Thyra Travels: July 4th, 2019 in Kosovo

After Macedonia I made my way into Kosovo, even though people warned me that it was ~dangerous. I shrugged that off and booked my bus. Spoiler: it is not dangerous at all. I had two “first times” on that day. First, I missed my bus, the only time I have done this during my trip! Dang you, late taxi driver. Second, I met some rude Canadians. More power to them for crushing the nice Canadian stereotype. I divided my time in Kosovo between the capital city, Pristina, and the second largest city, Prizren.

Pristina

Pristina is a cute little city with only a few main sites. The most famous are the Newborn monument and the library, dubbed one of the ugliest buildings in the world (dramatic). The other main attraction is the Bill Clinton statue, an homage to the man the people of Kosovo love for his support during their fight for independence. I was in Kosovo for the fourth of July, which was a crazy experience. There were American flags EVERYWHERE. On every lamp post, hanging out windows, tied to taxi cab antennas. I saw larger than life portraits of Hilary and Bill, and signs that said “USA: we will always be grateful”. I knew that Kosovo was one of the rare countries that really supported America, but I never realized how much. When I asked at the hostel they emphasized how everyone still feels extremely grateful to the USA and the support they gave during the war. The trippiest thing I saw was during lunch. A huge parade of people passed, with music blaring. Everyone was wearing a “Thank You USA” shirt.

Prizren

I then made my way down to Prizren, which I LOVED. It had the best, cheapest food, plus I was staying at the cutest homestay. Every night I would hike up to the fortress to watch the sunset. One of the cool things about Kosovo is that there aren’t a lot of tourists. In any other place, that fortress would have been packed with people for sunset – but in Prizren it was almost empty.

I really enjoyed Kosovo and wish I had stayed longer. Alas, I go where my heart takes me, and the mountains in Albania were calling my name. Ticket booked.

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