33. A first class ticket on the non-stop to...
Trip Start
Jun 17, ????
1
38
Trip End
Ongoing
Pristina, Serbia
Friday, June 24, 2011
With the capture of Ratko Mladic in the weeks before our visit, the troubles here were at the forefront of our minds when we flew into Pristina. I was happy to read in various places that the English/British are welcome here, having supported Kosovan independence. Our own Paddy Pantsdown administered the region for a while under the UN and by all accounts did a good job.
Having been horribly busy in the run up to the trip, I hadn't had much time to reasearch things to do there and my forays into the usually all-knowing Trip Advisor hadn't got me very far. As we drove in, the place seemed deserted, half-built and unattractive - I was very relieved when our driver explained that this was the industrial area of the city. Once we'd dropped our bags in the hotel we were pleased to discover attractive bars, cafes and restaurants buzzing with Pristina's very young population. We asked for a map at reception and were handed their copy of "Pristina in your pocket". Despite being labelled "Only for reception" she told us that we could keep it and we were very appreciative as it was the first reasonable source of touristy info that we'd come across. We found out way to a range of interesting sculptures, which are always my favourite thing, as well as the Kosovo Museum. There we found out lots about the kingdom and region of Dardania, which I'm sorry to say I'd never even heard of before. But that's why I love to travel, you get to know new stuff.
The other thing that I liked about Kosovo was the amazing cheapness of eating out - whole meals and wine for two people not even making 30 euro with a tip. They don't take credit cards generally, but when you need so little cash to get about, it's not a hardship.
As is so oftent he case, I was impressed by the standard of English. We could get the basics that we needed pretty much anywhere without needing to use Albanian. This was lucky because although I looked upa few works in advance, I would not feel confident about how to pronounce them. In a few places we even found people whose English was quite extensive. With the variety of languages just in their own region, it's amazing that English is so widely spoken.
Although we saw plenty of buildings half-built and boarded up, presumably when the cash ran out, there was plenty more contruction work in progress. A lot of the pavements were being rebuilt - which is a good thing as you would not get too far in your heels outside of Mother Teresa Boulevard. If the cash doesn't dry up, the whole place will look tremendous five years from now. And I hope it does.
