The Wild Wild East, Kosovo

Quick facts: Kosovo is the newest country in Europe it broke away from Serbia in 2008, Its Main religion is Muslim although there is a strong Orthodox presence, and the official language is Albanian.

Flying from any other European country into Kosovo is like flying into a completely different world. Instead of church bells ringing you hear the Muslim call to prayer, instead of smooth paved roads you encounter a mix of rubble dirt and chunks of pavement the Kosovars call a road, and finally instead of clean clear air the air is instead full of a hazy dust from the giant coal burning plant. Apart from all of this, Kosovo is addictive, the people, the culture, and there history gets under your skin and you constantly want to see more of this beautiful country.

I was flying from Budapest, Hungary, with my Father to Kosovo. My Father worked in Kosovo for the European Union , so I was obviously obligated to come visit him and explore this wild part of Europe. Landing in Pristina, Kosovo’s Capitol, is Chaotic. Pristina’s airport is basically just a open room with a few guards here and there, but no real security. After telling the customs official I was a tourist he laughed and said move along. So customs is easy enough and then you pass outside the airport into the barrage of taxi touts yelling at you to take a ride. My fathers friend picked us up from the airport and drove us back to his apartment. After arriving I decided it was time to explore, I spent the next few days wondering the smashed streets of Pristina, the city is almost completely constructed of red brick giving it a very third world feel to it (makes an interesting twist considering your in Europe). My father introduced me to many different UN workers and EU workers, these people are every where, it seems that they pretty much run the country but hey maybe this is a good idea considering they have been through thirty years of civil unrest and war. About the third day I was in Pristina I wandered into the main market, the market in Pristina is equivalent to a market in the middle east. There are men with turbans bartering, a massive surplus of vegetables, goats and other livestock, and the odd stand selling small handguns and switch blades. Wondering through the market was great, although you get many stares they usually end up being a smile or a toothless man asking you where you from and who you work for. After the market I stumbled across a large beaten down mosque, I investigated and it seemed to still be in use, I soon discovered this mosque was four hundred years old!!!. Kosovo puzzles me because it’s a Muslim country but lets just say the women don’t dress modestly….. At all. After the Mosque I rambled through Pristinas Museum, they’re history is brutal but very interesting, and finished off the day with a beer at 92 the bar down town…… yes I know a Muslim country with every kind of alcohol you can imagine. The next day I took a Taxi up to a shopping mal call the “Mini Max”, now first of all Mini Max is incredible, it’s a shopping mall filled entirely of fake brand names and burnt music and DVD’s. Copy right has not yet made it to Kosovo, so you get to shop your heart out….. But you cant legally take any of your awesome purchases outside the country (that sucks!!!!). After Mini Max I shot a few hand guns at the firing range and explored some more of this crazy congested city.

The next day we drove out to a city called Peja, It takes about three to four hours to go barely a hundred kilometres. This is because the streets are broken and smashed, the traffic is horrendous, and you constantly are stopped by herds of sheep crossing the roads.After what felt like forever we finally arrived in Peja. Peja is a great city, its not as crowded and congested as Pristina, and the air is much cleaner out near the mountains. Peja is filled with tiny European style streets with many bakeries and clothing shops. There are Various Mosques dotted around the city and there is almost no UN or EU vehicles on every corner. We spent the day wondering around this town and made our way back to Pristina.

We woke up early because we knew the drive was going to be long today. We drove half way out to Peja and stopped at Mirusha Waterfalls. It was about a two hour hike through a unmarked trail, it involved hopping across the river on small rocks, and fighting our way through bush that has not been hiked in a long time. The Mirusha waterfall was beautiful, its waters surrounded by thick bush makes a great swimming hole. After Mirusha we drove to Peja for lunch ( Kosovo’s food can be broken down into Middle Eastern Kebabs, and a fusion of Italian and Greek food.). We then drove into the mountains to Decani Monastery. Decani is set in a jaw dropping mountain valley surrounded by thick forests and clean clear air. The monks of the monastery are more than welcoming and willing to show you the Orthodox religion, and there huge monastery. Inside the monastery there is paintings that date back seven hundred years!!!, and at the end a gift shop selling silver and gold crosses the monks forge themselves, also wine from the winery founded by the monastery. We departed from Decani and took the long drive to Prizren. Along the way we passed many small towns filled with small shops, Kosovo Harleys ( a mix of what appears to be a lawn tractor and a Motor cycle?), and the occasional brothel. We arrived in the evening to Prizren, Prizren is spectacular, it’s a cultural mix of Turkish and Italian Architecture, with a little bit of a fairytale castle thrown in. The streets here are all cobblestone and its complete with a eight hundred year old Turkish bath (which is no longer in use). You could spend weeks wondering around the tight alley ways and cobble stone vistas of Prizren and not see it all. I ended up inviting myself into a Turkish art gallery and was pressured to by a painting… which I didn’t ha!!!, and spent the rest of my time experiencing the place by walking around. We drove back late at night to Pristina stopping by at Gracanica Monastery, another great and interesting Monastery filled with history.

The next few days I spent exploring more of Crazy Pristina before flying back into western Europe. Kosovo will always stay with me as being the Wild Wild East of Europe.