Kosovo

Overview

Some might argue it’s not a country, particularly Serbians, some might argue it is, particularly Kosovan. I was surprised at the deep Muslim heritage as I went there. I was aware it was a country mainly muslim but with the Serbs claiming the lands I did not think it would be reflected so much in it’s architecture and culture. I had not realized the Serbs were only a small part of this multicultural country. The tug of war between the Albanians and the Serbs is still very much present with both as official languages.

19-20^st August

The evening before I just walked a bit in town with someone from the hostel but didn’t visit much. In the morning, however, I took off to see the fortress. Once again the view was awesome. Prizren is a beautiful city with old houses and bridges. It’s full of history as is all of Kosovo. After the fortress I went around the city more until I left for Pristina. I went there by car and you can see on all road signs the names of towns in Albanian and Serbian.

Pristina is quite small. I walked all around it, going to Mother Teresa Cathedral and park, the NEWBORN sign, the Bill Clinton statue. Pristina is quite small and walking around is quite easy. Afterwards I also went to a local café which was really quaint and nice. Then I took a bus bas to Skopje to make my way to Belgrade. At the Serbian border, the custom officers refuse to stamp your passport. So you cannot enter Serbia from Kosovo or leave Serbia from Kosovo and have your entry or exit stamps.

On my way to Skopje I talked with a Macedonian from the Albanian side and it was so interesting. The history in this region is so raw, it’s heart-breaking. In Skopje I got a nice surprise when I saw Nina and Sava at the bus station. They had taken a train to Skopje and wanted to take a train up to a southern city in Serbia to finish off biking but they couldn’t take their bikes on the train for some reason. They also had just missed a bus as the bus driver took too much time to decide whether or not they could bring their bike so they didn’t have the time to buy a ticket. I told them of my plans to take the night bus to Belgrade and they thought they might wait and try to take the same bus. We waited a couple of hours at a café near the bus station and luckily they managed to get on the bus.

To Serbia

What happened next in Serbia.