There are just a few people that decide to travel around Kosovo. While traveling the Balkans with motorbikes, we decided to visit this country, said to be poor and dangerous. As the local people say, Kosovo is finally an independent country where a lot of poverty and a bit of wealth meet in the capital city. The beautiful countryside and Priština, but otherwise not tended to and in places full of waste, is a country of several nations. Here you can find Albanians, Serbians, Turks, Romani, Bosnians and more.
Extreme difference between the capital and the countryside
When we reached the Serbian-Kosovo border we weren’t sure if we’ll be able to cross the border or not. Many travellers told us, how they had to return through the same border crossing to leave the country. And there’s also many demonstrations and protests connected to the border. Our goal was to travel across the country and then continue towards Macedonia. There were no problems at the border crossing, which surprised us with modern infrastructure. Both the customs and police were friendly and interested in our bikes. They even gave us some tips for travel. But the first thing to do was, to pay the insurance for the vehicles (20€ per motorbike). The road between the border and the first large town where we paid the insurance – Kosovska Mitrovica – was a pure nightmare. The remains of many protests on the road made the drive difficult. We had to go around many barricades made of sand and dirt, which was very difficult for motorbikes. Kosovska Mitrovica was another shock! There was so much trash and the city is very disorganized. The life is slow and thus we had to wait about an hour to get five very simple papers for the bike insurance. Our next stop was the capital Priština. The first impression was that we’ve left Kosovo. It’s a nice and modern city, with many construction sites, where the suburbs are bursting with construction.
Priština
It’s the national capital of Kosovo and by far the best organized city in the country. It’s the main administration, educational and cultural centre. Most of the population are Albanians, so most of the tourists find their language completely incomprehensible. The city is also the most developed tourist centre in the country, especially if compared to the countryside. Many people suggest against traveling to such a country, even more to spend a night there… and definitely not to go out at night, but we had no problems. We just kept an eye on our wheels, just to make sure nothing happens. There are ever more common thefts of vehicles, with the rising unemployment reaching the number of 40% on national level. But all the rumours didn’t change our positive impression about the capital as it really did leave a good mark on us. The centre itself is very nice, although every now and again you can see a person begging in the street, but they’re not really problematic. The prices in the centre are much higher than outside it and the drinks reached about the prices we have back home.
The country is very much scarred by war and the effects of it are clearly seen in the countryside, but on the other hand the country is also developing. The main problems are huge unemployment and poverty and above all the impression that they’re a dangerous country. Our experience showed, that it’s not dangerous at all. There are nice people, good prices, beautiful landscape, but also much trash along the roads and undeveloped towns. Except for Priština other cities are not so modern and there are many reminders of the war. Still I suggest that if you want to travel the Balkans, you should not avoid Kosovo!
