Kosovo

Croatia, Albania, somewhere near Romania...
It's Euro, and NATO, why the hell do we go?
Pristina, blew up, huh? Head for Macedonia! I'll race ya!

--song parody protesting U.S. involvement in Kosovo (1999)


 

When I think of Kosovo, I think of that song, bombs, and refugees.  I don't think of tourism.  Well, at least, I didn't...until recently.

After Skopje, the plan was to head to Tirana, Albania.  According to google maps, though, there are two routes that should take nearly the same amount of time: one route that goes through the Lake Ohrid area in southwestern Macedonia, and a second route that goes through Prizren, Kosovo.  How many opportunities does one get to go to Kosovo? We chose route #2.

A little background info:  Kosovo has been contested by Serbs and Albanians for centuries.  Though the Serbs claim this land as their own and as sacred land, the majority of the people who live there are Albanians. In Communist-era Yugoslavia, Kosovo was given autonomous status.  In 1989 Kosovo's autonomy was revoked by Serbian president Milosevic, and Kosovo again became part of Serbia--much to the dismay of the Albanians who lived there; they claimed horrific treatment and discrimination by the Serbs. This eventually led to conflict, and the fighting didn't stop until NATO bombed the Serbian capital in 1999.

Knowing Kosovo's history of war and the fact that it used to be part of Serbia, I expected lots of bombed-out buildings, and frankly, lots of trash.  I was also a little nervous, because I had been the one to suggest taking this detour.  We weren't near the areas that are known to still be dangerous or that sustained the most damage in the war, but the country itself isn't considered stable yet (for example, you have to buy car insurance at the border because insurance that covers the rest of Europe is not valid in Kosovo). Still, I wasn't anticipating any trouble, because I read that they love Americans!

Signs thanking the Kosovo Liberation Army, the U.S., and NATO

I was amazed at how pretty and clean it was, and how much was under construction all over the countryside. I was also amazed by the view of the mountains.

I understand why Serbia wanted to hang on to this land; it's beautiful!

It took a little longer than google maps had suggested, but we made it to the picturesque city of Prizren for a late lunch.

 

 

Just as I had imagined, the people were fabulous.  One example: LC collects small flags for her classroom, and when she saw a few Albanian flags inside a store window, we just had to go in and inquire about buying one.  The salesman didn't speak English, so LC pointed at the flag.  He handed her the flag, but when LC held up a few Euros, he crossed his hands, and then separated them--it looked like he was saying no. She offered money again, and this time, the guy--who was couldn't have been more than 20 years old--put his hands to his chest, then held them out to her...he wanted her to have the flag. After that, I felt I had to buy something in that store; Kosovo, though, is lacking in the souvenir department. I ended up paying one Euro a piece for two homemade-looking magnets with the Kosovo flag on them.

The land was beautiful and the people were lovely, but that's not to say that there aren't problems. Kosovo has the highest unemployment in the region, and we saw an awful lot of men in the towns who didn't seem to have anything to do.  It was also pretty obvious which towns were primarily Albanian, and which were Serb.  The ski town of Brezovica is covered in Serbian flags, while all the surrounding towns have tons of Albanian flags. You can even tell by the colors on the signs; a hotel sign that was black and red was a sure sign that it was an Albanian-owned hotel in an Albanian town.

one of the large monuments to the Kosovo Liberation Army in the colors of the Albanian flag

Serbian Orthodox church surrounded with barbed wire...at least it doesn't have to be guarded, right?

What kind of toys are these???

There is a lot of progress, though. There seems to be a lot of construction going on, courtesy of the EU and Turkey.  I had read somewhere that a few years ago, if you were driving on the old road from Prizren to Tirana, Albania you shouldn't get off the main road because there may still have been land mines. That shouldn't be a problem anymore with this perfect, new highway that appears to have been blasted out of the mountains.

We stayed on this highway until shortly before Tirana....that, though, is a whole different story! :)