It was a long road of crazy Albanians, but we’ve finally made it to Kosovo after an epic drive through progressively backward Balkan backwaters. (This helps explain the lack of Internet chatter on my part, since widespread Internet access isn’t exactly a cornerstone of second- and third-world Europe.)

Surprisingly little trouble, except two Albanian customs agents at the Montenegrin border had me pour them some homemade slivovitz. I’m assured that this was courtesy, not bribery.  There’s also the little matter of Albanian driving.  More on that later. But Bashkim is a hero behind the wheel.

We arrived in Kosovo late last night, getting a warm welcome from Bashkim’s parents, who live outside Pristine in Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje.  This delightful place is the symbolic epicenter of the great Balkan clusterfuck (see Battle of Kosovo in 1389, then Milosevic’s 1989 rant before hundreds of thousands of Serbs).

Tags: Albania, driving, Kosovo, Pristina

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