Kosovo

Kosovo doesn't quite has 'UN recognized country' status, but it has been a self-decalred independent country since 2008. 

Although the United States, and most member of the EU recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, Russia and a significant number of other countries (of course, including Serbia) did not. 

Tensions are still high between Serbia and Kosovo. Just this month, a prominent Kosovo-Serb politician, Oliver Ivanovic, was assassinated. He was shot dead outside his party offices on January 16th, just before he was supposed to attend an EU moderated meeting between Kosovo and Serbia. 

Hopefully, this could help the talks, instead of hurting it. But, we'll see what happens. 

Kosovo was one of the last Yugoslav hold outs. This tiny country in the Balkans, about the size of Connecticut, is now considered Europe's newest country. 

The country is still synonymous with the brutal ethnic civil war here in the 1990s. There's still evidence of war, you'll see war damage next to new construction, and barb wire protected monasteries. 

But, Kosovo has blossomed since those days, and is now a rather safe country to visit, thanks mostly to EU and UN agencies who help keep the stability and the peace. 

Another person credited with peace in that country? Look no further than our very own 42nd president, Bill Clinton. After the Kosovo War ended in 1999, the Kosovar Albanians (nearly 82% of the population is Albanian) wanted to thank Bill Clinton in helping with their struggles with the government of Yugoslavia. 

So, they erected our landmark: a 10 foot tall statue of Bill Clinton. The statue was unveiled on November 1, 2009, in a ceremony where the former president spoke. The statue sits along Bill Klinton Blvd (apparently that's how they spell it there), and some lovely person on Trip Advisor recommends a visit to the Hillary Store across the street. 

Bill Clinton isn't the only president in Kosovo with a street named after him. President George W. Bush has a street named after him in the capital of Prishtina, and several cities have streets named after Woodrow Wilson. 

And you might be thinking to yourself, really? Of all the presidents, those are the ones they pick? 

Well, Kosovo kind of has a history of loving US Presidents. In fact, even Donald Trump has a 75% approval rating in Kosovo. They led the world in rooting for Trump.  

U.S. Presidents are the only popular world leaders there. Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister, became so popular in the 1990's, that are now a bunch of young adults running around Kosovo named 'Tony Blair'. 

Kosovo, as a destination, still remains pretty off-the-beaten-path of most travelers. But, the few visitors who come to this country are rewarded with welcoming smiles, charming mountain towns, incredible hiking opportunities, and 13th century domed monasteries. 

(Note: Hayden made the Kosovo flag and was rather proud of himself. Peyton asked me to make a new one- so far, I have not). 

The boys made their Kosovo postcards. 

Calib's postcard featured the 'Newborn' monument in Prishtina's main square. It was unveiled on the day Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. It's repainted and changed every February 17th. 

Peyton's featured a brown bear outside a restaurant. Apparently for decades brown bears would be chained up in traditional restaurants to entertain people. Since 2010, that's been illegal, but the brown bears needed a new home. Somewhere around a dozen of these brown bears can be found in a rescue - Prishtina's Bear Sanctuary National Park. 

Um, you can go there- and it looks amazing. It might be my second most 'bucket list' item after swimming with the pigs in the Bahamas. 

Hayden's included an impressively drawn Bill Clinton statue. 

We had Kosovo as a lunch meal, and since we've had a lot of Balkan countries lately, we thought it would be fun to mix it up a little with street food, Kosovo style. 

In addition to the grilled sausage and peppers (with salt and red pepper flakes), but they also have this meatball. Here's what I found about that: 'every street in Pristina seems to have its own tiny qebaptores wafting out glorious smells. Think of it this way – as pizza is to Italy, qebapa is to Kosovo.' 

However, a recipe of it is impossible to find- a fast casual place in Atlanta comes up- closest I can get is Albanian Qofte. (You might remember the Qofte Piqum we had for Alabania day WAY back when we were on country NUMBER TWO!) 

This meal earned four spoons up. 

Although I will tell you, we grilled sweet peppers instead of spicy peppers. 

Peyton was not a big fan, but it was lunch time- and he hates almost anything at lunch time. 

Nothing too out there for us, but a fun presentation- and everyone was a big fan of the meatball. Asa made about 15 of them- but we all only had one on our plate, so we saved them for a spaghetti lunch at a later date. 

We decided to color Kosovo in a similar color to dark red Serbia, so it is the light red dot there there, surrounded by yellow Macedonia, dark purple Albania, and light blue Montenegro. 

That was actually our second to last European country. All we have left on that continent is Portugal.  (We have the most African and Asian countries left.)

That's 181 down, FIFTEEN TO GO!!!!! 

Next Up: Madagascar