Europe’s Newest Country! (Kosovo)

Europe’s Newest Country! (Kosovo)

I am back in one of my favorite places, 
the Balkans. Here I’m at the top of a cathedral dedicated to St. Mother 
Theresa. And check out the views. It’s a beautiful cathedral dedicated to St. Mother 
Theresa. Now, funny enough, when I was in Scopier, North Macedonia, I actually went to Mother 
Theresa’s supposed residence in the city. And it’s quite telling of the impact she’s had 
on the uh countries of this region and the culture because wherever you go in the Balkans, 
you’re definitely very likely to find either memorials, monuments, iconography, 
all cathedrals and extraordinary buildings like this dedicated in 
her name. Very interesting. Now, one thing synonymous with Eastern Europe 
and the Balkans are Romany Egypties. Now, one thing I have noticed is so far in 
Pristina, there’s a lot less gypsies about than in the neighboring countries. We’ve had a few close 
calls in places like Romania and in Slovakia, in Kosit, I got in a precarious situation at a 
train station where I was completely surrounded by people trying to take my things, asking for money. 
But here it doesn’t seem to have that problem. Now a bit more on gypsies. If you 
don’t know where the term come from, I believe it’s from Egypty because when the 
the Egyp the Egyptians the gypsies, sorry, are originally from the Indian subcontinent. 
They migrated to Europe. And when they first came into the European continent, many believed 
that they were Egyptians. So they were given the term Egypty. I I believe so. Anyway, and over 
time this has progressed into just the term gypsy with many of them, well the majority 
being Romani, those that came from India. So, this is a building that I was really quite 
excited to see coming to uh Pristino in Kosovo, and it’s the uh National Library. And as we 
just I’m just walking up to it now. And as I turn the camera, you’re going to see 
why I was so fascinated by it. Here we go. Check that out. Now, I’m not sure how 
clear it is for you, but as we get closer, this building is quite significant because I 
believe it was designed by a Croatian architect. But the idea of the building was when Kosovo 
sort of solidified its or attempted to gain its independence, it wanted the architecture 
to represent the merging of both Muslim and Baantian cultures because there’s quite a 
mix here in Kosovo. So, look, here we go. So, So the interesting thing about this is that 
when it was designed, it was designed with 99 geometric concrete domes across the top. 
And it’s quite a contentious point here in Kosovo because lots of people see this building 
as um an isol whereas some obviously think it’s a good celebration of the uh mixing of cultures 
here in Kosovo. So, let me know what you think. Chaos in the center. Some poor 
bloke riding his motorbike. He’s been hit by a bus by the looks of it. Not nice. Now, many of you may be wondering why in the 
middle of Pristina in Kosovo in the Balkans, there is a memorial, a statue 
dedicated to President Bill Clinton. Now, at first I was a bit shocked 
about this as well, but it turns out God. Anyway, it turns out that the Kosovoans have 
a bit of a love affair with the American Clinton family, particularly Bill, because Bill Clinton 
was one of the, if not the driving force in um pushing for the UN bombing campaign against 
Serbia, which helped Kosovo gain its national independence. So it is said that there is a very 
strong love affair here with the Kosovans and the Bill Clinton family. The more you know. Now a bit 
more about Kosovo. If you do not know already, it is situated in sort of the central Balkans 
area, southeastern Europe, sandwiched between Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia. 
So due to its geographical location, Bosnia is one of the few countries that is actually 
predominantly Muslim on the European continent. similar to its neighbors Bosnia, Albania I think 
as well. So coming to coming to this region of Europe I find very interesting because there’s 
a real eclectic mix a melting pot you could say of the two cultures the Christian western 
culture and then the Muslim Islamic culture. It’s very interesting to see. I believe there’s 
still somewhat a stigmatism around this area of Europe due to in the late 90s all the coverage 
of the war in the region and because ever since the fall of Yugoslavia has sort of been somewhat 
of a power vacuum a struggle for power in land and different countries that used to be one in 
Yugoslavia are now fighting over borders. However, when you actually come to this region of Europe, 
you’ll find that it’s actually extremely safe. I’ve been to the majority of all of the countries 
around the Balkans. And any time of the day, any time of night, you can walk around completely 
safe. I mean, I I touched on this in my previous video when I was doing a UK city, and I 
highlighted the point that you’re much more likely to be in danger or in unsafe areas 
walking around our very own UK cities than you are here in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. 
It’s very nice. Heading up through the city center with a memorial for the men and women who 
sacrificed their lives in gaining independence. Lots of turmoil in the country’s history of 
a going forward. It seems very peaceful and everyone here are very friendly. I urge you 
if you haven’t come to this area of Europe, the Balkans especially, you really should make the 
effort to come. You You will not regret it. So, here we go, guys. I think it’s Pasia, 
half liter, less than three quid. Lovely. Down to the important stuff. 
Gorgeous. Na Theresa, as I was saying earlier, you can’t walk too far without seeing something 
dedicated to St. Mother Theresa. Magnificent. Look what we have come across. Well, mind 
try not to get hit by the cars. Look what we’ve come across in the back streets of Pristina 
representing Great Britain, the old English pub. I wonder what sort of pints you could get in 
there. Unfortunately, it’s not my sort of cup of tea. I like to come and [Applause] try all of the 
local cuisine, food, and drink. But you love to see it. Normally it’s Irish pubs, Irish bars, but 
who doesn’t love a bit of English representation. We’ve made it to Newborn Street, the newborn 
monument, signifying and celebrating Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. Now, it’s quite 
interesting seeing all the monuments and seeing a bit of the history relating to Kosovo’s 
side of the story regarding its bid which won it independence because having previously been to 
Belgrade in Serbia, I have already received the Serbian side of the story and the narrative and 
seeing the contrast. I won’t get into that on here because that’s besides the point. But seeing 
the contrast in the two. It’s very eye opening. We are here in one of the cities. Lovely green 
parks. Very wellmaintained. It’s nice and quiet now at this time of the day. Here’s another angle 
of the cathedral. It’s lovely. Check this out. I don’t know about any of you, but 
I’m a bit of a sucker for things like this when I travel. I like seeing 
the history, I like seeing the culture, I like seeing the architecture, and of course 
the food. So, we’ll get on to that. But amazing. Another thing I’ve noticed here in Pristina is 
if you’re a single guy and you’re like a a Balkan lady, get yourself over to Kosovo because 
I’m not even joking. The ratio is like 4:1. Like it seems like it’s it’s ridiculous. 
So if you’re single and ready to mingle, get yourself down here. Cheap flight, you’re 
sorted. So, I think I’ll uh end this video here for today. I’ll reconvene tomorrow. Just been and 
had some really nice traditional food. Don’t ask me what it’s called. I cannot remember for the 
life of me, but I’ll whack a picture in after this. And then we’ll go and see where the rest 
of the night takes us. So, I’ll see you tomorrow. Good morning. Day two. The weather is lovely. But here we go. Another thing that I 
love. Let’s get some breakfast. We’re here to get some burk. I think we’ll 
get some meat and cheese. It’s gorgeous. Okay, we secured the goods. What 
do we got? Meat and cheese. Now, I’ve had bor in uh quite a few different 
countries. We’ve had it in um Macedonia, Bulgaria, Istanbul, um Bosnia. But 
yeah, here we go. We’ll try this. [Music] So good. I mean, burak anywhere 
is amazing. And this we got two full plates 140 each. So barely two 
pound for for a load of food. Amazing. So, as we walk through downtown 
Pristina in the local markets, the main mission for today is 
heading to the bear sanctuary, and I have no idea how we’re going to get 
there. Um, I’m not really sure where it is. So, we’ll see how it goes. We’ll make do. I’m not 
I can’t I’m not really using my phone because I don’t have any uh data plan. So, we’re just 
winging it. So, um we’ll see how we get on. I can’t believe you can just buy bags, bags and bags of these and they’re like a 
euro. It’s insane. Makes you realize how much you’re getting ripped off back in the 
UK and in Europe. You’re getting so much. Everything is so so cheap. anything that you need. It’s all on mass sale 
as well. I saw earlier I should have should have got it on video. 5 kg for €3 any any fruit 
and veg. It’s crazy. You live like a king over here. Actually, I was speaking to someone the 
other last night when I was having my meal and they were saying like the sort of average rent 
prices over here are like5 €300 a month and although obviously they’re paid accordingly, 
but Kosovo is a lot of diaspora. So, a lot of um ethnic nationals live abroad, but since 
it’s uh got a lot safer and the war’s finished, they’re all moving back and they’re coming from 
like the US and all over Europe and stuff like that and they’re able to secure sort of remote 
positions and they’re still working for their previous employers, which means um you’re 
able to come back here and live like a king. The average rental property being like 
€300 a month, you can get a really nice place. All the food’s really cheap and if you 
can maintain your old salary. Yeah. It’s no wonder they’re all coming back because you 
have a really good quality of life. But it’s made it to the sanctuary. Let’s go 
see the stars of the show. I mean, walking through the front gates already 
reeks, so it should be good. I’ve heard good things. Apparently, you get 
pretty up close. So, let’s go. Definitely wouldn’t like to come across him on 
your own in these mountains, that’s for sure. But I think this is meant to represent 
the uh bear’s past mistreatment, but not too sure. So, hey ho, there 
you go. Poor old bear behind bars. So to get into this sanctuary, it was actually 
I think three €3 each. So what’s that? Two two and a half quid, maybe a bit less. 
So it’s very cheap. It’s a bit of a um Look, little lizard. Hello, mate. We try and grab 
him, but we don’t want to take his tail off. Um, yeah. So, as I was saying, a bit it’s a bit hit 
or miss when you go to places like this because it can be quite sad. Sorry state for the animals. 
But, oh, look, check this out. Nice view. But this place has there’s quite a lot of space. But this 
place has I think 17 18 bears and all of them are rescues. And the majority of them I think were 
used as restaurant bears. Now if you don’t know what that is, that’s where a restaurant owner 
has basically in a cage out front to try and draw people in to his restaurant. and they’re very 
they live in awful conditions and they’re abused quite badly and they’re very malnourished because 
it’s said that most of them are fed a diet of I believe it was beer and bread. So you can imagine 
the bear the animals are just ballooning not getting any of the nutrients or minerals that they 
need and living a miserable life stuck in a cage. So although it is a bit 50/50 with some zoos or 
sanctuaries like this, all the bears here you can definitively say are living a better life than 
they were previous. So I had a bit of a dodgy situation actually in uh Kashit in Slovakia and 
we’re in this zoo way up in the in the mountains and um a lot of the animals were winterized. 
So like half the animals were in the zoo and um we were walking through and there was like no 
one there. It was a massive place. We’re walking through up in the mountains and um we get to this 
one bit and the fence is like up to my chest and I was looking at the fence and I was thinking 
what the hell’s behind here because it doesn’t look like it would stop much. We walk around a 
bit more and it’s Eurasian brown bears in the enclosure and there was seemingly nothing else 
stopping them other than a fence chest high. And we were there on our own and I was sort of 
thinking, yeah, maybe we should get get a move on because it suddenly didn’t feel so safe. It 
was pretty dodgy. But it’s quite interesting going to obviously you got your zoos in the 
UK and then you travel abroad and you go to all these different zoos and the standards and 
the different safety regulations and all this is quite mind-blowing actually cuz some are very 
laxed but that’s all part of the fun I suppose. Stunning views of the mountains but 
not sure I signed up for this. I thought we just wandering around. 
Check this out. Look how steep. Just goes up and up and up. Been walking for 
ages. Especially in a 30° heat. It’s definitely not my strong suit, but hey ho. I could be in 
rainy old England. So, let’s get on with it. Right. Let’s hope he doesn’t move. Let’s 
come back here. Come a bit closer. Look, they do. They look all cuddly like 
they wouldn’t wouldn’t hurt a fly. [Music] Check this out. So, we’re just walking around a 
big steel cage. So, if one of the bears breaks loose, we all get rounded up and chucked 
in the cage. Rolls reversed. suppose it’s a necessary that thing you need to have because 
I don’t fancy my chances in out running a brown bear. But oh wow, look at this. The higher 
and high we get, the views just get so good. It’s lovely and quiet as well. Wow. Amazing. [Music] They’re quite incredible. The only thing with stuff like this is like 
I suppose it’s like any animal place is getting a decent view of the animals 
is quite tough. There’s one down the water there making all sorts of noise. 
Oh, but very difficult to get a view. Okay, so we’ve quickly stopped in 
the car because check this out. Apparently, this lake is called Badobs, 
and it’s uh one of the bigger lakes in and around Pristina. Maybe in Kosovo, I’m 
not sure. And our driver was telling us that um the city gets a lot of its drinking 
water from here. But it’s just lovely. Lots of people down here fishing, chilling, and I 
mean what? You can’t ask for much more. The weather’s lovely. It’s here. It’s nearly 
October in Kosovo and it’s 30°. Gorgeous. So, back in Pristina, slight issue. Just 
received confirmation that our flights out are cancelled and the only uh alternative 
they gave me was in a week’s time. Now, that’s not ideal. Um, so I think we’re going to 
try Well, I try to get my money back and fly out from a different country, I guess. So, we’ll 
see. But yeah, so I think I’ll end the video here and then if there’s any updates, I’ll 
do it in another video at the start or whack it on the end. But this has been Pristina. Very 
enjoyable. I would definitely recommend. Peace.

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In this video I travel to Europe’s newest Country (Kosovo) and experience the Capital city (Pristina). Join me on a raw experience discovering the history, culture, food and the rest…

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