Sightseeing on foot

Exploring Pristina

The hotel gave a nice breakfast with Turkish music videos playing softly in the background.  I left around 0900 to explore the main sights of the city and a free walking tour.

First up was the old town nearby.  Most of it wasn’t old old but it certainly had an old feel with ramshackle sheds tucked between oldish buildings.  It had an oriental feel that was far away from Serbia yesterday.

Add to that, zebra crossings don’t work for the pedestrians that well over here … so it is more oriental in that respect too!  And there were old men walking arm-in-arm, like in some Middle Eastern countries.

There were a few old mosques, some of which have or undergoing restoration with Turkish aid.  I guess Turkey is happy to contribute to the maintenance of its historical glory in the region.

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At 1000 I met at the location of the walking tour but didn’t see a congregation of people.  Eventually I saw the guide. He didn’t acknowledge that I had booked and said that he comes everyday to see if anyone turns up.

With no one else here, I wasn’t keen on having a private tour and feeling obliged to give a big tip.  We both seemed happy to skip the morning’s tour.  I wouldn’t be missing any of the brick-and-mortar sights but it was the insight that I would miss.

He said that he’ll come back at 1600 for another meet-up but that’s not an advertised time as far as I knew.

I continued my private walk down Bulevardi Nene Tereza, the main pedestrian mall of the city, to the Newborn monument.  The monument was unveiled the day Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence, and is refreshed with annually with a different pattern on every anniversary of the country’s independence.

In a high foot-traffic area, I thought that people here don’t look like they did in Albania.  I thought they’re much taller than in Albania, perhaps due to better nutrition?  I thought people here were also fairer-skinned, but I did visit Albania in the middle of summer!

Not far away the was the Mother Teresa Cathedral.  I’ve always known her as Albanian but today I realised three countries can lay claim to her:

• North Macedonia (where she was born),
• Kosovo (where both parents were born) and
• Albania (her parents’ ancestry and citizenship at one stage).

My last stop was the Bill Clinton statue, in front of a much larger mural of the man.  The country is thankful to him and NATO for the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia that put an end to the ethnic-cleansing of Albanians.

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I rested in my room for a couple of hours till I felt cold and decided to get some time in the sun and also get a late lunch.  I repeated part of my walk and visited the Madhe Mosque.

At 1600, I was near the meeting point for the walking tour.  I saw a couple turn up and the guide seemed to talk to them at length in the area.   I didn’t feel inclined to joining and being part of just three tourists.

Also at the same area were a couple of Mormons with their badges, offering sign-ups for English courses.  Not sure if they charge for the courses but I guess there will be some non-language but religious education going on in parallel.  I suppose if they want to convert Muslims, this is the safest country for them to do it in.  In other countries the consequences could be very serious.

I had toyed with the idea of going to Gracanica Monastery out of town but the taxi fare would have been pricey.  A bus ride there would first involve two buses to get to the station!  Naaah!  Too hard, especially when photography is supposedly not allowed inside (the best part of the building apparently).

I finished the day with a walk at night through the old town and Bulevardi Nene Tereza.  Having had two large meals, I was fine to skip dinner and have an apple and a couple of cookies.

Overall, Pristina isn’t filled with great sights.  But it’s an essential stop to get a feel of the country’s largest city.  And it’s good to have a day that’s not jam-packed because I’ve had a few too many of those.

Costs in Kosovo

Kosovo could be the cheapest country in the Euro-zone.  A good meal of meat, salad, dollop of savoury cream and bread in a diner may cost only EUR2.50, a third of what I paid on my first night in a nice restaurant.  It seems disproportionate that a can of Coke, essentially sugar and water costs EUR1.

The downside is that ATMs here all seem to impose a local charge EUR5 per withdrawal, whereas in Hungary and Serbia there are no such fees.  I’ll simply have to convert some USD (which is strong now) to EUR.

Kosovo feels like the cheapest country in the Euro zone!