Invasion of Kosovo: May 2013

After an amazing trip with the family to Istanbul, we embarked on our adventures through the former Ottoman territories in South East Europe. Arriving on Christmas evening into Prishtina, the Road Trip Trio, consisting of Mom, Mark, and I, made our way to my apartment. We did not have plans for the evening, so we called it an early night as there were adventures to be had in the morning.

The day after Christmas sees the group getting split into two. I went to work, I worked all day. Nothing truly special there, but you gotta make that bacon when you can. However, Mom and Mark set off towards Skopje in hopes to rent a car that would be our vessel through the region. They were successful getting the car, though, due to border control issues and the like, they were unable to see much of the city. This, to me, is a shame. Skopje comes off as the Las Vegas of the Balkans; one could say that the town looks a bit like Cesar’s Palace if one were so inclined. The massive statues that are haphazardly placed throughout the city look like they are straight out of ancient Greece, but there is a catch. The catch is that each of these statues was built in the last few years. The mayor of Skopje (need citation) has made good on his promise to produce statues throughout the city to increase tourism. While it is awesome to see a politician make good on his word, it makes the city a little cheesy. But hey, you cannot get everything you want, amiright? Anyways, they got the car and headed back to the good ole RKS. We had a wonderful dinner at Pishat with Jason and Laura. Pishat is such a fabulous restaurant. It’s good, cheap traditional Albanian/Kosovar food. The next morning was road time.

Random Door/Tree in Kotor, Montenegro

We set off towards Prizren, on a rainy December morning, so that I could give them a tour around the cultural capital of Kosovo. After a brief espresso break, we started the trek up to the castle. The castle had a little bit of an eerie edge to it, a combination of the ruins and the weather. On the way to the top, we got “lost” through the old Serbian section of the town. This area, destroyed, is tucked into the hill against the castle. It sustained its damage during the ethnic riots during 2004; no one has returned and nothing has been done to repair the buildings. After a nice lunch, we started off towards Decan monastery. It was a pleasant drive. We stopped off at the Tailor’s Bridge just south of Gjakova to walk it and look at sheep. The temperature had dropped a bit and there was still snow on the ground. We hopped back in the car and pointed ourselves north to get to one of the older Serbian monasteries in the area. While this was my second time to the monastery, I was not prepared to witness it in winter. There was ample snow on the ground and visibility was nil. We could not see beyond the walls, and while Mom and Mark missed out on the surroundings – it was still a cool scene. The fog was so thick that you were truly isolated inside the walls, with just the towering monastery and silent monks to keep you company. I should mention that the monks will talk to you, but for the most part they are pretty quiet people. I guess they could be described as monk-like?

After a good tour of the grounds and chapel, we purchased a good amount of homemade Decan wine and set off on our way back to Prishtina. We ran into some problems with a lack of a headlight and a dense fog mixed with poor roads, so the trip back was quite stressful. It became a theme for our time on the road. Back in Prishtina, we feasted on homemade sheep’s cheese and homemade wine – with a bit of Raki and whisky. We woke up early and met up with Jason and Laura for lunch, and then I had a meeting with the US Ambassador to Kosovo, the amazing Mrs. Tracy Jacobson. We headed out towards Kotor after the meeting.

The Meeting: I met for about twenty minute with an extremely talented and incredibly smart Ambassador; it was just a nice aside that I was meeting someone who was doing what I wanted to do with my life. She answered all my questions about being an FSO, the best plans for achieving that, and things that can boost my application. I am really lucky to have gotten an opportunity to meet with her and I could not have done that without Dan Moulton. He originally introduced me to her which then led to her inviting me to a meeting.

After the meeting was the beginning of the main part of our trip. Our plans included the following cities: Kotor, Montenegro; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Mostar, Bosnia-and-Herzegovina; and Tirana, Albania. The biggest thing that I learned from my trip is that you should never make plans without first consulting how long the sun will be in the sky, especially when driving in the mountains/coast where the infrastructure is less than perfect. That being said, we got really lucky to have crossed the Albanian/Kosovo border and border region while the sun was still in the sky. I will note that Kukes, Albania is a super depressing town that really left me feeling a bit concerned; when I say concerned, I really mean to say that it is one of the few locations that I have been to that made me feel less than safe. It’s also a known drug running/organized crime region of Albania, so there is always that too. Back on track, so here’s how the roads in that part of Albania work.

Backdrop: There is a road currently under construction that will link Nis, Serbia (ultimately connected to Belgrade) and Durres, Albania. It will be a highway, and, by the looks of the Kosovo part, it could be a good one that will severely reduce the amount of time it takes to traverse that region. So Serbians wishing to tan on the Adriatic should be able to with relative ease. This has the potential to drive tourism in the region, as well as economic growth due to ease of commercial transport. Still, it is a work in progress and the Albanian section is a bit….. dangerous. Here’s why: So you are driving through the mountains, steep mountains on one side and harrowing cliffs on the other, when all of a sudden your two lanes (headed towards Durres) have shifted over to the other side and your current trajectory takes you over the cliff. Is there any warning? Of course not, that would make life too easy.

Mom conquering St. John's Fortress

Anyway, we arrived in Kotor, Montenegro later that evening. I could, and might, dedicate an entire blog post to the beauty of the Adriatic Coast. The Croatian and Montenegrin coast lines are absolutely riveting, though I am still a firm believer that Kotor is the most beautiful city I had ever seen. (Southern Albania is supposed to give it a run for its money, but I cannot confirm or deny) Montenegro is named for its black mountains, (Monte- Mountain Negro – Black; or Mali i Zi in Albanian) which are accurately compared to a lunar landscape. It is unlike anything I had seen prior to this, which was exacerbated by the Bay of Kotor in which these mountains, and the city of Kotor, converge upon. The water was rather clear, rather blue, and would be perfect in the summer. So the Bay of Kotor, where it meets the city, is a horse-shoe shape that has a short flat “plain” before it rises into the mountains. So the mountains all but meet the water’s edge, and this little distance between the two is the city of Kotor. Did I also mention that the Old City of Kotor is walled-in? There is a path up the mountain; it is 1350 steps up and 1350 down to reach St. John’s Fortress. This fortress provides some spectacular views of the Bay, the Old City, and the surrounding “suburbia”. The wall dates back to Illyrian times, with Justinian I (of the Byzantine Empire) doing a large part of the reconstruction. (There was an earthquake and reconstruction later, too) You can definitely tell the wall was constructed of local stone, as sometimes it is hard to discern the difference between the landscape and the walls themselves.

Mom, Mark, and I relaxed the first day after the heavy driving the night before. We drank some rakija (Serbian name for raki) with our landlords at like 9:30 in the morning, paired with some excellent local cheese. Our landlords were excellent hosts that were super friendly; the husband was also a bit of a whisky fanatic so while the language barriers were great, we were able to bond over that. (and his collection of bottles) After a hardy breakfast of like 2 or 3 rakijas, we headed towards the Old Town to make our ascent to the fortress. The Old Town is beautiful and well maintained, the path up to the fortress is steep and difficult, and overall the ambiance is something that I would have paid money to enjoy. It is really difficult to produce the words that would accurately paint a picture of the beauty and majesty that is Kotor, though it still holds a quaintness of a small town. One thing that I decided is that if I wanted to become a painter I would move to Montenegro – the landscapes themselves would do 90% of the work.

Black Risotto

After exploring the city, we ate a delicious dinner that included the local specialty of black risotto. It is blackened by squid ink, but does not taste like I imagined it too. I imagined it to taste similar to drinking a fountain pen, but it was rich and delicious instead. The seafood was fresh and the wine was delicious. We retired to the apartment to plan our next moves to Croatia and Bosnia-n-Herzegovina the next day.