Photo Sets » Kosovo - 2007
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Kosovo was great. Really. We arrived at the border from Albania, and quickly started to notice UN signs everywhere. Even the immigration and customs is run by the UN. Our car insurance (and probably ever other type of insurance as well) wasn't valid and they weren't going to let us in because the car was more than 10 years old. Martin, the diplomat, tries one of the 39 languages he speaks and finally convinces them that we are only going to be in the country for about two hours. Finally, a manager comes up and says in heavily accented English, "Amerika. Switzerland...Kosovo biggest allies, Have good day" and then we hear Serbian being spoken littered with "Georgboosh" this "Georgboosh" that. Who knows.
We travel quickly through a couple of small cities and declare that despite its war, Kosovo looks MUCH better off than Albania. There is an energy there...and the infrastructure looks great. We travel up a highway and Martin comments that it looks just as nice as Switzerland--just with fewer people. The mountains and villages are gorgeous and on a lone mountain pass we run across hundreds of families having picnics at the base of a ski area. It's a beautiful summer day and you can just tell that everyone is happy to be with family, safe, and at peace. There was a really special feeling in the air.
Kosovo was great. Really. We arrived at the border from Albania, and quickly started to notice UN signs everywhere. Even the immigration and customs is run by the UN. Our car insurance (and probably ever other type of insurance as well) wasn't valid and they weren't going to let us in because the car was more than 10 years old. Martin, the diplomat, tries one of the 39 languages he speaks and finally convinces them that we are only going to be in the country for about two hours. Finally, a manager comes up and says in heavily accented English, "Amerika. Switzerland...Kosovo biggest allies, Have good day" and then we hear Serbian being spoken littered with "Georgboosh" this "Georgboosh" that. Who knows.
We travel quickly through a couple of small cities and declare that despite its war, Kosovo looks MUCH better off than Albania. There is an energy there...and the infrastructure looks great. We travel up a highway and Martin comments that it looks just as nice as Switzerland--just with fewer people. The mountains and villages are gorgeous and on a lone mountain pass we run across hundreds of families having picnics at the base of a ski area. It's a beautiful summer day and you can just tell that everyone is happy to be with family, safe, and at peace. There was a really special feeling in the air.
