A Week in Tirana, Albania

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We got an early morning taxi to the Athens airport and went through an exhausting check in process that included our backpacks not being accepted at the regular conveyors, to having to pay almost twice for baggage fees because their online system would not accept our credit cards over several prior day attempts...plus telephone calls.  We have learned to pick our battles and swallowed hard the extra $50 USD in fees.

The 90 minute flight was crowded and pleasant and we landed in Tirana, went through the easiest immigration and customs process yet, and were on the curb with cash, a new SIM card in our phone, and on the way to our apartment within an hour.  Our host met us on the street and walked us to our apartment.  From the exterior it looked like a war zone.  At this point in journey, we are long past making a judgement on the first impressions...and this one was rough.  The building is a soviet apartment block from the communist period and little has been done to the outside. 

However, once inside and up four flights of stairs we found an beautiful, fully renovated, two-bedroom apartment with everything we would need for our full week of rest.  After unpacking...that took the usual 15 minutes, we relaxes for a bit before heading out to stock up the kitchen with supplies.

Our first meal was lamb, something we did not get a chance, even once, to have in Athens...surprisingly so...and it was delicious.

Tirana isn't a huge tourist destination and there are only a few sights of interest...at least from our standpoint...so this week was a planned rest break as we near day 900 of our journey. We enjoyed a few long walks throughout the city.  It is dramatically more "soviet" looking that the cities of Romania and Bulgaria.  It was cloudy and rainy so that added to the "greyness" of the mood.  Like in most large cities, people move about with determination.  There are small groups of men standing everywhere, talking and exchanging money...and who knows what else.  Albania is infamous for its mafia history.  There are numerous sidewalk vendors and we did not see many large malls or department stores.

We were located in the city center, just a block from the main square and most of the points of interest.  The main mosque - Albania has a huge Muslim culture was across the street.  We went to the movies on one afternoon as saw "Aquaman."  It was a modern theater with 3D and the movie was entertaining.

During on of our walks we were approached by a fellow who turned out to be a local guide. He was pleasant in his approach, helpful for the moment, and offered his card.  A few days later we contacted him and arranged for a short city walking tour.  Martin met us at the Clock Tower in the main square and took us on a very nice journey in the historic area for a couple of hours.  As always, our guide was well educated,  charming, and quite forth-coming about Albanian politics and his world view.  It was a perfect sunny and warn day and we enjoyed the five-miles walk.

This main plaza of the city and a statue of the national hero - their Che Guevara.

 The National History Museum and huge mosaic.

 Current parliment house scheduled to be demolished soon.

 Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia and grew up in Albania.  She is the patron of the Catholic cathedral in Tirana.

An outstanding mosaic made of sea shells.

 An interesting building called the Tirana Pyramid was constructed by the former communist leader of the coutntry as a mauseleum.  He was exiled in 1990 during the soviet fall and it never got used.  Today it sits still vacant.  UNESCO is planning to identify it and it will be converted into a museum.

 The current office of the Prime Minister.

Piece of the Berlin Wall.

 One of over 220.000 cement bunkers built during the cold war and installed all over Albania.  They were afraid the US would invade them and they wanted to be prepared.

 Office of the President.

 The main boulevard of the city.

 Home of the former communist leader.  Vacant since 1990.

 The orthodox cathedral built to resemble St. Sofia in Istanbul.

Following the tour we treated ourselves to lunch in a local restaurant and then added a couple more miles of strolling around the city.  During our stroll we were approached by a woman who heard us speaking English.  She remarked how unusual it was to hear anyone speaking English on the streets unless they were in a tour.  She was born in Tirana but lives in Boston.  We had a nice chat as we walked along together for a while.

We staying indoors for a couple of days, ventured out to see the Mary Poppins movie at the cinema, and took in the National Museum of History.  The mnuseum has a huge mural on its facade and the interior is well planned, nicely maintained and offered a large assortment of both ancient and comtemporary history.  As we remarked after our visit...1/2 floor devoted to 7,000 BC to 1912, and two and 1/2 floors devoted to 1912 to present.

We worked on our taxes during this week.  Our last day was spent packing up again and getting ready for our overnight bus ride into Macedonia.  We booked the apartment for a full extra day as we would not be departing until 6PM.