Mulberry trees, macchiato, mosques and Mother Teresa: an online tour of Kosovo's capital, Prishtina

Elizabeth Gowing


Region:
Anywhere
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Paid
Category:
Travel
Updated:
7th September 2021
Tagged:
Kosovo | Tour | Balkans

I have had a home in Prishtina for 15 years and am happy to share the things I love about this little-known city. Visit the library which qualified for inclusion in a list of the world's ugliest buildings (I love it), the youngest population in Europe (and the creative cafe life and excellent coffee you would expect to go with it) in a majority Muslim city whose main boulevard commemorates Mother Teresa. as one of the country's most famous daughters. Hear the impressions of travellers here in wartime and peacetime. Can you work out who is being commemorated in Medlin Olbrajt square - and why?

Views: 826 | Enquiries: 2

About Elizabeth Gowing

After working in primary education in inner London, Elizabeth Gowing moved to Kosovo in 2006. There she milked her first cow, smoked her first cigar and drank her first cup of proper coffee.

She is the co-founder of The Ideas Partnership charity working with the power of volunteers to tackle challenges in education, cultural heritage and the environment, and with a particular focus on the excluded Roma and Ashkali communities. She is the author of Travels in Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo (Signal Books, 2011), Edith and I; on the trail of an Edwardian traveller in Kosovo (Elbow Publishing, 2013), The Rubbish-Picker's Wife; an unlikely friendship in Kosovo (Elbow Publishing, 2015), The Silver Thread; a journey through Balkan craftsmanship (Elbow Publishing, 2017), Unlikely Positions in Unlikely Places: a yoga journey around Britain (Bradt Publishing, 2019) and *No Man's Lands: 8 extraordinary women in Balkan history" (Elbow Publishing, 2022 - with Robert Wilton)

She speaks fluent Albanian and is the translator of the biography of Yugoslavia's longest-held political prisoner, Adem Demaci, and of Hasan Prishtina's memoirs of the 1912 uprising. She is also a regular contributor to Radio 4's 'From Our Own Correspondent' programme.

In 2016 the President of Kosovo awarded her the Mother Teresa Medal for Humanitarian Work and in 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May gave her the 'Point of Light' award for volunteers around the world.


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