Hotel Pllaza Pristina

... Teeth can look and see if it's being done properly.

That was my last memory of Mostar before taking another Balkan special to Sarajevo. I really felt like I was back in my element sitting in that cramped, hot bus filled with the drivers cigarette smoke. Even though it was cold enough outside for a light jacket, it was warm enough inside to make me sweat for three hours straight. I dont (I cant figure out how to make an apostrophe on this ...

... we had plenty of room for our carry on bags, and also makes us wonder how long Montenegro Airlines will be offering a Tivat-Pristina route.

We arrived in Pristina in less than 1 hour. From the plane, we were surprised by the size and modern look to the airport. We exited the plane to get on a bus to take us to the terminal. The bus drove for maybe 100m and let us off. We were the only 2 passengers going ...

... more info, I found nothing.

I tried the "throw money at it" solution. I started looking for flights from Pristina to Dubrovnik. $890 for flights the next day. It was an option but I was trying to avoid the Trickett Premium so I put that solution on the backburner.

Then the Internet connection dropped out. Perfect.

The next to steps for me were the only options I could take.

1. Outsource - I called my brother Neil in London and asked him to ...

... one of the best hamburgers in years here, one of the first in years, too, for that matter. There are also local versions of Italian dishes such as lasagna. So the question still remains of the Italian connection with Albanian culture. Is that a product of colonialism or long-standing relations or did I perceive that because they took me for an Italian in Albania? Certain the Albanian/Illyrian culture is as ancient as the Italian and has ...

... a pain in the **** should look away now. You can start reading again when the Italics stops. Pretty much every race in the Balkans has territorial ambitions far beyond their own borders- these concepts tend to be referred to as "Greater +country in question+". These are usually areas populated largely by the race in question, but also, as in the case of Kosovo, areas considered historically important to the country that covets them ...

... food is scarce save for one delicious (and lifesaving) bbq stand. how to create (the look of) sustained peace when (un)rest is purposefully sustained? Imagine living, for almost 10 years with uncertainty. The only certainty you have is the certainty you wont have power for long...You've just settled down to watch the American 90's movie on tv and just as Men In Black starts to get interesting...*zap. No power. You just got home from work and have to scramble to make ...

... and serious riots ensued. A 1990 referendum produced a 98% vote for independence, but with a Serbian government, nothing happened. In 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army was formed out of frustration and began guerrilla attacks against the Serbs, escalating it full-out violence by 1998. When a US-backed peace plan failed in 1999, Serbia moved to rid the province of its Albanian population through ethnic cleansing. Nearly 850,000 ethnic Albanians fled to Albania and Macedonia ...

... independence. This was not well received by Serbia (or Russia ???) and it remains to be seen when and if this issue can be settled. As we understand it, the major tensions, which still exist today, are between Muslim ethnic Albanian Kosovars, the majority in the province, and Serbian Kosovars, several thousand of whom still live in pockets within some of the towns in Kosovo, despite being the targets of violence by Albanian Kosovars in 2004, which ...

So I finally made it! I just visited Pristina, Kosovo today. It was just a daytrip from Skopje, Macedonia. Due to that I slept too late this morning, I didn't make the bus to Pristina at 8>00 and ended up taking the 11am bus. Since it took 2 and 1/2 hours to get there and the last bus back to Skopje is around 3:30 pm. I ended up spending only 2 hours ...

This was the best! You must admit that going on holiday to invade somewhere does have a certain derring dare appeal to it. It all began with a trip to an England football match in Sofia,perfectly timed to get me in the right place at the right time for NATO's liberation of Kosovo. On the Friday after the game I was on my way to Skopje by bus.Arriving in late afternoon,it was clear that this town was gearing up for impending drama.NATO helicopters ...