Three days in Kosovo

[kileskus]

Three days in Kosovo (via Shanghai, Amsterdam, Skopje, and Belgrade)

I had two weeks' leave in Nov and planned to spend a week in Kosovo. After losing several days in transit and then resting with an exacerbation of the Achilles' tendinitis I had left Australia with, that ended up being only three days of actual touristing. I'll share a bit of how I got there and what I did, and a few tips if you want to plan your own trip there.

Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia as an autonomous region with a mix of ethnic Serbs and Albanians. As with other Yugoslav republics in the late 20th century after Tito's death, there was Serb-perpetrated ethnic cleansing. NATO then bombed Serbia and helped the Albanians under the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK). The Serbs were subsequently persecuted and mostly expelled. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, though it remains unrecognised by Serbia, Serbia's allies, and a handful of EU countries.

Getting there
I flew to Amsterdam on China Eastern. I had a stopover in Shanghai and stayed at the Royal Shanghai International Hotel.


The room was nice and there is an option for a buffet breakfast with the typical attentive Chinese service (it costs the same as room service breakfast - I would recommend taking the buffet instead). It's good as an airport hotel for layovers, but a bit far from downtown if you want to spend time there.

In Amsterdam I did the usual window shopping and getting high but also visited the university city of Leiden, which saw most of the Netherland's greatest contributions to science. The world's oldest observatory is there and distinguished physicists like Huygens, van der Waals and Einstein were from or worked there. The science museum in Leiden currently has an exhibit that showcases some of van Leeuwenhoek's original microscopes and diagrams.


From the southern city of Eindhoven I slummed it on Wizz Air to Skopje. There was terrible stormy weather and many of the flights to EU destinations were diverted or cancelled, but I suppose for immigrations control purposes the non-EU ones were prioritised and went ahead.

A couple of years ago the Macedonian government commissioned a bunch of statues to be erected all over Skopje so you can't walk 100 metres in the city centre without seeing some kind of statue. The visitor can decide if it's kitsch or genuine patriotism.


The city is quite beautiful at night with the lights over the river and the neo-Classical façades of the buildings.

The museum of the occupation of Macedonia is in my opinion a unique museum well worth a visit if you're there. I was told sternly not to take photos and there were soldiers inside standing guard. It is light on actual information but contains a lot of artefacts from the Ottoman occupation up to the end of Yugoslavia. There are also numerous realistic wax figures of notable personnages and large, metres-wide paintings of battle scenes - it's almost an art museum that tells stories rather than give detailed accounts and information. Perhaps this fictionalisation/dramaticisation of history is analogous to the city centre's statues, a deliberate attempt at constructing a particular narrative of Macedonian history.

If you're interested in the history, read up on it before you come. In a nutshell, for several centuries Macedonia had been under occupation or partition by the Ottomans, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia. The subject of Greece is still a bit touchy (the national museum constantly makes reference to "the part of Macedonia under Greece"). The revolts against the Ottomans were key events in the development of a national consciousness. The periods of Bulgarian and Serbian rule are also not viewed warmly, which may be one reason the standardisation of a Macedonian language was such an important part of the resistance movement. Macedonian and Bulgarian are very similar and the former had for a long time been viewed as a dialect of the latter (similar politically to how Ukrainian was viewed as a dialect of Russian during the empire). Unlike the other Yugoslav republics, Macedonia's secession didn't involve conflict with Serbs but rather with the ethnic Albanian minority.

From Skopje I took the bus to Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo. The trip takes roughly two hours.

 

[kileskus]

Prishtina

My Macedonian friend laughed when I said I was going to Prishtina. "There's nothing there - two hotels, three restaurants, and a statue of Bill Clinton." He wasn't very off target. There's not a whole lot to do in Prishtina during the daytime; most sights can be visited in one day, two days max.

It is very lively at night though, with a lot of nice restaurants in Mother Teresa Square and clubs and bars around the city centre.


The Bill Clinton statue beneath a large banner of his face. There are similae such banners around the city with American and Kosovar politicians/generals.


The Imperial mosque


The national library, considered to be a frontrunner for Europe's ugliest building. It is named after Pjeter Bogdani, the first author in the Albanian language who also organised resistance against the Ottoman occupiers. What I liked was the irony: right next to this modernist building honouring a key figure in Albanian culture and history, is the shell of an unfinished Serbian Orthodox church that was abandoned when NATO's bombing forced the Yugoslavs to withdraw.


The national museum of Kosovo is pretty small, with one room for prehistory and another for the struggle for independence. There's little English.


Another little piece of irony is the brotherhood and unity monument:

'Brotherhood and unity' was the slogan of Yugoslavia and the official proclaimed interethnic policy. Unlike other remnants of the Serb-dominated era in Prishtina, this monument is free of graffiti.

I did also want to see the Gazimestan monument and the Serb enclave of Gračanica, but didn't because of my tendinitis kicking up a fuss after walking around the city centre. The Gazimestan monument is a little outside of Prishtina and memorialises the Serbian forces under Prince Lazar that fought against the Turks in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. This battle is extremely important in Serbian national identity. It attested to the courage and skill of Serbian warriors, as it was the first and only battle in which an Ottoman sultan was killed. Contemporaries reported it as a Christian victory, but even though the Ottoman army retreated, the Serbian army was nearly wiped out and eventually most of Serbia became vassals of the Ottoman empire.

 

[RooFlyer]

A couple of years ago the Macedonian government commissioned a bunch of statues to be erected all over Skopje so you can't walk 100 metres in the city centre without seeing some kind of statue. The visitor can decide if it's kitsch or genuine patriotism.

I kinda appreciated them. Didn't necessarily understand who they were (except for Macedonia's favourite son, Alexander the Great, of course!) but I think they gave the place a bit of 'old Europe' gravitas.

 

[kileskus]

Peć

Peć is a city in western Kosovo. I got there by train.


Had I known about the nature Peć had to offer and had my tendinitis allowed, I would've stayed two or three days here. The city lies at the foot of the Rugova mountains, where one can go hiking, camping, or ziplining.


The old bazaar with the mountains on view

I went to see the the Patriarchate of Peć monastery, one of the oldest Serbian Orthodox churches and at one point the main one before the Ottoman occupation. Several archbishops are buried here and previous rulers have stayed here.



You have to bring ID to enter the complex. My visit coincided with two busloads of Serbian tourists on a pilgrimage of sorts and it was packed.




At the souvenir shop you can buy some wine or rakija made at the monastery. The rakija was kind of musty is the best way I would describe it, not the best rakija I've had but decent for homemade.

i took the minibus back to Prishtina and sat next to a girl who was going there to commence her 2nd year of studies. She enjoyed telling me about their local products - Golden Eagle is the Kosovan energy drink and it tastes like Red Bull but is cheaper. Buy bottled water from the Rugova mountains, it tastes better than Albanian water. On a more serious note, she told me about the visa-free regime to be implemented next year between Kosovo and the European countries that recognise its independence. The handful of other young people I met all brought this up, usually with a mix of excitement but also consternation at the prospect of an accelerated brain drain and how that would impede social, economic and political development in the country.

Back in Prishtina I had qofte at a restaurant serving traditional cuisine. Earlier in the day I'd had kebabs and kifle in Peć. Local cuisine is cheap and ubiquitous, especially in cities like Peć that are less oriented towards the pizza-and-pasta western-style cuisine like Prishtina is.

 

[kileskus]

Mitrovica

While Mitrovica is reachable by bus, I hired a private driver to take me there. It's an hour's drive from Prishtina and the closer you get the more NATO trucks you see.


The city lies on the Ibar river. The part south of the Ibar is called South Mitrovica and is Albanian. Then there is a bridge that goes to North Mitrovica, at the end of which is a police van. While most places in Kosovo have only a handful of Serbs, North Mitrovica is by far a majority Serb city. You notice that as soon as you cross the bridge.

The main boulevard

There is a lot of Serb-nationalistic graffiti in the city centre. Commonly seen are 'this is Serbia' and 'long live Serbia'.

This is symbol of the 'Northern Brigade', and their motto as is written here means 'we are waiting'. Apparently they have carried out attacks on the government and NATO forces, and the government has declared them a terrorist organisation.

Police patrols are frequent. Kosovo police are entirely Albanian - there were a couple of Serbs in the force but they left in protest a few years ago in response to a proposed law and didn't return.


"Kosovo is Serbia - Crimea is Russia", written in a mix of Russian and Serbian.

Apart from the Serbian flags and the presence of institutions like Pošta Srbije, another interesting manifestation of the ethnic and cultural conflict here is the license plates.

The majority of cars here have the abbreviation for Kosovo (RKS) and the symbol of the city in which they purchased the car blocked out with white strips of paper.

An hour's walk from Mitrovica is the Zvechan fortress, an 11th century stronghold of the Serbs against the Ottomans. It is located on the top of a hill that overlooks Mitrovica and some mine sites. 'Ruins' would be a more accurate descriptor than 'fortress', complete with a Serbian flag that has clearly seen better days.

 

[kileskus]

Some advice and thoughts on visiting Kosovo

What to see
If you want to visit, I think it'd be best to see other cities/towns and not just Prishtina. This would mean getting used to bus travel, hiring a driver or, ideally, renting a car. There is a train service only between Peć and Prishtina. There used to be more passenger routes but they got axed. To find the bus services to wherever you want to visit, go to the station and ask at the counter.

Peć is definitely worth a visit. Prizren is also a much lauded destination for its nature and culture and was originally in my plans. If you're into the darker side of Yugoslav history in Kosovo, you can try Gjakova. If you're coming down from Serbia and super interested in seeing the Serb perspective as I was, you can drop by Mitrovica, but otherwise I wouldn't prioritise visiting it.

Google Maps is not very accurate with locations and opening hours of establishments. For example, the national museum in Prishtina is closed on Tuesdays as well as Mondays, and many restaurants are not open as late as Google says they are. Some of the laundromats listed are no longer in operation (go to SpeedClean if you need a laundromat - it's open and easy to use, but the directions to it are inaccurate). I made the mistake of relying too much on Maps and that upset some of my plans, which was frustrating given how little time I had in the country. Leave some flexibility in your plans, walk past and check opening hours yourself.

SIMs
Roaming is hard to get here so you can get a local SIM card if you need mobile data. I would say definitely get a card if you're visiting other cities or towns. In smaller places the population tends to be older and it's harder to find an English speaker to ask directions or advice from, so internet helps with finding places and looking for things to do.

Vala is the national telecommunications company. When I was there the staff at the physical store in Prishtina did not speak English and were not interested in helping me activate my SIM card and data, their Messenger support kept insisting I needed to pay more for the data I had already bought, and the 5 times I called while in Peć and Mitrovica (no Vala stores there) I didn't get a single person who could speak English. The 6th time I tried Serbian and got hung up on immediately. Given the existence of Serbs and the fact that the students I ran into at the national museum were able to read Cyrillic, I assumed some Albanians would be amenable to speaking Serbian for business purposes, but animosities still run deep.

In any case, that was the main negative experience of my time in Kosovo. It took nearly 3 days to get my SIM sorted, and by then I didn't need it anymore as the 4th day I spent at my Airbnb resting the tendon that was extremely angry at me after the Zvečan hike.

To activate the SIM card, call the number on the back of the pack. Then, to use mobile data you need to go to settings - connections - mobile networks - access point names. Add a new one and put the name and APN as vala. In my experience SIM providers usually have this done automatically but here you need to do it manually.

Borders
If you want to go to Serbia as part of your trip, you should go there first and then Kosovo. Skopje is the nearest major point but it's also possible to enter/exit from Montenegro or Albania.

If you try to enter Serbia from Kosovo you might have issues entering and exiting and face fines and detention. You could potentially get away with it depending on the mood of the border police (and how susceptible they are to some flashed cash) but it's best to just do things the legal way. In September there was a clash in a northern village between Serb residents and Kosovar police and Serbia mobilised its army to the border, so things are a little tense at the moment.

Language
Most young people speak English, and very good English at that. I'd still advise downloading an Albanian language pack on your translator app.

Currency
Kosovo uses the euro. Have some cash on hand as some establishments don't accept card. In Mitrovica the Serbian dinar is used, but you can ask nicely for them to accept euros.

 

[kileskus]

(Inter)country roads, take me home

I had originally thoughtlessly planned to go from Mitrovica to Belgrade to catch a flight back to AMS for my trip home, as the timing of flights from PRN or SKP didn't work for my schedule. I only afterwards realised that I can't go from Kosovo to Serbia. I hadn't booked a flexible fare so decided to keep the flight and take the roundabout route to Belgrade.

From Prishtina I took the bus back to Skopje. There were some gorgeous views, especially from the border through to the Gjorgjev Dol region of southern Kosovo.


From Skopje I took the overnight bus to Belgrade, departing at midnight. Skopje bus station is close to several restaurants and landmarks so you can leave the station and walk around if you find yourself in a similar situation.

The overnight to Belgrade is the only direct service - daytime trips involve a transfer at Niš.



I got a day in Belgrade. There's plenty to do, with many museums, a fortress, and great architecture in and around the city centre.

The Moscow hotel, built by the Russian empire that has seen many illustrious guests like Tesla, Einstein, Hitchcock, Gorky.


The damaged Yugoslav General Staff building. The Serbian government has not fixed either this or the Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building and both sit like this in the city centre as a defiant reminder of the recent past. The banner here is a quote from Vojvodin Živojin Mišić, "Who can, can. He who does not know fear, goes forward!" (Not an example of the great architecture I mentioned.)


Across the street from that, over some other government building, is a long banner that reads: "Serbia without Kosovo is like a human without a heart. Stop NATO"


Tito's remains at the Museum of Yugoslavia

Getting around is easy with a comprehensive network of buses, minibuses and trams. The city trams and buses you have to pay for via SMS but no one does that. The minibuses are privately owned and you pay the driver for. Taxis are ubiquitous and Yandex Go (similar to Uber) operates here.

Google Maps was pretty inaccurate with PT times and stop locations in my experience, sometimes even telling you to go in the opposite direction. I understand that to some extent Maps depends on user input but I've been to smaller places than Pristina and Belgrade and have never had issues prior to this. The airport bus A1 departs from a labelled stop across the street from the Hilton, next to the bank, or from the bus stop ekonomski fakultet across from the bus station, not from Savski Square.

After that it was the flight to AMS via LHR, then to MEL via PVG. I had a 12-hr layover in Shanghai. As it was a Sunday, I managed to catch the marriage market in People's Square:

Parents trying to marry off their adult kids, putting up signs that described their child and what they were looking for in a spouse.

Thanks for following along.

 

[RooFlyer]

From Prishtina I took the bus back to Skopje. There were some gorgeous views, especially from the border through to the Gjorgjev Dol region of southern Kosovo.

I took that drive a few years ago. The freeway built on pylons in the middle of a river bed, and the freeway then following the river course was a bit startling!

 

[RB]

Thanks for the report. We will be in that area next year so great to get some tips

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the report. I visited most of those areas in 1982 when it was still Yugoslavia. Some beautiful scenery