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It's a Bill Clinton and Yank loving town

From Adrian McGurk's World Tour 2009/2010 in Pristina, Serbia on Sep 10 '09

Adrian McGurk has visited no places in Pristina
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I look confused by the uninspiring Kosovo street scene
I look confused by the uninspiring Kosovo street scene
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Day 24

I spent the night before in Skopje but did not think that at this stage that it deserved its own blog page as all I had done was arrive at the bus station, get a taxi to the hostel, wake up, walk to the bus station and then catch a bus to Prishtina. (I bet you're thinking that it looks as though I've spent more time in Skopje than most of the other capital cities that I have visited on this tour - no comment).

The journey to Prishtina was scheduled to be a two and a half hour journey and thankfully that was all it was. The scenery was beautiful as green endless hills would suddenly turn into flat plains with lots of little villages on.

Bill Clinton's luxury holiday home in Prishtina
Bill Clinton's luxury holiday home in Prishtina
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The bus station was a little depressing and unhelpful not being near the centre of the town. I got in a taxi and the driver could speak a little English. Thankfully, he knew the Guesthouse where I was staying. On the short drive, I think that he was telling me that he was going to Oxford next year. Along the way, I also noticed advertisements for 'Oxford English' and 'Cambridge English' classes. Only very highbrow English must be taught to the Kosovans!

The guesthouse seemed like a luxury stay for me as there was no bunk beds or dorm - just  a room to myself and a massive bed.

Spiderman's favourite library
Spiderman's favourite library
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The guesthouse lent me their In Your Pocket guide to Pristina. Instantly, I could see that attractions were very thin on the ground. Such cultural delights that were in the guide were the 'Old House'. Sure enough, when I saw the Old House, it looked like an old house but not in  any particular worse or old looking state than the houses near to it.

After about an hour, I had walked round the main sites that were listed on a UN guide to the highlights of Pristina. I quickly realised that Pristina had mosques of some interest, churches of little interest and lots of buildings of no interest.

Darts has a home in Prishtina (It's next to the washing line)
Darts has a home in Prishtina (It's next to the washing line)
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The best thing that I saw was the Library which was a very ugly building that looked like that it had some sort of spider's web over it. Maybe this was the way forward for Prishtina, build ugly buildings to give the place some interest to people from the outside world.

The place was not expecting any tourists as there were no souvenir shops whatsoever. The closest things to souvenirs that I found was in a kiosk on one of the main walkways - here they had some Kosovo stickers, a glass plaque with Kosovo on and some Kosovo boxing gloves. They are obviously fighters and not lovers in Kosovo.

However, despite the lack of things to see or do, Prishtina still had something about the place. I don't know what the something was but I'm sure that the something existed.

One thing about the place that was really interesting is their love affair with all things American and Bill Clinton. There was a 'Victory' Hotel which had a statue of liberty on it. Also, about half of the time when I saw a Kosovo flag flying then I would also see an American flying proudly by the side of it. Bill Clinton even has a street named after him (even though quite rudely, I could find no cigars shops on it).


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