Source: The Observer, http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/jun/22/weekends.kosovo?page=all

• Sophie Middlemiss
• The Observer,
• Sunday June 22, 2008

Two women walk in front of the new giant symbol, the 'Newborn', of Kosovo capital Pristina. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP

Why go now?

The world's newest country, Kosovo declared independence in February. The first street parties may be over, but the excitement is still palpable in the capital, Pristina, a safe and compact city perfectly proportioned for a weekend's exploration. Last Sunday, Kosovo's constitution came into force and its new national anthem, tellingly entitled 'Europe', was played for the first time by the Kosovo Philharmonic.

Checking in

Rising above its faulty lit-up lettering and fake-grass veranda, the Grand Hotel is still Pristina's 'premier' venue, though its retro appeal could soon wear off for paying guests (Bul. Nena Tereza; 00 381 38 220210; grandhotel-pr.com; doubles around €120). Pleasant, mid-range Hotel Afa (Rr. Ali Kelmendi; 00 381 38 225226; hotelafa.com; doubles €75) has had the inspired idea of offering 20 per cent discounts to citizens of countries that have recognised Kosovo (including Britain). The most authentic sleeping experience you'll have is at the family home of a former university professor; Guesthouse Velania is spotless, welcoming and cheap (00 381 38 531742; from €13 a night).

Hit the streets

From a replica Statue of Liberty to the hulking Yugoslav 'Youth and Sports Palace' (now a shopping centre), Kosovo's crowded history is written across Pristina's urban landscape. But the new blue-and-yellow flag now flies everywhere alongside the black-and-red Albanian eagle, and the 'Newborn' signs that pepper the city centre are a potent symbol of regeneration.

The UN logo may be hard to escape, but these days the most tangible impact of the international presence is the cultural and economic uplift in upmarket areas such as Dardania. Right by the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) headquarters, a string of coffee bars with wicker chairs and parasols make the Kafja e Vogel strip a cool spot to while away a summer's afternoon, while bars such as Bamboo cluster on the corner where the 'Peyton city' district starts.

For a culture fix, the bright yellow Kosovo Museum (Rr. Nazim Gafurri) has an excellent permanent collection of archaeological artefacts; its top-floor section on the war drives home the freshness of events that can seem distant in today's upbeat metropolis. Scout out the tiny house-museum of Ibrahim Rugova (by Tiffany's restaurant), former President and architect of Kosovo's independence. The eccentricities of this cravat-sporting professor - who gave precious stones as gifts to international guests - are affectionately documented. Near the Skenderbeg statue, washed-out photographs of missing people still encircle the Parliament building; across the street in the old town, jewellery and costumes are on show at the Emin Gjiku ethnographic museum, a beautifully preserved Ottoman townhouse.

Coffee break

A macchiato is a must-have accessory any time of the day in 'downtown' Pristina, so savour yours with breakfast muffins at Odyssea Bakery (Rr. Perandori Justinian) or lunchtime salads at busy, bright Metro (Rr. Garibaldi 3/1). Recharge for the evening at Strip Depot (Rr. Rexhep Luci 6/1), where comic strips set off vintage interiors.

Neighbourhood watch

Pedestrianised for a piazza feel ahead of independence celebrations, Pristina's central thoroughfare is Nena Tereza (Mother Theresa) boulevard. In the old carshia (bazaar) area, cobbled streets tangle around Ottoman-era mosques. Nearby in the affluent hilltop Velania district, pause on Martyrs' Hill, where Rugova is buried and low-key wooden crosses commemorate the war dead.

Retail therapy

Don't miss Ginger in Peyton district, an Aladdin's cave of affordable arthouse DVDs. Street stalls stock an array of 'Republic of Kosovo' branded paraphernalia, but for something a little less predictable, look out for lighters with tiny in-built torches that project an image of Tony Blair's face.

Worked up an appetite?

Plump international-organisation pay packets and the culture of networking in status-conscious Pristina have raised the bar among city eateries. At De Rada (UCK 50), the favourite haunt of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, brush shoulders with the self-appointed 'Pristina elite'; the wall mirrors seem angled expressly for people-spotting. Chic Te Komiteti (Rr. Qamil Hoxha 5/2) has an excellent range of local wines to wash down a light lunch. Traditional creamy ceramic-baked dishes are deliciously made at nearby Pishat, but for explosive flavour from fresh ingredients and meats slung on the grill, Tiffany's (Rr. Fehmi Agani) can't be outdone.

Big Night Out

Pristina prides itself on having an impressive number of bars and clubs for its size; Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe, and they all seem to congregate in the capital each weekend. Join the throng for summer cocktails in the front yard of restaurant Legere (Rr. Perandori Justinian) or hear live music acts at Zanzibar (Rr. Hajdar Dushi) and Jazz Club 212 (Rr. Sejdi Kryeziu, Peyton). Cringe-inducing but worth a peek is Phoenix Bar by the UN compound, where middle-aged international consultants strenuously resist 'going native' with the home comforts of Sunday roasts, photocopied tabloids and lager on tap.

Escape The City

The Serb 'enclave' of Gracanica is a 10-minute taxi ride from town. Its magnificent 12th-century monastery is kept half-lit by the nuns in charge, but look closely and the detail on the Byzantine frescoes that cover every inch of wall space begins to emerge. A short walk from the village are the part-excavated, virtually unprotected ruins of the Roman town of Ulpiana

Getting There

British Airways (0844 493 0787; ba.com) flies direct to Pristina every other day from London Gatwick (from £166 return).

Source: Wall Street Journal - http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121452066620808827-6_OlRDjBOUtn0SEFXPjtAAsSYLU_20080726.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Europe's Unlikely Charmer

Prizren, Kosovo

The newest nation on earth is Kosovo, the war-ravaged region of the former Yugoslavia. There may not be more than two decent hotels in the whole country, but today it is the rarest of destinations, a relatively affordable paradise nearly free of tourists and offering a first-hand view of history in the making.

At the foot of the breathtaking mountains ringing Kosovo lie two magnificent Greek Orthodox monasteries designated as Unesco World Heritage sites. To the south is Prizren, Kosovo's cultural center, a glorious medieval city of mosques and churches. Locals -- and hardly any tourists -- drink coffee along the banks of the Lumbardhi River, soaking in the view. It's as if the clock has been turned back 50 years, to a time when most people in the world still vacationed within driving distance of their homes.

From Angkor Wat in Cambodia to Medellín in Colombia, the world used to be full of places where tourists feared to tread, where the dangers of travel outweighed the profusion of scenery and history. Kosovo had been high on the list for more than a decade: It was torn by years of war between Christian Serbs and Muslim ethnic Albanians. In February, the country of 2.1 million declared its independence and is currently recognized by more than 40 countries, including the U.S. and most European Union members.

Stan Sesser/WSJ

The Lumbardhi River café scene.

Kosovo's dangers now are largely in the past. It is not on the U.S. State Department's list of countries with travel warnings or alerts, though the State Department's Web site does advise travelers to Kosovo to steer clear of political demonstrations and watch for street crime. As a tourist traveling from one end of the country to another, I never once felt threatened.

Some sacrifices, though, are required to navigate in a country where tourism is a distant memory, not a well-oiled machine. Kosovo is a land of deteriorated hotels, indifferent food, potholed roads and battle-scarred locals. Most Kosovars will look at you warily -- until you tell them you are from the U.S., which led the bombing of the rampaging Serbian forces in 1999. Pristina, the capital, has a Bill Clinton Street and a Robert Dole Street.

The war, which took more than 12,000 lives and destroyed Kosovo's economy, bred poverty. Kosovo is the poorest nation in Europe, according to the State Department, with only one-third the per-capita income of neighboring Albania, which used to vie for that title. Pristina is Kosovo's drab capital, whose name refers not to an era of abundant street cleaners, but rather to the ancient king of the Ilyrians, the ancestors of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

Today, highways leaving Pristina are littered with trash, an endless landscape of auto junkyards. But almost everything in Kosovo is within a 90-minute drive of Pristina, and it is where visitors must stay if they want a hotel offering even minimal amenities. I checked out hotels all over Kosovo and can recommend exactly two, both in Pristina. Both cost about $120 for a single room, $150 for a double. The Hotel Victory has a replica of the Statue of Liberty on the roof. The hotel where I stayed, Hotel Baci, ran out of hot water at peak hours, and there was no water at all one night. Local phone calls had to be connected through the front desk. The views ran from a noisy street in front to dreary buildings in the rear. On the plus side, the bathrooms were modern, every room offered good wireless Internet, laundry service was free, and the friendly staff went a long way toward making up for the inconveniences.

The monasteries in the west, near the border with Montenegro, are a must-see. Getting there necessitates renting a car from one of the several agencies in Pristina. Rather than compete with Balkan drivers, I employed a tour guide, Alban Rafuna, who arranged the car rental and drove it for me. The first monastery I visited, the Peja Patriarchate, named after the nearby city of Peja, has to rank among Europe's most spectacular sights. Its stone church, with marble and stone floors, is covered floor to ceiling with frescoes dating from the 13th to the 17th centuries. A stern, black-robed nun introduced herself to me by saying, "This is a church for prayer, not a museum for tourists." Then she spent an hour showing me the frescoes and explaining their meaning. On the monastery grounds, beautiful gardens look up to the Rugova Mountains, which has a couple of small rustic hiking and fishing resorts.

When I visited the Visoki Decani Monastery, a young bearded monk approached me for a conversation. "There are beautiful places all over the world," he said in fluent English, "but this place is something special." It wasn't an overstatement.

Stan Sesser/WSJ

A medieval cannon overlooks Prizren and the Sharr Mountains.

Intercity buses in Kosovo, surprisingly frequent and comfortable, are a good way to get from Pristina to the medieval city of Prizren. During the 90-minute ride, the brutal landscape eventually gave way to mountain vistas and views of the city, which, unlike some other European cities, hasn't been transformed into a theme park.

"This was an even more beautiful town until the Communists came in 1945 and destroyed things," said Naim Shahini, who spent a day volunteering his labor to help renovate an old Prizren mosque. "All the streets were cobblestone," he said. "There was an old covered bridge lined with shops. For 500 years, Greek Orthodox and Catholics lived with Muslims without any problem."

Kosovo also has some of Southern Europe's best skiing. To the southeast, near the Macedonian border, is the crumbling ski resort of Brezovica. The soaring Hotel Narcis, a 300-bed Swiss-style structure of wood and glass, commands a view of snow-capped mountains, lush forests, a roaring river and red-roofed stone houses nestled in deep valleys. But on a beautiful June day, the hotel had exactly five guests, all of them members of Kosovo's NATO-led peacekeeping force enjoying a brief holiday.

In the lobby, stuffing was breaking through the seams of the leather chairs; the restrooms could be smelled 20 yards away. Water leaks streaked the walls of guest rooms; carpets were stained and moldy, and bird droppings fouled the balconies. Rebuilding crumbling ski resorts here is little more than a dream. Most hotel projects are on hold as the government tries to settle ownership disputes. A small hotel in Prizren, Theranda, is being renovated, and a large hotel in Pristina, the Grand, is about to be upgraded into a Crowne Plaza.

At Hotel Narcis, the desk clerk was in no mood to celebrate Kosovo's independence. A Serb by the name of Jellanka (she wouldn't reveal her last name), she is now a member of a despised minority, not of a ruling elite. Her job today bears little resemblance to the one she had here before the war. "We were always full, summer and winter," she says. "All Yugoslavia came here. We had 280 employees, and now there are six."

Today, Kosovo is grappling with how and whether its 120,000 remaining Serbs will fit into the new society. The city of Mitrovica demonstrates the transition. An infamous bridge, a symbol of the country's divisions, divides Mitrovica into two sectors -- Serbs in the north, Albanians in the south. Walking alone, I crossed this heavily guarded no man's land, landscaped with coils of barbed wire, into the Serbian sector, where the signs changed from Western letters to Cyrillic.

Divisions in Mitrovica are so stark that each morning, guarded United Nations buses go to a small enclave of Albanians living in North Mitrovica to take children to schools and adults to jobs in the city's southern sector. To forestall ethnic conflicts, 17,000 NATO troops, supplemented by thousands of police under U.N. auspices, are everywhere, paying special attention to the historic mosques, churches and monasteries that are among the country's treasures.

But I saw no sign that either side directs hostility toward foreigners. In Pristina, the people I met while working out at a fitness center were effusively friendly, welcoming a foreign tourist as a sign that their country was returning to normal. English is widely spoken in Kosovo; I've had more problems communicating in Italy.

As safe as Kosovo is today, though, not a single travel agency offers package tours for foreigners, says Bujar Kuci, director of the new government's Tourism Department. A former accountant and tax auditor, he wasn't able to supply data on tourist arrivals. "We cannot give you any figures on tourism because we don't have figures," he said. "Now, 10 years after the war, we can finally think about tourism."

Write to Stan Sesser at stan.sesser@awsj.com