Never in my life did I think I would have an honour of traveling to Kosovo 🙂 Booking this trip was a bit of a bullet in my throat but it ended up being totally thrilled with the state/non-state. Depends on which side you are.

Travelling from Skopje to Prishtina, our local guide welcomed us on a mini bus and offered us some rakija. The French girl behind me had to made a comment about drinking and driving. Eyes rolling. Nobody ever said the driver will be drinking, he was offering it to you in a Balkan hospitality manners. Chill Marie!

Passing the border was ease pease. My country of Croatia recognised Kosovo so I didn’t have any problem entering the territory. Our Ukrainian fella from the bus and his wife had to be registered. So the driver Vlado had to guarantee for them.

We continued towards Prishtina, The highway was built by USA. I expected the roads to be bumpy but instead, the ride was more pleasant than in the rest of the Balkans.

Driving along the Šar mountain, I was watching the landscape, the villages, the expensive cars (mafia!), the mosques and minarets It looked mild and welcoming. I was confused. I expected, dirty, garbage, chaos.

Pristina

As we entered Prishtina, we noticed the Statue of Liberty placed there in the famous 2008. when they somehow proclaimed their independence under the patronage of the USA and started another crisis in the Balkans.

Actually, the entire Boulevard is named after Bill Clinton with his statue and mural and Hilarry’s store of dresses. Funny, crazy, odd… all in the same time.

The Dardani tribe emerged in Kosovo and established the Kingdom of Dardania in the 4th century BC. It was later annexed by the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC. The territory remained in the Byzantine Empire, facing Slavic migrations from the 6th-7th century AD. Control shifted between the Byzantines and the First Bulgarian Empire. In the 13th century, Kosovo became integral to the Serbian medieval state and the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Ottoman expansion in the Balkans in the late 14th and 15th century led to the decline and fall of the Serbian Empire; the Battle of Kosovo of 1389 is considered to be one of the defining moments. The Ottoman Empire fully conquered Kosovo after the Second Battle of Kosovo, ruling for nearly five centuries until 1912. 

As the capital city of the Republic of Kosovo, it is the center of cultural and artistic development of all Albanians that live in Kosovo. The city centre, I mean those three streets are nicely arranged, but if you go a few more streets away you will find rocky paths. There are dogs wandering around, there are sewers of canalisations missing (they have been stolen because it is the precious metal) and our fella Ukrainian walking around in flip flops. I mean, how the hell do you visit Kosovo like that?

Packed around the main boulevard, there are government buildings, more dogs and Skanderbeg Square – an Albanian feudal lord and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire.

As Kosovo is in a political dispute with Serbia, but in the same time wannabe part of the Big Albania, the tendency to get deep and emotional sometimes go too far. Unnecessary too far. Often resulting by the killing of innocent young adults.

The Kosovo Museum is the earliest institution of cultural heritage in Kosovo, established with the goal of preserving, restoration-conservation and presentation of movable heritage on the territory. One can see that the Kosovars are trying to form their state, putting the artefacts together since prehistory to nowadays. Our Ukrainian fella made a comment: only that? In Ukraine we have xy…

I started to be slowly annoyed by him. I have to say. And his French girlfriend. And their snobbish comments. This is definitely not the way anyone should be travelling, coming unprepared and expecting from the guide to explain you every single detail and answer all your politically provocative questions in a land of political insecurity. We are supposed to travel with an open heart.

Furthermore, we were supposed to visit the local mosque, Our guide Vlado told us to enter, obviously pointing out on the sign to take off our shoes. We all did that but the French girl and Ukrainian fella. This costed us not being able to explore the mosque entirely and having conflict situation with the imam who was taking care of the mosque. I mean, in the end it looked like one Kosovo was more civilised than the French girl and Ukrainian fella. Moving on.

The Bazaar of Prishtina was the core merchandising center of the Old Prishtina since the 15th century, when it was built. It played a significant role in the physical, economic, and social development of Pristina. The Old Bazaar was destroyed during the 1950s and 1960s, following the modernization slogan of “Destroy the old, build the new”. If you ask me, the most vicvid part of Pristina is here.

The National Library in Pristina was designed by Croatian architect Andrija Mutnjakovic and opened in 1982. The library, with its 73 small domes, was supposed to be the focal point of the complex of university buildings. The most beautiful example of brutalism, if you ask me, I was so happy to visit this place 🙂

To the very end and my surprise: in 2007, the Government of Kosovo approved plans for the building of the cathedral dedicated to the Albanian Roman Catholic nun and missionary Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Deep deep Balkans.

Prizren

Moving forward, the landscape on our way from Pristine to Prizren. Picturesque, small, not always charming but still traditional.

Prizren is constitutionally designated as the historical capital of the country. Prizren served as the capital of the Serbian Empire under the reign of Stefan Dušan, as it bloomed to become an important center of trade and commerce during Dušan’s reign. Today it is one big tourist city mostly for tourists from Albania. Here I was surprised too as I really did not expect any sign of tourism in Kosovo, at all.

Ottomans captured Prizren from Serbian Despotate in 1455 and would almost immediately serve as the capital of Sanjak of Prizren in the Ottoman Empire. While standing as an important administrative city for the Ottomans, Prizren would also become an important political center for the Albanians during late 19th century. I will explain more, but first comes first: the food.

Although I am not much impressed by Turkish-influenced cuisine, especially dürüm, but I did enjoy the atmosphere. There were flies all around us, next to our table was an Albanian family, visiting the old Albanian city of Prizren. There was noise, dog barking, gypsy children hitting some kind of local drums and making me scream to my husband across the table to be able to pass the message, Then, as the most Balkan thing they can do, the waiter came to give us the bill. We looked into a bill, noticing it is not correct.

Our Albanian family from the table next to ours smiled back and said: this is not yours.

– What do you mean?

– They place the fake bills when they think the financial inspection is going around.

😀

Prizren was the cultural and intellectual centre of Ottoman Kosovo. It was dominated by its Muslim population, who composed over 70% of its population in 1857. The city became a major Albanian cultural centre and the coordination political and cultural capital of the Kosovar Albanians. In 1871, a long Serbian seminary was opened in Prizren, discussing the possible joining of the old Serbia’s territories with the Principality of Serbia. It was an important part of Kosovo Vilayet between 1877 and 1912.

During the late 19th century the city became a focal point for Albanian nationalism and saw the creation in 1878 of the League of Prizren, a movement formed to seek the national unification and autonomy of Albanians within the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turk Revolution was a step in the dissolving of the Ottoman empire that led to the Balkan Wars. The Third Army (Ottoman Empire) had a division in Prizren, the 30th Reserve Infantry Division (Otuzuncu Pirzerin Redif Fırkası).

It is hard to travel not opinionated through a country like this. As a political scientist visiting Kosovo, I can not escape from certain observations. tKosovo was the center of the Albanian Renaissance and experienced the Albanian revolts of 1910 and 1912. After the Balkan Wars, it was ceded to Serbia and Montenegro and became an Autonomous Province within Yugoslavia. Tensions between Kosovo’s Albanian and Serb communities simmered through the 20th century and occasionally erupted into major violence, culminating in the Kosovo War of 1998 and 1999, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army and the establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

In Kosovo you can see more Albanian flags than Kosovo flags. I am not much keen on that. Aspirations to concede a big and greater country is always resulting in wars and is never good for people and economy.

And because of all these deep politological thoughts, I have not go much deep into the names of the local saints or local imams after which the mosques were built, I was superficially engaged into Kosovo society. The society that lives, has tourism, rides the best BMWs and Mercedes but is somehow poor and seeks the protectorate.

Our Ukrainian fella and French girl were even more puzzled, totally unprepared for the trip, asking super sensitive questions to our guide and making awkward situations. I am not sure if this is because Kosovo is always so much victimised in the media, or because certain people do not know how to travel.

Listening constantly their complaints about AC in the car, where to meet and at what time and why do they have the free time and why the guide is not coming with them, taking their hand and explaining into details somethings that has at least three different versions … I had the impression the poor Kosovo left better impression than the two supposed to be civilised maniacs (paradox pun intended).