Elsien's Traveblogue

Athens, the heavens just opened.
Am now stuck in this Internet cafe for a bit longer, as the wonderful weather so far has just broken into a thunderstorm, so might as well write.
Made it as far as Athens, which seems to have benefited enormously of the Olympics - it's now actually a nice place as opposed to the horrible overcrowded and polluted dump it used to be. Saw the Acropolis by moonlight last night - it's all beautifully illuminated and looks like something out of a fairytale. Did a lot of footslogging today and saw my Greek friend this evening. Got another day tomorrow, as the plane for Cairo is not until midnight, but haven't decided yet where I'll go - probably to Piraeus which apparently has also changed a lot and the new Metro goes all the way there.
Thessaloniki was also good - a pretty 'cool' place, I thought, could be in the same league as Barcelona and Prague pre-tourist overflow: lots of bars, cafes, terrasses, beautifully restored Byzantine buildings and lovely waterfront. It apparently has a happening nightlife as well, but I didn't get the chance to sample that.
A world away from poor Kosova, which was interesting, but ugly. Pristina is all UN and other similar organisations; the countryside is underdeveloped as I think they haven't done much there other than fight each other for 500 years or so. There are some pretty bits, like the (Serbian) Orthodox monastery, but you have to pass Italian KFOR soldiers with tanks and hand them your passport for the duration of your visit. The Albanian Kosovan driver wasn't too happy taking us there: he got a lot of dirty looks when he had to ask the way and pointed out destroyed Serbian villages to us on the way with a: 'very bad' (the Serbs, he meant).
Sat next to one of the founders of the Kosovan Liberation Front at dinner, but couldn't interrogate him as he was surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards - everyone in Kosova has a gun, according to my friend, and uses it regularly. I couldn't visit the UN buildings as security levels had been raised to Red after death treats to her boss. My friend reckons the UN will be there for a bit longer yet.
The other side of the border is Macedonia. Same region, but full of fruit and vegetables. Kosova only has some corn and a few cows, by the looks of it, and a lot of half finished houses, built with money from overseas Kosovan relatives.
Have pictures, but cannot post them yet. May find some of other people's and stick them on later.