In July 2019 we decided to visit the capital city of Kosovo – Priština. We were really surprised how lively and safe this place is! We hope you will enjoy our article about this not so popular destination.
When Radek came to me with an interesting fact, that Skopje (capital of North Macedonia) is “only” 90 km from Pristina (capital of Kosovo) – the plan was clear! No one understood why we would want to travel there.. But we love visiting countries that are not popular among other travelers and Pristina, Kosovo was an amazing choice! Our parents were freaking out like always.. but that didn’t stop us from traveling to Kosovo. And we don’t regret it 🙂
Why Kosovo? 5 Reasons to visit this country!
Many people we know are a bit sceptic about traveling to countries like Kosovo. But you would be actually surprised! We really enjoyed our visit.
- Interesting history.
- Unique mixture of cultures – something between Europe and Asia.
- The locals are extremely nice and most of them speak english!
- The prices are really low.
- Kosovo is not that “popular” among other tourists and there are many places to explore.
Let’s travel!
We started our journey on a bus station in Skopje North Macedonia. It is not possible to buy the tickets in advance, se we got up early and went straight to the bus station. We waited in a long queue and naively asked “English”? Well .. we didn’t succeed. So we asked them in Czech with a bit of Russian accent 😀 “Bus, Pristina, Today?” And voila we had our tickets! Well since none of us speak Macedonian.. we hoped we had out tickets!
The few days were so exhausting and we didn’t sleep at all.. so we were thrilled to take a nap in the air conditioned bus. The reality was slightly different.. because we had to got on a bus = read small minivan in a really bad condition, without safety belts and air conditioning.. But we actually didn’t complain at all.. this is what we enjoy on our travels! The diversity of foreign cultures and standards..so it was actually hilarious and exciting. We bet that the driver didn’t get his driving license.
At the border
Crossing the border between North Macedonia and Kosovo was quite funny. Before entering Kosovo we had to fill in the number of our passport, write down our name and nationality. Our driver went to talk to someone from the customs – then said something in Macedonian and all of the people started giving him money. We were like “Whaat”.. we actually thought that you have to pay some kind of bribe to get to Kosovo. Well it seemed funny .. It turned out that we just had prejudice and the other passengers hadn’t paid for their ride like we did. So we got a stamp in our passports and the journey could continue!
We (well I) didn’t expect anything from our visit.. Because we didn’t know what to expect from it. On the internet there are not many articles about Priština or Kosovo as a tourist destination. To be honest I expected old ruins and I was really surprised! After crossing the border we saw modern highways, bridges.. everything seemed new and thriving. The whole journey from Skopje (90 km) took us around 2 hours.
Welcome to Priština, Kosovo!
The capital of Kosovo has around 200 000 inhabitants. The city centre is in a walking distance from the bus station – much appreciated! It was like 35 degrees outside and we were roasted. A big surprise to us was the official currency – Euro. Really interesting is, that the people from Kosovo really love Americans (and the Clintons!) – Radek had a shirt with US flag. The big plus is, that everyone speaks English – this wouldn’t happen in North Macedonia.
We really loved the idea that people from Kosovo think, that their dream holiday would be in Dusseldorf Germany. All of the travel agencies offerd the same two destinations – Germany and Switzerland.
What to visit? Our itinerary
1. BILL CLINTON MONUMENT
Our first stop was the monument of Bill Clinton, which is located next to huge block of flats with a US flag. He voted for the independence of Kosovo.
2. CATHEDRAL OF BLESSED MOTHER TERESA
Second on the list was this cathedral built in year 2007. As we said .. there are not that many historical sights. Priština is one of the youngest capital cities in Europe.
3. THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF KOSOVO
Next was our favorite stop – The National Library of Kosovo. At first we thought that this building looks a little bit like prison, but in the end.. we kinda liked it.
4. ABANDONED CHURCH – Church of Christ the Saviour
Just a few steps away you can see unfortunately unfinished and abandoned church. It looked kinda scary, but has a really cool atmosphere.
5. NEWBORN MONUMENT
Something like “ I AMSTERDAM” . This newborn monument changes its design every year.
6. MOSQUES
You can find many many mosques around Pristina which belong to the Balkan culture. You can for example visit – Jashar Pasha Mosque or Xhamia e Llapit.
7. THE BAZAAR
Looking for something? In the local bazaar you can find everything! Really interesting place.
Let’s talk about money!
We always like to try local cafés or local food. In Pristina it was very pleasant, because as I mentioned earlier Kosovo is really cheap. We went to a local café for breakfast at it was probably the cheapest (but very good!) breakfast in our lives it was around 1,5 EUR for everything.
People in Pristina were really kind to us ! We felt safe and really enjoyed our visit.. we would travel here again! If you travel to Balkan, definitely give a chance to this welcoming country.
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Last Updated on February 17, 2021 by Míša
