EuropeFirst visit 2020Kosovo
The world's newest country, still figuring itself out, and somehow more vibrant for it.
Visited Pristina in 2020 and Kosovo is one of those places that catches you off guard. Young, proud, and buzzing with energy — there's a sense that the country is still writing its own story. The Bill Clinton statue is real, and it somehow perfectly captures the spirit of the place.
Pristina is not a pretty city, and that's not the point. It's the capital of a country that declared independence in 2008, and the NEWBORN letters downtown, repainted every year, say it better than any guidebook. There's a statue of Bill Clinton on Bill Clinton Boulevard, and a clothing shop nearby called Hillary. The love is real.
The National Library is one of the strangest buildings I've ever seen, a brutalist block wrapped in a metal cage with white domes on top. Right next to it there's an unfinished Serbian Orthodox church standing in a field of weeds, which tells you a lot about how complicated this place still is. I visited in 2020, with "#NOLOCKDOWN" signs in café windows and political graffiti on every wall. Young, loud and proud, Kosovo was one of the biggest surprises of the whole Balkans trip.
Kosovo Photos
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