.....and decided to slow down a little. I've not been feeling well since I've been here and finally got a normal night's sleep last night.
After returning from the monastery yesterday, I walked down to the Mother Teresa cathedral. I had been told it was being converted from church to cathedral and had been damaged earlier, but it actually is a brand-new building. And an unfinished cathedral at that:
As you would expect for a proper cathedral, the interior is enormous, and still in the process of being finished.
Years ago, when I was in the Army, a group of us took a tour of the Strasbourg cathedral in Germany and I remember them saying that a true cathedral is never truly finished--they are always in a state of repair or expansion--so I guess this is just the beginning for the "Cathedral of Blessed Mother Teresa in Pristina." An interesting side note to the construction is that, while the cathedral is obviously Roman Catholic, the Kosovo government in 2007 approved the construction and the church's foundation was ceremonially laid by former Kosovo president who was Muslim.
I did sleep well last night and, in fact, I slept in this morning. The days still get a little warm but the evenings and mornings are fairly cool. They had another music festival at the pedestrian mall again last night and somebody at the hotel told me that in September, Kosovars tend to make one last run at outdoor activities before winter hits. I understand they can have pretty severe winters here.
Another thing I discovered yesterday is that my credit card doesn't work here. Two merchants told me I needed a pin, which I don't have for my credit card. I called Chase on Skype and they told me they could issue me a pin but couldn't give it to me by phone or email--it would have to be sent to my house where there's nobody to pick it up now. For whatever reason, they gave me a temporary pin that can be used at ATM's or at a bank but there's a $10 charge and 3% transaction fee. I swear, once I retire from this job, Chase Bank is history...... I did check at the hotel and they do take credit cards without a pin. I think I have plenty of cash but, saving it for the weekends, I'm basically eating at the hotel so I can put meals on my bill here. The hotel has pretty good food though......
Anyway, when I did get up this morning, it was still pretty cool and I hiked up a pretty long hill behind the hotel to a place called Martyr's Hill. On the way up, I sidetracked briefly at a pleasant city park.....
But Martyr's Hill was further up and when I got there, there was a lot of construction going on which is very common in Pristina. Of course, with a modern national history of 14 years, I guess there's a lot of catching up to do.
This is another site that is politically charged and recently had KFOR protection as well but today it was pretty isolated. I don't pretend to understand the complexities of the politics here other than to say they truly are complex. Quoting from my guidebook, the monument here provides a good view of the city and Kosovo's recent political history.
Again, quoting, a bitter rivalry broke out between the pacifist leader Ibrahim Rugova and the political leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, or UCK in Albanian) that lasted even beyond his lifetime. Martyr's Hill, after the war, had become a memorial to fallen KLA soldiers.
For every single one of these, the date of death was 1999. The KLA, or UCK, often follows the Kosovo tradition of etching pictures of the person interred.
After returning from the monastery yesterday, I walked down to the Mother Teresa cathedral. I had been told it was being converted from church to cathedral and had been damaged earlier, but it actually is a brand-new building. And an unfinished cathedral at that:
As you would expect for a proper cathedral, the interior is enormous, and still in the process of being finished.
Years ago, when I was in the Army, a group of us took a tour of the Strasbourg cathedral in Germany and I remember them saying that a true cathedral is never truly finished--they are always in a state of repair or expansion--so I guess this is just the beginning for the "Cathedral of Blessed Mother Teresa in Pristina." An interesting side note to the construction is that, while the cathedral is obviously Roman Catholic, the Kosovo government in 2007 approved the construction and the church's foundation was ceremonially laid by former Kosovo president who was Muslim.
I did sleep well last night and, in fact, I slept in this morning. The days still get a little warm but the evenings and mornings are fairly cool. They had another music festival at the pedestrian mall again last night and somebody at the hotel told me that in September, Kosovars tend to make one last run at outdoor activities before winter hits. I understand they can have pretty severe winters here.
Another thing I discovered yesterday is that my credit card doesn't work here. Two merchants told me I needed a pin, which I don't have for my credit card. I called Chase on Skype and they told me they could issue me a pin but couldn't give it to me by phone or email--it would have to be sent to my house where there's nobody to pick it up now. For whatever reason, they gave me a temporary pin that can be used at ATM's or at a bank but there's a $10 charge and 3% transaction fee. I swear, once I retire from this job, Chase Bank is history...... I did check at the hotel and they do take credit cards without a pin. I think I have plenty of cash but, saving it for the weekends, I'm basically eating at the hotel so I can put meals on my bill here. The hotel has pretty good food though......
Anyway, when I did get up this morning, it was still pretty cool and I hiked up a pretty long hill behind the hotel to a place called Martyr's Hill. On the way up, I sidetracked briefly at a pleasant city park.....
But Martyr's Hill was further up and when I got there, there was a lot of construction going on which is very common in Pristina. Of course, with a modern national history of 14 years, I guess there's a lot of catching up to do.
This is another site that is politically charged and recently had KFOR protection as well but today it was pretty isolated. I don't pretend to understand the complexities of the politics here other than to say they truly are complex. Quoting from my guidebook, the monument here provides a good view of the city and Kosovo's recent political history.
Again, quoting, a bitter rivalry broke out between the pacifist leader Ibrahim Rugova and the political leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, or UCK in Albanian) that lasted even beyond his lifetime. Martyr's Hill, after the war, had become a memorial to fallen KLA soldiers.
For every single one of these, the date of death was 1999. The KLA, or UCK, often follows the Kosovo tradition of etching pictures of the person interred.
When Rugova died in 2006, a dispute broke out as to whether he could be buried at Martyr's Hill alongside war veterans and members of the UCK. I guess it would be comparable in the US to interring Jane Fonda in a Vietnam VA cemetery.
Anyway, he was buried a little further up the hill--separated from the war veterans--and, with all the construction going on, I was never sure if I found his grave but this may be it, but I'm not 100% sure.
I had read before, but saw today, a distinctly Kosovo burial tradition of placing large bowls of plastic flowers on grave sites. It's unusual to me, but properly tended, I can see where it would be a nice remembrance.
Memories of the 1999 war are still very fresh here as evidenced by UCK memorials at other locations around Pristina.
Returning back to the city center, I looked up the city symbol "NEWBORN." Erected during independence, it was originally intended as a celebration of that independence, it quickly became an icon representing Pristina and Kosovo--in some ways like the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Arch in St. Louis:
On the way, I ran across a couple of soccer pubs--this one was definitely not A&M:
But this one was definitely Irish. I checked the menu at Paddy O'Brien's and when my stomach's feeling better, I'll grab a lunch there:
Anyway, it was a good, and active weekend. Back to work tomorrow.......
No comments:
Post a Comment