Hotel Iliria Pristina

... over. He made frantic motions with both hands and delivered a tirade which I presume was mostly Bosniak four letter words. Now if we could only get a transcript of those words so we could learn some of those useful phrases to use on other people.

And you know what...women pay double for the pleasure of these restroom experiences. I guess women have more elaborate needs over there and I wonder if they get asked to hover a little higher so Mrs ...

... through security and passport control. We started to become nervous as no one else was waiting for the flight to Pristina. A few minutes before scheduled departure, boarding began. We were amazed to see that we made up 50% of the passenger load. On a plane that seats at least 150 passengers, there were only 4 on this flight. In the US, there is no doubt this flight would have been cancelled. Obviously this ...

... and take a bus from there and he said that that was not possible because once you come to Kosovo they rarely let you back into Serbia if they see your passport has been stamped in Kosovo.

My only response to him, "You have to be ******** me!". He didn't understand...

He advised that we head straight to Skopje, Macedonia, a few hours south (croatia was north) and make further travel plans from there.

This sounded crazy so I went back up to the Internet to ...

... Transportation agents just assumed I would be returning, as if I were another UN operative, as if they'd never seen a tourist buy a one-way ticket. The food here is good, thanks to the historic association with Islam and Ottoman Turkey. In addition to the ubiquitous kebaptores and their meaty grill smells wafting over the streets, there are gulashes and musakas and other saucier dishes that are all quite good and reasonably priced. I ...

... with it's comfy looking chairs and asked for two cans of coca cola. I'm an unclassy caffeine addict and decided that getting a sugar rush would give me enough energy to stay awake for a while longer. The total cost came to two Euros- 81p a can?, Christ, I can get them for 40p at home. That's the thanks we get for saving them from becoming a part of greater Serbia. Those who find my little tangents about history and politics in the ...

... though the streets and sidewalks are terrible and there are abandoned houses all over the place, there were children everywhere (Kosovo supposedly has the youngest population in the world) and the people were friendly and spoke english rather well. And the food and coffee was amazing and incredibly cheap. When my time came to an end I boarded another bus for Skopje, connected to Sofia where I spent one day (dreary, not too interesting), and then took the overnight train to Istanbul.

... and is fitted with 6 visible security cameras. Calls can be made to home for 10 Euro cents a minute. Racks of stunningly beautiful fresh fruit can be found in every market. Gas powered generators are outside almost every shop window. Blackouts are common (I wasn't there long enough to realize if there was a schedule or not) if not daily. Restaurants close, most people are home by the time it gets dark and hopefully you remembered to eat dinner before this time-because ...

... Muslim Albanians. In 1913, the Turks were ousted, half a million Albanians emigrated, and Serbs moved into the vacant land. Today, they account for 7.5% of the population. So while the vast majority of Kosovo is ethnically Albanian, for the last century, they have been governed by Serbs. Kosovo did manage to become an autonomous region in 1974, but in 1989, a series of protests and strikes brought on by the sacking of local officials let to the suspension of Kosovo's ...

... the province of Kosovo has been governed by NATO and the EU. Though it is officially still part of Serbia, Kosovo uses a different currency (the Euro) as well as claims its own language, flag, and capital. Many Serbian's still live here, but Kosovo is populated primarily by ethnic Albanians and Muslims, as well as large numbers of peace keepers and foreign aid workers. Recently the UN special envoy for Kosovo has recommended that Kosovo be granted its much ...

... forces that had just subjected the Yugoslav government to several months of aerial bombardment.NATO had sided with Albanian victims to prevent another Balkan genocide,rather than risk another Srebrenica. Many Serbs burned their own houses before they departed,rather than let them fall to the "enemy".What remained was often looted and torched by Albanians seeking reprisals for their own suffering.NATO forces were inclined to stand and watch these ...