Culture Shock And Prizren: More Kosovo

After having been very sick on Bayram I set out to Prizren while my friend has a short Friday at the embassy to complete. The walk to the central bus station gives me the first culture shock on this trip. I am on my own again and quite different from Slovenian or Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian Albanian sounds - and looks - completely foreign, inevitably jumping at me in bold Latin writing from every direction. some bald display dummies in bright glittery dresses angrily stare at me from a shop window. I take refuge in one of the many bakeries filled with the delicious smell of soft fresh white bread and rolls filled with poppy seed or jam. I am already exhausted when I reach the bus. The bus ride, some food and blue berry lemonade, however, give me time to recollect myself and so I leave the bus in a cheerful mood in Prizren. The map in the guide book only roughly indicates the direction from the city center to the bus stop, so I take a look at the sun, at the flow of the traffic and soon find myself at the Lumbardhi (or Bistrica), the river that runs through the center of the city. A bunch of rather old and short German KFOR soldiers in camouflage, but clearly on a sightseeing trip tumble out of a bus at one of the main bridges. I take the walk around the old town as the guide book suggests it and Prizren really is the gem of Kosovo. Unfortunately quite some of the bautiful old buildings such as the old hammam are out of use and in need of restoration. In the case of mosques the Turkish government helps a lot.

I don't know if it is because it is still Bayram or because of the heat, in the evening the cafes around the central square will probably be bustling with young people, I see them getting ready when I am back on the bus later. As I continue my walk I learn something about the League of Prizren, an Albanian political organization fighting for Albanian autonomy in the late 19th century which is also referred to in many "1878" graffitti all over the city. Co-existence was never all that easy, not even in earlier days of wide-spread trilingualism.

When I walk up to the fortress the path leads past the relics of the last victims of inter-ethnic hatred: The former Serbain quarter was destroyed in 2004 and lies deserted in the blazing sun. Once more international troops were unable to keep the non-existent peace here...

On the bus ride back to Prishtine I notice for the first time the quite homogenous infrastructure along the roads: car washing, car repair, furniture, building material and, like in one street in Prizren solely dedicated to these shops, huge glittery wedding dresses. A young country.

When I return I am able to enjoy my walk back, happy not to constantly need a map anymore, knowing when to expect a smile and wave from Bill Clinton and even the bald dummies look more friendly than in the morning. For dinner we find a lovely vegetarian restaurant, that probably owes its existence mainly to the expat community and next to it a happily chaotic book shop worth coming back to - if one has space for more books to carry.

No to negotiations