Yesterday I went to a town called Mitrovica which is a split town. Half the town is occupied by those who speak the Albanian language who recognize themselves as citizens of Kosovo. Across the bridge are those who speak Serbian, and don't recognize Kosovo as a separate country (they still recognize themselves as residents of Serbia). I went with two others from the hostel on the 1 1/2 hour bus ride.
The split between the countries wasn't too obvious, but the differences we're interesting. On one side of the river Serbian dinars we're the main currency accepted-on the other Euros (which Kosovo uses as their main currency). There was a lot of pro and anti-Kosovo graffiti, and I saw a van with a sticker from the Yugoslavian National Army. The bridge in between was protected by hummer-like vehicles from KFOR (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's international police force).
We spent a few hours in Mitrovica, eating a pizza lunch (a personal size pizza was 1 euro), and visiting a Roman Orthodox church on the hill, and a monument to miners who lost their lives in world war 2. (The monument had no signs on it-so we didn't know what it was when we came to it).
After a few hours, we took the bus back to Pristina-and got back to the hostel around 4:00 or so. Hanging out on the porch, the owner of the hostel suggested a 15 Euro all-you-can-eat-and-drink restaurant-which opens at 8:00. Because it was all you can drink-her suggestion was to stay there until closing (midnight). 9 of us went, and that is what we did. The restaurant was waiter-service, and they started by bringing olives, cheese, dips, and bread. And we dug into that ravenously. Then the waiter brought entrees of meat and chicken, and made some grilled vegetables for me since I don't eat much meat. And he kept bringing over more wine and rakia. As midnight approached, we kept eating and drinking. (and we we're the last folks in the restaurant). The interesting fact is that with all the food, including salads, entrees, etc-deserts we're modest. Only a small piece of cake (and we had to ask for it).
The owner of the hostel originally told us to give the servers a tip ( not normal in Kosovo). Not knowing how much to give, we originally left about a 150 Euro tip for a 135 Euro bill (Everyone just left too much). Then one of the guys we we're with figured that was too much and took 100 euros, and offered to buy us drinks and/or give the money back-so the net tip was 35 euros. When we told the hostel owner we left 35 euros-she mentioned THAT was too much-we should have left 9 Euros or so according to her,
At midnight, we all joined the owner of the hostel and some others at a bar in town, and continued to drink. Then we went to another 3 story club-and got home about 3:00 am.
