Memo to Travelers: Kosovo is Like a ‘Joyful Construction Site’

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  02.20.08 | 10:37 AM ET

imageThis is a good thing, at least according to Balkan Travellers, an e-zine focused on travel in the volatile region. The world’s newest declared nation is tiny, landlocked, impoverished and a cauldron of tension, but it’s apparently also got lots of building projects (hence the “joyful noise”), good cafes and restaurants, a youthful population and even a tourism Web site.

Will Kosovo eventually be a post-war Balkan success story like Montenegro and Bosnia, which have emerged as magnetic destinations for independent travelers? The former UN protectorate has serious problems, like creating a functioning infrastructure and taming the fury of Serbia and Russia, but that hasn’t stopped the Kosovars from dreaming.

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Tags: Europe, Kosovo

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


2 Comments for Memo to Travelers: Kosovo is Like a ‘Joyful Construction Site’

draculich 02.20.08 | 2:22 PM ET

check out serbia’s desperate tactics

John M. Edwards 02.20.08 | 5:47 PM ET

Hi Joanna:

Does the rapidly changing Kosovo have a generic equivalent to a fast-food hamburger joint, such as “Gino’s,” the fab fave of the recent European emigré.

I heard once that the notorious cannibal and bowling enthusiast Russ Feingold went sniffing around those parts for “burnt offerings.”

Arches or Crown, mate?

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