Kosovo and pot smoking Besard

Day trip to Pristina, Kosovo yesterday.  Went by public minibus for about $6 and 2.5 hr drive (normally 1.5hr).  So this young man sits next to me and we start talking.  Meet Besard, 22, Albanian (ethnic group, not the country), lives in Skopje, works at a bread store (I think) and makes 300 Euro a month (about $250).  He is on his way to Kosovo to meet up with a girl he met on social media.  He has strong ties to his heritage, smokes pot daily and as a matter of fact was just in jail the day before for smoking pot with his friend.  Apparently its not the first time.  He more of less threatened the cop that he better not mess with him or he won’t be a cop for long.  Oooookayyyy.  Actually he was a very nice young man with lots of attitude.  We spoke for the whole trip which was very interesting and entertaining.  Learned a lot about this young man.  He started smoking at 8 years old and his father used to beat him.  Yikes.

Once we got to the border, they collected our passports or IDs and then had to get out of the minibus and walk across the border.  Non eventful.

The landscape in Kosovo is mountainous and beautiful.   Wish I had more time to explore its natural beauty.  Pristina was interesting but not a tourist destination.  The library has unique architecture,  mosques pretty from the outside (don’t think women are allowed inside), street lined cafes, and again perfect weather.  Actually a perfect fall day.  Strolled through town and visited their very sedate museum where I could see General Wesley Clark’s fatigues from the Kosovo War.  The most moving monument was the Heroines which was made of coins and dedicated to the over 20,000 women that were raped by the Serbs in the Kosovo war.  Just makes me cry to think of it.

On the way back to Skopje I had the pleasure of  listening to the bus driver hack away because he is a chain smoker and even smoked while driving a minibus full of people.  Lets talk about smoking.  STOP please?  They smoke like crazy here in the Balkans to include in restaurants.  And mind you, most chain smoke.  Besard told me that Albanians are funny that way, if you tell them not to do something, they’ll do it even more.  That will show them.

Photos are of the new Cathedral, Mosque, Library and Heroines.  I also through in a photo of a warrior and banner for breast cancer awareness.  I thought the warrior added a little more fight.