My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
We can’t get from Pristina directly into Bulgaria so today we took a bus from Pristina back to Skopje. Tomorrow we will take a bus from Skopje to our first stop in Bulgaria.
The taxi to the bus station took us by the Bill Clinton statue againThe drive was only a couple of hours long. It was very pretty.
In Skopje we walked to our hotel.
Walking to the hotel
We recently got an email saying they had canceled our flight home from Barcelona to San Francisco. After spending a lot of time on the phone Duke finally got a new flight two days earlier. He spent much of the afternoon changing hotel and travel reservations
For dinner we went to a great restaurant, (Pelister) near our hotel.
We started with a salad of potatoes, cucumbers, feta and pomegranate seeds. Main dishes
Today we explored Pristina. Just down the street from our hotel are the Newborn sign and Madelne Albright Square.
The newborn signMadeleine Albright statue
Gjergj Kastrioti was an Albanian Feudal Lord who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire and united the Albanian principalities.
Kastrioti statue
We walked by this mosque during the noon prayers.
Ibrahim Lutfiu Mosque
On our way back to the hotel we stopped for coffee at a cafe. One of the fun things about travel is that you are often surprised by what you order. We ordered cappuccino and what we got was an espresso with two inches of whipped cream and chocolate on top. It was good but a bit of a surprise.
Cappuccino
Our room has a sauna in the bathroom. We took advantage of it this afternoon.
Tonight we had dinner at Princesha Gresa Restaurant. It was wonderful. It was windy and cold walking the half a mile each way. But the food was great and absolutely worth it.
This morning we had breakfast then walked to the bus station and caught a bus to the capital of Kosovo, Pristina.
Walking to the bus station
Our bus to Pristina left about 11. The bus ride took us about two hours. In Pristina we took a taxi to our hotel. Along the way to the hotel the taxi driver pointed out the statue of Bill Clinton.
The view through the bus windowThe Bill Clinton statue in Pristina.
In Pristina we used the pool and sauna at our hotel. For dinner we were going to walk about a half mile to a restaurant we had picked out but it was raining so we enjoyed pizza across the street from the hotel. I don’t think I’ve ever had sesame seeds on my pizza crust. But it was really good.
Even under grey skies Prizren is a picturesque town. This morning we had coffee at CD a coffee shop on the river.
The coffee shop where we had breakfastBreakfast
Luckily although the skies were grey there was no rain. We enjoyed walking all over this beautiful town.
The river and fortress on the hill. Base of an enormous Plane tree by the river.
Mid afternoon the skies cleared for a while.
One of many mosques
We had coffee to enjoy the sun but shortly the clouds closed in again.
More coffeeWhat a difference the sun makes!
Kosovo is interesting. The plaque outside the church we can see outside our window says:
“In 2004, during a period of violent unrest, the building complex was set on fire. In the church of Saint George, due to the fire the wall paintings suffered distortions, and the wood-carved templon was entirely destroyed.”
The little hotel where we are staying appears to be brand new and the plaque by the church says the church was restored.
The ChurchYou can see our hotel on the right above the wall. Two nights cost us €63.
While we were enjoying the sun we saw vehicles marked KFOR. The Kosovo Force is a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
KFOR vehicles behind Duke
We never know how dinner is going to turn out. We pick a place and then try to figure out the menu. Sometimes there is an English translation. Sometimes Google translate works and sometimes in spite of everything dinner is great or just okay.
Tonight we went to Te Syla. It turned out to be fantastic. We had a Kosovo Cabernet Sauvignon, Ceasar salad, pasta carbonara, and filet mignon. It was all fabulous! Great service and excellent food. And the whole meal cost us €44!
Today our bus to Prizren was scheduled to leave at 4pm. So we spent a good part of the day walking around Skopje and enjoying the sites. Skopje has a lot of statues both gigantic and lifesize.
You can see me, dwarfed by these two enormous statuesIt almost looks like Duke and meI like the way the strings disappear. It’s fun to sit on a bench and people watch. Mother Theresa was born in SkopjeThe Mother Theresa Center Hmmm!I suggested that Duke climb on his back for a pictureWe stopped for coffee and croissants
We walked to the bus station and our bus left promptly at 4. Soon after leaving Skopje we crossed the border into Kosovo.
Crossing the border
The bus ride took about three hours. In Prizren we walked to our hotel and then had a great dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel.
Marion's Blog 