Day 17: Kosovo and Prishtina
Had a lazy stroll around Skopje in early morning cool, and left town at about 10.30 am. Border crossibng into Serbia-Montenegro was smooth. If you want to go into Kosovo you have to cross from Macedonia into Serbia first, otherwise they will not let you go from Kosovo into Serbia since they say that you have not yet gone through Serbian immigration. Hence, we chose to use a main border crossing for one, north of Skopje on the motorway. Then, immediatley after crossing the border you can turn west and cross into Kosovo.
We came off the main road and got really lost in a small market town called Presevo. It was complete chaos, with cars and people and carts everywhere!! We spoke to a Serb policeman who spoke no English and he pointed out the road to Prishtina. We wanted to know how safe Kosovo was, but there was little chance of asking these people, so we decided to press on and just go. We did see Serb police in full battle gear with steel helmets... which was a bit disconcerting. But, they were all friendly to us.
It took over an hour to cross the "border" into UN-controlled Kosovo. However the Kosovars were very welcoming to us. Here is a photo of the queue at the checkpoint:
We drove to Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo, and had a late lunch. Despite the recent conflict there it is a thriving city, and there is clearly a lot of rebuilding go on. They do not use Serbian currency at all, instead they use the Euro.
Prishtina is chock-full of KFOR and UNMIK personnel and vehicles. UNMIK is the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.
We were accosted by a very paranoid young man for taking his photo by accident, and decide to stop taking any more pictures. There are no tourists in Prishtina at the moment, so I guess we were quite an unusal sight. As to be expected, there is still a very tense feeling to the place.
We then headed north across Kosovo, having decided it might be better to stay the night in Serbia. There is a huge miltary presence in Kosovo... we saw KFOR, NATO, and UNMIK. The bridges have signs for the weight limits of trucks, and also for tanks. We passed through Mitrovica and then across the border and on to Kraljevo for the night, arriving just before darkness. A truly fascinating journey!
PS. Even though Kosovo doesn't count as a separate country at the moment, we would be amazed if it did not become fully independent in the future, since it seems so autnomous already.
We came off the main road and got really lost in a small market town called Presevo. It was complete chaos, with cars and people and carts everywhere!! We spoke to a Serb policeman who spoke no English and he pointed out the road to Prishtina. We wanted to know how safe Kosovo was, but there was little chance of asking these people, so we decided to press on and just go. We did see Serb police in full battle gear with steel helmets... which was a bit disconcerting. But, they were all friendly to us.
It took over an hour to cross the "border" into UN-controlled Kosovo. However the Kosovars were very welcoming to us. Here is a photo of the queue at the checkpoint:
We drove to Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo, and had a late lunch. Despite the recent conflict there it is a thriving city, and there is clearly a lot of rebuilding go on. They do not use Serbian currency at all, instead they use the Euro.
Prishtina is chock-full of KFOR and UNMIK personnel and vehicles. UNMIK is the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.
We were accosted by a very paranoid young man for taking his photo by accident, and decide to stop taking any more pictures. There are no tourists in Prishtina at the moment, so I guess we were quite an unusal sight. As to be expected, there is still a very tense feeling to the place.
We then headed north across Kosovo, having decided it might be better to stay the night in Serbia. There is a huge miltary presence in Kosovo... we saw KFOR, NATO, and UNMIK. The bridges have signs for the weight limits of trucks, and also for tanks. We passed through Mitrovica and then across the border and on to Kraljevo for the night, arriving just before darkness. A truly fascinating journey!
PS. Even though Kosovo doesn't count as a separate country at the moment, we would be amazed if it did not become fully independent in the future, since it seems so autnomous already.
posted by Sally & Nick at
10:51 AM
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