Why visit one Balkan country when you can visit them all?! There was never really any chance that I was going to miss Kosovo out of my tour, even though it wasn’t the easiest place to get to and it didn’t exactly fit with my plan to reach Romania overland. But as is often the case, the greater effort the greater the reward. Since Serbia (and also Russia and China) do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state despite the International Court of Justice ruling Kosovo a sovereign nation in 2010, the order of border crossings is important. If you enter Kosovo via Serbia then leave via another bordering country, you’ll be missing the Serbian exit stamp. Likewise if you try to enter Serbia from Kosovo, there may not be an official record of you entering Serbia.
When I asked people in Belgrade about getting into Kosovo, I always seemed to hit a brick wall with no bus services showing up online. But when I got to North Macedonia, I enquired again and found several daily, direct routes from Skopje to the capital of Kosovo, Pristina which is only a couple of hours away. Result!
The battered old minivan got me into cooler Pristina on time and the rain cleared. Too early to check in to my hostel, I went for lunch and soon realised three things. Firstly just how cheap it is here. Kosovo ranks third on the poorest countries in Europe after Moldova and the Ukraine. A large pizza in a restaurant restaurant cost €1.50. You need to pay for things in cash and you need coins – I don’t think I ever spent more than a few euros in one go. Secondly, there aren’t a lot of tourists, everyone I met asked me where I was from and what football team I support. Thirdly, Pristina was in a semi-lockdown with a 10pm curfew and the police stopped me in the street to ask me (very nicely!) to wear a mask.
Kosovo is Europe’s newest country, as signified by the Newborn monument. There’s even a newborn bus stop. The median age of the population is only 30 years with half of the 2 million residents under 25, who still need a visa to enter the EU which makes travel difficult.
Bill Clinton, whose name you better not mention in Serbia has a statue and an entire street in his name due to his involvement in the 1999 conflict. Hoping to learn more, I went to the tiny and quite charming national musem which appeared closed until I noticed the man sticking his head around the door inviting me to go in. Entry is on a donation basis (I just added to the pile of €5 notes).
The musem entrance displays a huge mosaic made out of staples of that local favourite Mother Teresa, and the other couple of rooms contain various US army clothing and weapons, and some ancient looking artefacts that were on display on podiums without any kind of protection which I was terrified of knocking over. Unfortunately there was no information in English so after looking around long enough to be fairly confident of not offending the man, I went for a wander around the city.
Pristina has a main pedestrian street lined with restaurants where I had one of my weirdest meals so far. ‘Vegetable noodles’ on the menu accompanied by a photograph of Asian style food translated into spaghetti hoops in tomato sauce and such a huge portion that the waiter asked why I didn’t finish it and didn’t I enjoy it.
The upside of a 10pm curfew is a very sociable hostel, where we all headed out early for dinner to avoid a fine then retired to the common room for a few drinks and games of chess.
I had mentioned my plans to head west to the city of Peja the following day, popular for hiking in the Accursed Mountains, when the owner of the Oda hostel, Jeton, suggested an alternative. The “Kosovo Hiking” group go every weekend on an organised hike for just €12. Tomorrow they were going to the mountains and forests around the Lubinjës area, and could conveniently drop me in my next destination of Prizren at the end. This all sounded great except it meant a 5.45 wakeup call. I very nearly called it off in order to continue the curfew party but decided it would be good for me.
Sunday morning I dragged myself and my luggage uphill for the half hour walk to the bus stop where I’d meet the group at 6.30. I came very close to turning back atleast 3 times. Firstly when I saw the rest of the group waiting to board the bus – hiking sticks, walking boots, all the gear on and I realised I didn’t have a lot of information about today. I had simply got a phone number from Jeton and messaged them to put my name down. Secondly, when I asked the guide, kitted out in bright lycra embalazoned with ‘Hike to the Maxxx!’ looking like he’s about to summit Mount Everest, how difficult it was going to be and he cheerfully replied ‘oh its not that difficult, if you’re a hiker’. And thirdly when I realised that I had left my lunch in the hostel fridge but I was assured that we would be stopping to buy supplies. I eventually realised I wasn’t getting out of it so took a seat on the bus.
After an hours drive we had twenty minutes to dash around one of the biggest supermarkets I’ve ever been in, Supermarket Sweep style, flashes of neon clothing everywhere as the 130 people in the group ran around clutching bananas and protein bars preparing for a week’s expedition. My own panic buying was further fuelled by a fellow hiker behind me in the queue trying to be helpful by telling me I didn’t have ENOUGH snacks so I grabbed a handful more.
When we eventually set off I was amazed at the turnout – I can’t see 21 year old British lads going hiking every Sunday morning. The few foreigners on the trip somehow found each other and we formed a little group with Erdisa from Albania translating the rules for us – smoking and playing music is OK, just keep a little distance from the group!
This was a hike like no other – 130 mostly young people, three guides and numerous smoking / rest stops where there were more than enough snacks to go around.
No smoking for our superfit leader, a dentist by day who made it his mission to challenge the stereotype of middle aged hiking groups and get the youth of Kosovo, particularly females, out into nature. His enthusiasm was infectious and as soon as we started climbing and the clouds cleared I remembered I am actually a hiker and I do actually enjoy this!
We stopped at an old UN building at the peak of our hike for a fire and lunch, after passing through some remote Bulgarian villages before getting into the mountains. As well as the stunning views throughout, 8 hours and 20km uphill and downhill is much more enjoyable when you are sharing the experience and having a laugh. Also the stick helped (thanks Art!). Although it was soon apparent that ‘nearly there!’ and ‘half an hour away!’ have no meaning in Kosovo and nobody really knew where ‘there’ was.
Dropped off in Prizren at the end of a long but satisfying day I treated myself to a nice hotel with a balcony and views over the mountains and went straight to bed.
In daylight I was struck by how much Prizren reminded me of Berat, Albania, which makes sense given that this area is largely Albanian.
Prizren has a very different feel to Pristina, with a beautiful Fortress up on the hillside and an abundance of churches and mosques connected by old cobbled streets. I spent an enjoyable day wandering around, climbing up to the Fortress and not caring that I probably paid way over the odds for some local jewellery.
I made another friend when a gorgeous dog came and sat on my feet. Another one joined us for a walk around the town and I found it amusing when a group of tourists were scared of ‘my’ dogs.
The video from my balcony below sums up the city for me with the call to prayer from the mosques echoing over the party from the bars, with a church in the background.
Kosovo was a late addition to my itinerary and not your usual holiday destination but I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance. This is an incredibly beautiful country with unlimited hiking opportunities, easy enough to navigate between the major cities on public transport and I felt very welcome as a visitor. Now to begin the journey to my final destination Romania, via Albania and Greece…
Maz On The Road 