked for, assuming that I had to be here for some specific reason. When I finally made it clear that I had no reservations, was with no group and didn't work for anybody, she just laughed. "So you are here just for tourism, then?" She asked, and then laughed again.

I was worried that there were no rooms available, but she assured me that there were plenty, and that they were $30/night. She just wasn't used to people strolling in without reservations.

The "Grand" in "Grand Hotel Prishtina" is a relative term. It does have a grandeur about it, that is for sure, it is just that that grandeur hasn't changed since about 1970. The elevators squeak, the hallways are covered in shag carpeting sporting a drab green color. The walls are of fake wood, as is the furniture, but it is all part of the fun I suppose. The room was plenty comfortable, and my view of the city was lovely. The room had TV and air-conditioning. My rate even included breakfast in the decidedly less grand dining room.

The main lobby features a gift shop and a cafe. The staff all seem perfectly willing to help with anything. The hotel advertises itself as five-star, and while that may be five stars on the Kosovar scale, the service is worthy. I have a feeling that if I really needed anything, they could do it for me.

I have stayed in worse hotels, that is for sure, but the truth is that at $30 dollars the Grand Hotel Prishtina is a steal. Plus, I did my fair share of wandering about town, and Prishtina doesn't seem like the sort of place where budget accommodation is prevalent, or necessarily safe. The price-tag for the Grand Hotel is low enough that most budget travelers can afford it for a night or two, and in a city that could easily make the most hardened of us a bit uncomfortable, the Grand Hotel provides plenty of comfort. Plus, it's just so over the top, the laughs it provides are well worth it. I was smiling the whole time I was there. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 19, 2006

Grand Hotel Prishtina
Mother Theresa St.
Pristina
+381 38 220-210

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Prishtina: The Capital

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Attraction

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Prishtina is a surprisingly lovely town. Sure it is mostly a sea of concrete and steel, some of it still bombed out, but there is something about it that made me feel quite at home. It could be the sense of optimism that filled the air or maybe it was the summer sun, but the city definitely made an impression on me. It's tourism industry is nascent, with the local government only recently having the funds (and stability) to invest in tourism. Facilities for tourists are basically non-existent, but this doesn't mean that there isn't stuff to see.Perhaps the most prominent site is the Prishtina Museum, a small but lovely museum in one of Prishtina's few remaining old buildings. The Museum feature...Read More

Prishtina is a surprisingly lovely town. Sure it is mostly a sea of concrete and steel, some of it still bombed out, but there is something about it that made me feel quite at home. It could be the sense of optimism that filled the air or maybe it was the summer sun, but the city definitely made an impression on me. It's tourism industry is nascent, with the local government only recently having the funds (and stability) to invest in tourism. Facilities for tourists are basically non-existent, but this doesn't mean that there isn't stuff to see.Perhaps the most prominent site is the Prishtina Museum, a small but lovely museum in one of Prishtina's few remaining old buildings. The Museum features some of the ancient relics found in Prishtina and documents the city's history from pre-historic times to the present.Across from the museum lies perhaps Prishtina's only other historical monument, the Fatih Mosque, a typical Ottoman-style mosque with dome and minaret. Dating from the 15th century.Sadly that is about it for historical sites, but Prishtina is still home to a few other "sites." There are the headquarters of UNMIK (UN Mission In Kosovo), as well as numerous parks, statues and other monuments from the pre-genocide days of Yugoslavia. Or, if you are feeling a little too happy and upbeat, you can always stroll by the OSCE building and lake a look at the hundreds of portraits plastered on the front gate, each one representing a family member gone missing and presumed dead. The torn and faded images staring back at you from in front of the towering OSCE complex are a solid reminder that Prishtina of Europe's amazing display incompetence (some would say indifference) in the way in dealt with the Kosovo affair.Other than reminding yourself of the numerous war crimes that occurred in this land, the only other thing to do in Prishtina is to just walk around and look. It's s surprisingly pleasant place to walk, with some nice neighborhoods as well as numerous outdoor book-sellers lining the streets. If you were ever wondering where you could pick up an Albanian-German Dictionary on the cheap, or an Albanian version of Bill Clintons Jada Ime (aka My Life), then Prishtina is where you need to be.If walking isn't really your sort of thing, or if you grow tired of fading monuments to the non-alignment era, then you can always do what most Kosovars do, sit and drink. Most drink coffee or tea, but alcoholic libations are just as plentiful. Sure Kosovo doesn't have it's own national flag yet, but it does have a national beer, Birra e Pejes, a standard cheap pilsner knock-off. It gets the job done.In an odd side-note, everywhere I went I was taken to be an Albanian. Every shop I went into people were surprised to hear I wasn't Albanian. Before coming to Kosovo, I had never really known what an Albanian looked like, but I guess I look like one. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 19, 2006

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The Cult of Bill Clinton

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When the skyline of Prishtina finally came into view, I immediately started to think that I really should be spending more time in this country than just driving through it. I don't really know what it was, but I suppose it was just that general curiosity that drives all us travelers and that curiosity that drove me to the Balkan Peninsula in the first place. Prishtina is one of those places that I had always heard referenced, but never really imagined I'd be. It would have been a crime to not at least spend the night. The choice should have been obvious, but it still took me forever to decide. My mind flip-flopped, stay/go, stay/go, stay/go. Before I new it I was on the road out of town and toward th...Read More

When the skyline of Prishtina finally came into view, I immediately started to think that I really should be spending more time in this country than just driving through it. I don't really know what it was, but I suppose it was just that general curiosity that drives all us travelers and that curiosity that drove me to the Balkan Peninsula in the first place. Prishtina is one of those places that I had always heard referenced, but never really imagined I'd be. It would have been a crime to not at least spend the night. The choice should have been obvious, but it still took me forever to decide. My mind flip-flopped, stay/go, stay/go, stay/go. Before I new it I was on the road out of town and toward the Montenegro border. Then it finally hit me. I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't stop. I turned around.

I had no map, no guide book, no list of hotels, nothing, but luckily Prishtina isn't that large of a city, only around 250,000, and finding my way around proved rather easy. From the ring road that skirts around the city, I saw a towering building with the words Grand Hotel Prishtina written on the sides. I decided that that was going to be where I would bunk, so I immediately set out trying to drive my way there.

At one point, while entering the city I turned a corner and was greeted by a gigantic (and I mean GIGANTIC) poster of Bill Clinton. It was the sort of poster that you imagine a dictator Muamar Qaddhafi likes to hang in order to remind his subjects who is boss. The poster, I discovered, was welcoming me to Bill Clinton Boulevard. I was literally in awe. I just stood there staring at this easily 30-meter tall poster of Bill Clinton. As I drove on I looked to my right only to see a kebab van titled, Bill Klinton Doner Kebab. Where was I? Having spent the last year bouncing around the world, I had experienced my fair share of anti-Americanism, particularly in Europe. It was a strange feeling to be somewhere where the U.S. was looked upon as a great liberator. I was soon to discover that Bill Clinton is a national hero in this country. A Bill Clinton cult exists in Prishtina the way Che has a cult in Cuba. Good old "Slick Willy" has his face plastered everywhere. All I could do was laugh. "If only all the neo-cons back home could see this," I thought. Around the world people burn the image of George W. Bush, but here in Kosovo Clinton is worshipped. It's the Republican Party's worst nightmare. I knew immediately that Prishtina was my type of town.

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A Brief Cultural Misphap

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View of the City Photo - Pristina, Kosovo

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It only took about an hour to reach Kosovo's capital, Prishtina, from the Macedonian border. By the time I reached the city limits I was fully settling into the idea of being in Kosovo. I was cruising down the two-lane highway, listening to my CDs and passing numerous military convoys. I was enjoying trying to sound out the signs in Albanian and passing by the military bases belonging to various NATO countries—it was so far so good. The Kosovo countryside was lush green, with various restaurants and truck stops dotting the highway. I stopped in one for a brief snack and to try and get some money. In Kosovo the default currency is the Euro, and that is what the ATMs dispense. All I had was a wad of Mac...Read More

It only took about an hour to reach Kosovo's capital, Prishtina, from the Macedonian border. By the time I reached the city limits I was fully settling into the idea of being in Kosovo. I was cruising down the two-lane highway, listening to my CDs and passing numerous military convoys. I was enjoying trying to sound out the signs in Albanian and passing by the military bases belonging to various NATO countries—it was so far so good. The Kosovo countryside was lush green, with various restaurants and truck stops dotting the highway. I stopped in one for a brief snack and to try and get some money. In Kosovo the default currency is the Euro, and that is what the ATMs dispense. All I had was a wad of Macedonian Denari, a lovely currency, but completely worthless. Pulling into the stop, I again got that sick sense in my stomach, that worried feeling that I was somewhere I shouldn't be, but when I walked in, nobody even blinked. I almost felt a bit rejected, here I was, about as off the beaten tourist track as you can get, and nobody seemed to care. I figured it had to be that there are just so many aid workers and military types floating around, and there have been for a good 10 years now, that nobody sees a foreigner as anything special.After withdrawing some Euros, and getting over the feeling of holding a familiar currency for the first time in almost a year, I headed over to the counter to buy a drink. The man behind the counter looked at me and spewed out something in Albanian, (this was to be a recurring theme). When I gave him a confused look, he repeated himself and looked even more confused when he realized I didn't understand. After an awkward silence I pointed at the fridge and spewed out one of the few pan-Slavic words I knew, mineralna voda (mineral water). I had assumed he didn't know English, and so decided that relying on some odd Serbian-Macedonian combination would work best. The shopkeeper gave me an odd look that seemed to say, "And who the hell are you?" He went to the fridge grabbed the water, and practically threw it onto the counter, muttering something, which I assumed to be the price. I shoved some money his way, he gave me change and then turned away, barely acknowledging that I was leaving.I was a bit taken aback at what had just occurred, but soon it occurred to me. Why did I think it would be such a good idea to make myself sound like a Slav? The Serbs were the ones who oppressed and massacred Albanians for a solid decade, that is what the whole Kosovo conflict was about. The shopkeeper probably assumed I was Serbian, thus the harsh attitude. From then on I decided to leave the Slavic phrases behind and just rely on English. Once I did that it was amazing just how much the people opened up.I had the rest of the drive towards Prishtina to think about my little faux pas, but once I crested the hill and saw the skyline of Prishtina, my thoughts immediately switched to, "why aren't I spending more time here?" Read Less

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An Uncertain Border Crossing

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Approaching the border of the UN-administered region of Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was probably the most nervous I have ever been crossing a border. Not only was I rolling towards the border in my Avis-rented Ford, but I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The reason for my crossing was that I ultimately wanted reach Montenegro, but it just so happens that the quickest route from Macedonia to Montenegro goes right through the heart of Kosovo.I, like most of the rest of the world, had no real idea of what exactly Kosovo was like. Just the word Kosovo triggered such phrases as ethnic cleansing, mass graves, and refugees. I had no idea ...Read More

Approaching the border of the UN-administered region of Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was probably the most nervous I have ever been crossing a border. Not only was I rolling towards the border in my Avis-rented Ford, but I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The reason for my crossing was that I ultimately wanted reach Montenegro, but it just so happens that the quickest route from Macedonia to Montenegro goes right through the heart of Kosovo.

I, like most of the rest of the world, had no real idea of what exactly Kosovo was like. Just the word Kosovo triggered such phrases as ethnic cleansing, mass graves, and refugees. I had no idea what I was about to get myself into. In fact I wasn't even sure if I was able to actually enter Kosovo without some sort of special permission, but I was determined to find out. The worst that would happen is that they turned me around.

As I rolled up to the Macedonian border, I figured that the guards there would make it clear if there was something odd or dangerous about my trying to enter Kosovo, but the guard seemed not to show any sort of emotion as he approached my parked car. Of course, I had Macedonian plates and had no real "foreign" look about me. I rolled down the window, he greeted me with a dobra don, and I replied, using up about the extent of my Macedonian. As he continued on in Macedonian, I just gave him a blank stare and handed over my passport. He looked down, seeing the blue cover emblazoned with a bald eagle and apologized, exposing a shaky command of English. The guard asked no real questions and expressed no real surprise at a random American trying to enter Kosovo (I'd later discover that Americans stationed in Kosovo often hop over to Macedonia). A few stamps later he waved me on.

Entering the no-man's land between the borders I was feeling slightly better, but still had a sense of nervousness that made my stomach queasy and filled my body with adrenaline. I started to think of all the so-called "dangerous" places I had traveled before, Palestine, Lebanon, Georgia, but this, I decided, was definitely the craziest. The second thoughts immediately followed.

Before I could think too much, though, I was standing at the Kosovo border with a UN soldier in a blue beret staring down at me. He spoke out it Macedonian (or Serbian, I'm not sure). I innocently shoved my passport out the window and the guard switched to English.

"So who do you work for in Kosovo," he asked.

"Nobody," I replied, starting to worry, "Do I need a work permit," I wondered. The guard looked at me puzzled and asked, "Well, what's your business in Kosovo, then?"

"Tourism, I suppose," I replied, but when I saw his worried look I added, "Well I'm on my way to Montenegro, so I'm just passing through." He seemed to understand this better. After a brief search of the car, he handed me back my passport. He hadn't stamped it, which disappointed a stamp collector like me, but I assumed that since this isn't an "official" border, there were no stamps to be collected. He asked if I had any other questions, I shook my head. The guard then smiled and said, "Well, have a good day and good luck!"

Good luck was not what I needed to hear.

By this time my heart was starting to calm down and the adrenaline subsided. I was actually in Kosovo, there were no problems entering and now all that was left was to drive the entire length of the country, which just happened to involve an unexpected overnight stop in Kosovo's fragmented capital, Prishtina. Read Less

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