We arrived in Kosovo last night via bus from Belgrade (after nearly missing the bus altogether and having to run after it until the driver took notice and stopped). We are staying on the outskirts of Pristina, but our hotel is very nice. Its obscure location has led to many interesting taxi drives, usually involving swerving around on the highway after we miss the exit and onto a very potholed road. This problem only occurs when we hail a taxi from the center however, as we have a regular taxi driver who picks us up from the hotel that we have fun interactions with, despite the language barrier. People in Kosovo are very friendly towards Americans and our driver happily made references to Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright. Our hosts at the hotel are great - we have been communicating in French (Mom) and Italian (me) as they do not speak English. Our stay comes with a really good breakfast and we have been drinking lots of NesCafe, which reminds Mom of her Dad, Fred.
We made a trip into the city center today and were able to see a fair amount of landmarks while walking around since the center is somewhat small. It is not difficult to get around, but street names are challenging at times since they have recently been changed to commemorate Albanian or international figures instead of those during the Yugoslav era. Locals generally refer to things by landmarks. We saw many political monuments, including the Newborn Monument which was put up when Kosovo declared independence in 2008.
The graffiti isn't entirely vandalism - it was originally covered with Kosovar signatures and was first signed by the President and Prime Minister.
There are many people out and about in town, especially young people since schools and the university are very close by. The National Library, just next to the university, is a very interesting architectural structure. Evidently the head of the Communist Party asked at the official inauguration ceremony why the scaffolding hadn't been taken down (see picture below).
Just next to the library is the incomplete Serbian Orthodox Church, built during the 1990s with the intention of being the largest Orthodox Church in Kosovo, but construction halted in 1999. It is still intended to be finished, but for now it looks fairly abandoned.
We are enjoying our stay very much. Restaurants and taxis are incredibly cheap and the people are great. And on a very happy note, the hotel has an adapter so my camera is back in business!
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