After 5 months in Pristina we have found ourselves a taxi driver who not only speaks good English but lived there for 19 years. So Arben offered to take us on a tour of Pristina, I've walked to most corners of the town but he did manage to uncover a few interesting places.
The first is of the grave of Ibrahim Rugova, 'The Father of Kosovo' who was a Ghandi style leader who advocated non violence who said 'The slaughterhouse is not the only form of struggle' when trying to negotiate a political solution to the question of Kosovo's independence from Serbia.
Wikipedia article if you are interested. He died of cancer 2 years before actual independence.
This is the monument to the fallen Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers, ironically on the same site as the pacifist Rugova.
We left the city and went on to a little village 5km outside Pristina called Gracanica which is a Serb village which still uses the Serbian Dinar as currency and has a beautiful 13th century monastery with frescos which date from that time. Wiki article
To resist the temptation of the ethnic Albanians to 'get there own back' it's under permanent guard by Swedish NATO troops.
The locals (outside the monastery) were less than welcoming, so we didn't wait to have coffee!
As you can see it's still cold here;
The first is of the grave of Ibrahim Rugova, 'The Father of Kosovo' who was a Ghandi style leader who advocated non violence who said 'The slaughterhouse is not the only form of struggle' when trying to negotiate a political solution to the question of Kosovo's independence from Serbia.
Wikipedia article if you are interested. He died of cancer 2 years before actual independence.
This is the monument to the fallen Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers, ironically on the same site as the pacifist Rugova.
We left the city and went on to a little village 5km outside Pristina called Gracanica which is a Serb village which still uses the Serbian Dinar as currency and has a beautiful 13th century monastery with frescos which date from that time. Wiki article
To resist the temptation of the ethnic Albanians to 'get there own back' it's under permanent guard by Swedish NATO troops.
The locals (outside the monastery) were less than welcoming, so we didn't wait to have coffee!
As you can see it's still cold here;
No comments:
Post a Comment