Traveljo

Pristina

To enjoy Pristina, you should know something about what happened in this country, the recent war in the 90s.  Don’t expect to see beautiful things though ’cause you won’t.  This is one ugly, messy city.  Other solo-travelers will disagree with me, but in my opinion Prisitina is better off if you travel with some friends. If not, try to hookup with locals via couchsurfing or hang out with other travelers you meet at your hotels or hostels.  The last option applied to me.

Trip brainstorm

- The city is small and doesn’t have many touristic sights.  You’ll spend the majority of the time in the city center  on mostly Mother Theresa boulevard and a few street blocks surrounding it where the market, mosques, Kosovo museum are located.

- Bill Clinton statue is further away on Bill Clinton boulevard on the way to the bus station.

- Meet up with a UN personnel.  This was one of the top items in my todo list in Kosovo: to meet Czech KFOR.  My boyfriend, a former Czech soldier, had a few friends stationing here in Kosovo, so I thought I could just show up in the capital and randomly ran into Czech soldiers walking on the street. This mission totally flopped as Czechs don’t manage Pristina. I did meet UN peace-keepers from other countries in Peja.

- Take a trip to Peja to visit two most important Serbian monasteries and Prizren, the charming, beautiful town of Kosovo.

Food

Kosovo is probably one the few remaining countries you can eat well and pay less. Everything cost a fraction of the prices typically seen in Western or even other Eastern European countries.  During my time here in Kosovo, I eat pretty much 3 things: burek, cevapi and home-made salad. I was told that Albanians made the best burek. These delicious Balkan pies have different variations: meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes though in Kosovo you will find mostly meat or cheese. They are cheap too, cost only €0.6 and can make the best choice for breakfast, light lunch and light dinner. If you prefer met, definitely try cevapi/Balkan kebab sold everywhere. When I became too full with burek and cevapi, I bought fresh vegetables from the market and prepare mixed salad for dinner.

Accommodation

Sample cost

Transportation

There are buses in the city, but you probably won’t use it given you can walk to most touristic sights in the center (there aren’t many). The bus/train station is far from the center which you can walk. Taxi costs only €3. You will definitely need to take a taxi to the airport.

Photos from Kosovo