Right in the Balkans: Pt. 2 - Kosovo
Chapter 2 Kosovo:
So we left Serbian territories for Kosovo. The second youngest country in the world - It’s younger than Youtube.
We took public transport. A bus which runs the length of the country in around 2 hours costs just 1.5 euros.
Brutal but beautiful
Our first bizarre observation was a huge bronze statue of… BILL CLINTON! Its fair to say the Kosovans are extremely grateful to the US and NATO for their involvement in the Kosovo way.
We went on to the national library / parliament building.
It was a lot warmer here than up in Mitrovice, so we were now carrying our thick coats. Ian had bought a very distinctive North Face jacket on the trip. Bright blue with black panels on the shoulders. A porter told us to leave our luggage and coats on the stairs.. A few minutes into our visit a man walks past us wearing a new, bright blue North Face jacket with black panels on the shoulders! “I wonder where he got that…” I joked
Parliament
Acoustic Panelling
Brutalist cladding
Across the park, I spied an unfinished church. The country is 95% Muslim, but TBH most of the country are young and not religious. So, it’s hardly surprising there isn’t the funding to finish it.
This trip wasn’t about visiting abandoned buildings. However, when I spotted an abandoned prison we couldn’t resist.
We visited straight off the bus, so I was still dragging my wheelie case noisily behind me. It was probably hovering around 3 degrees outside. However, upon entering the first building it was significantly colder than outside. I pulled my coat up, and my breath became visible.
It was well below freezing in here.
Icicles formed everywhere, inside as well as outside, and the floors were like an ice rink.
Ian and I split up so that we wouldn’t be in each other’s photos.
Walking the curved corridors in silence, and sitting in the cells alone was absolutely haunting.
This place looks like it has been derelict for 30 years. But shockingly it was in use right up to 2019, just before Covid. The conditions must have been appalling.
During the conflicts this place was run by the Serbs, who held, tortured and killed over 9,000 ethnic Albanian political prisoners here. Not hardened criminals; artists, poets, lawyers, surgeons.
We ate, drank and got merry. We found one restaurant serving “half of a kid goat” Which we both ordered… making up the whole goat. We went to this amazing Italian restaurant in a huge old house. Between us we had breads & oils, soup, Ian had a fillet steak, I had a sirloin steak ragu. Washed down with local beer and a nice bottle of wine. Total bill 22euros (£10 each).
From there we hunted out the only LGBT bar in the country. It was pretty dead, but we got chatting to one of the owners Lend, who was fab and does some amazing (and risky) TV appearances to spread awareness. It was a wonderful laid back place, with a cat wandering around too:
We visited Kosovo as we didn’t know a single person that had been there as a tourist. Nor Serbia, Nor North Macedonia. We thought it’d be a bit of a laugh, and a bit like somewhere Borat would come from. Maps say it is disputed, FCDO says not to go there.
Plane being defrosted before take off
What we found was totally unique. A country that has converted to the Euro, but kept a native economy. It was insanely cheap. Kosovo is the second youngest country on the planet, it is younger than Youtube.
The capital at night felts so, so safe. Way safer than any city in the UK. It gladdened my heart to see young women walking alone late at night, over-ear headphones, and totally engrossed on an unlocked phone.
Kosovo had the chance to start a country, from scratch in 2008. How cool is that? The largest monument in in the capital is a sculpture of the word ‘NEWBORN’ and that’s exactly what it felt like.
Read Part 3, where we take an international bus from Kosovo to North Macedonia
So we left Serbian territories for Kosovo. The second youngest country in the world - It’s younger than Youtube.
We took public transport. A bus which runs the length of the country in around 2 hours costs just 1.5 euros.
Brutal but beautiful
Our first bizarre observation was a huge bronze statue of… BILL CLINTON! Its fair to say the Kosovans are extremely grateful to the US and NATO for their involvement in the Kosovo way.
We went on to the national library / parliament building.
It was a lot warmer here than up in Mitrovice, so we were now carrying our thick coats. Ian had bought a very distinctive North Face jacket on the trip. Bright blue with black panels on the shoulders. A porter told us to leave our luggage and coats on the stairs.. A few minutes into our visit a man walks past us wearing a new, bright blue North Face jacket with black panels on the shoulders! “I wonder where he got that…” I joked
Parliament
Acoustic Panelling
Brutalist cladding
Across the park, I spied an unfinished church. The country is 95% Muslim, but TBH most of the country are young and not religious. So, it’s hardly surprising there isn’t the funding to finish it.
This trip wasn’t about visiting abandoned buildings. However, when I spotted an abandoned prison we couldn’t resist.
We visited straight off the bus, so I was still dragging my wheelie case noisily behind me. It was probably hovering around 3 degrees outside. However, upon entering the first building it was significantly colder than outside. I pulled my coat up, and my breath became visible.
It was well below freezing in here.
Icicles formed everywhere, inside as well as outside, and the floors were like an ice rink.
Ian and I split up so that we wouldn’t be in each other’s photos.
Walking the curved corridors in silence, and sitting in the cells alone was absolutely haunting.
This place looks like it has been derelict for 30 years. But shockingly it was in use right up to 2019, just before Covid. The conditions must have been appalling.
During the conflicts this place was run by the Serbs, who held, tortured and killed over 9,000 ethnic Albanian political prisoners here. Not hardened criminals; artists, poets, lawyers, surgeons.
We ate, drank and got merry. We found one restaurant serving “half of a kid goat” Which we both ordered… making up the whole goat. We went to this amazing Italian restaurant in a huge old house. Between us we had breads & oils, soup, Ian had a fillet steak, I had a sirloin steak ragu. Washed down with local beer and a nice bottle of wine. Total bill 22euros (£10 each).
From there we hunted out the only LGBT bar in the country. It was pretty dead, but we got chatting to one of the owners Lend, who was fab and does some amazing (and risky) TV appearances to spread awareness. It was a wonderful laid back place, with a cat wandering around too:
We visited Kosovo as we didn’t know a single person that had been there as a tourist. Nor Serbia, Nor North Macedonia. We thought it’d be a bit of a laugh, and a bit like somewhere Borat would come from. Maps say it is disputed, FCDO says not to go there.
Plane being defrosted before take off
What we found was totally unique. A country that has converted to the Euro, but kept a native economy. It was insanely cheap. Kosovo is the second youngest country on the planet, it is younger than Youtube.
The capital at night felts so, so safe. Way safer than any city in the UK. It gladdened my heart to see young women walking alone late at night, over-ear headphones, and totally engrossed on an unlocked phone.
Kosovo had the chance to start a country, from scratch in 2008. How cool is that? The largest monument in in the capital is a sculpture of the word ‘NEWBORN’ and that’s exactly what it felt like.
Read Part 3, where we take an international bus from Kosovo to North Macedonia
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To get in touch, please use the contact page.