We decided to head to Kosovo for a couple of reasons: (i) it had always interested us given that the NATO operations here had been one of the major news events of our high school years; and (ii) it was the shortest (and flattest) route through to Bulgaria, then Turkey and the (eventual) hope of warmer climes. That said, we really enjoyed Kosovo and I feel like I have more to say about the place and my (possibly less than interesting) thoughts thereon, than one would expect from an absolute dot of a country in which we spent just over a week.
Therefore, a few things I would generally note about Kosovo:
1. Kosovo is cool. Growing up in the 90s, Kosovo in our minds was really the subject of a very upsetting history (and not all that much else) – war stories and genocide are some of the main things we think of when hearing about the place. That history remains very much present admittedly (more on that below), but one thing that stood out to us was that Kosovo was really very cool. And, by cool, I mean that even in the tiniest relatively run-down feeling town, we found funky, hipster bars and restaurants that would be at home in the trendier areas of Istanbul. In the larger places, there were many of these lining pedestrianized streets at which the fashionable people of the town (and the less fashionable, older, male population) would gather to sip coffees, eat delicious pastries and drink beers and local wine. Not exactly what we expected when we arrived. That said, given that Kosovo has now been controlled by the UN for the past 15 years or so and has had lots of international presence coupled with a significant diaspora to send back money and ideas, this really should not have been particularly surprising.
2. There was a curfew. On entering Kosovo, we learned quickly that while no one seemed to observe typical COVID precautions (admittedly, this was pretty standard throughout Europe – so not pointing fingers here), the government has decided to deal with the spike in cases by imposing curfews of various times dependent on region. This ranged from a 7pm curfew after which everything was closed and one needed to be off the streets in Peje and Pristina to a 6pm curfew after which everything closed, but one was allowed on the streets in Prizren, to 8pm elsewhere. Suffice to say we learnt to ask. This did somewhat limit our ability to enjoy the various trendy spots mentioned above, but given that cycling needed to finish by 4pm when it got dark, we were not entirely thwarted.
3. The history is fascinating and omnipresent. Given our very basic understanding of what went on in Kosovo, when we crossed the border we expected an immediate feeling of tension with Kosovo’s Serbian neighbours and a distinct difference in vibe. Not so. For the first 50km or so across the border, everyone spoke Serbian, there were churches everywhere, one could pay for everything in dinar, there were Serbian flags on every streetlight and big spray painted signs for NATO to go home. However, on hitting Mitrovica this immediately changed. As we cycled into this town (which we knew already was a bit of a hotspot), we couldn’t help but notice the distinct difference – there were mosques, giant nationalist statues, the Albanian flag abounded and there were large militaristic murals commemorating leaders and matyrs. This was ground zero, and from here onwards, people spoke Albanian, things were paid for in Euro, flags were Albanian, there were more mosques than churches (or what churches there were, were heavily guarded or surrounded by barbed wire). While it obviously makes sense that the lines would not be as defined as the current borders, I found it interesting just how defined feeling the lines in-country actually felt.
4. The people are super friendly. The people in Kosovo really were next level lovely to us. They also speak a fair bit of English which was rather helpful from our perspective in terms of engagement. Our experiences ranged from a whole lot of friendly encouraging tooting on the roads as we cycled along, to waiters shouting us our coffees, to a lot of well meaning (but decidedly too close for comfort) directions being offered at every turn (it is really somewhat comical attempting to subtly back away and create social distance between yourself and a friendly retiree who is insisting on giving you directions to the next town on a narrow sidewalk while handling a 40kg+ bike). Overall, we were rather charmed.
5. Religion seems pretty relaxed – with far more focus placed on being Albanian. While the far majority of the country is Albanian (and Muslim), the approach to religion is pretty relaxed. There are lots of mosques, but most women do not wear a hijab and it was possible to buy beer or wine in most places. After living in and travelling through the middle east for the last few years, there is typically a very strict separation between places where you can buy an alcoholic drink and pretty much everywhere else. Not so in Kosovo.
6. Driving/cycling can be (euphemistically) termed an adventure. We needed to cycle on some main thoroughfares in Kosovo and the driving was somewhat, shall we say, maniacal. At various times we decided that cars, trucks and buses were rather too close for comfort. In order to combat this encroachment on our space at 80km an hour, Tom devised a “back-off stick” – behold below – in order to encourage cars to give us a somewhat wider berth. It actually worked relatively well.
7. Kosovo is cold. In the winter. Not super surprising, but worth noting that Kosovo continued in theme of being pretty damned cold and we did not deign to camp in this location. We also experienced a couple of relatively unpleasant cycling days where the temperatures were such that our fingers and toes varied between numb and pretty painful as a result of the windchill factor. That said, it is winter. I particularly enjoyed one gentleman to whom we made the observation that it was a touch cold for our tastes responding: “Well, it is November”. And so it was.
8. Dogs. While dogs are something that cyclists fairly typically need to watch out for, up until this point in our trip, most dogs we have encountered that would be potentially problematic were fenced or tied up. Not so in Kosovo. While we did not actually have any problems, there are lots of strays here coupled with dogs generally not necessarily being leashed or fenced. As a result, we had a fair few encounters with dogs chasing us down roads, which (while probably relatively comical to observe) I did not find particularly enjoyable. Unfortunately, I doubt this is going to change much going forward.
9. Trileçe. Kosovo does excellent pastry (very good baklava and semolina items can be found in most cafes). However, on entering the country the weirdest thing from my perspective was the discovery of tres leches cake in just about every bakery we frequented. Being a rather large fan of all things cake, I was aware that this is typically a Mexican/Brazilian dessert and was somewhat perplexed to find it in small town Kosovo. On consulting Uncle Google I discovered that while the origins are somewhat disputed, Trileçe (its Turkish name) popped up in sweet shops in Istanbul around 2014 and appeared in the Balkans via Albania. One theory on this reverse immigration from the new world is that due to the abiding Turkish love of soap operas and the popularity in particular of soaps from Brazil and Mexico, locals heard about this cake and wanted to try it out. To great success as it is now somewhat of an institution in the Balkans and, when asked, everyone will assure you that it comes from Turkey.
All that said, to our route through the country. Following our entry and passage through Mitrovica, we cycled to Peje, onwards to Rahovec and Prizren and from there to Pristina. Peje had a distinctly Turkish vibe and wandering the bazaar and the various cool spots in town was worthwhile. Rahovec is a small town and notable only for being the centre of Kosovo wine country and, therefore an obvious stop for us on our tour. We visited various wineries, but it was not possible to taste. Instead, we bought a bunch of wine to try later and reached a new high water mark for the number of bottles we could carry on the bikes (11, in case you were wondering).
Our favourite spot in Kosovo was Prizren – not particularly surprising for anyone that has been there. Prizren is a very cute little town with old buildings, a lovely pedestrianized area with lots of cafes and bars, beautiful frescoed mosques and an impressive fort looking over the town. We enjoyed a day here eating way too much food and wandering about the key sites. We particularly enjoyed the walk up to the fort and spent a lovely hour watching the sunset (at 4pm) and drinking some of the wine we had bought in Ruhovec before we got too cold and had to retire for the evening.
Our final stop in Kosovo was the capital, Pristina. Pristina itself was an interesting mix with lots of international seeming bars and restaurants set amongst old buildings, mosques, churches and monumental communist era architecture (in particular, the excellent brutalist library below). We stayed for a couple of nights and were lucky enough to be hosted by a friend of a friend who was posted there with the UN peacekeeping communications team. We spent a nice couple of days checking out what sights the city had and an excellent evening enjoying the local hot spots a touch too much. Ultimately, a very nice end to our time in Kosovo.
We cycled north from Pristina back to Serbia through an area of relatively flat country, big skies and little towns dotting the landscape. Overall, we were very pleased to have visited Kosovo – not only because it was the flattest route to Bulgaria, but also because it proved to be a truly interesting stop on our route eastwards.
November 2020