8/7/2019 Destination Europe - Albania

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/destination-europe-albania 1/4

Albania’s capital Tirana is a polluted, chaotic mess. A lot has changed since I was last there 10 years

ago. It was a chaotic mess back then but it was no where near as polluted. At that time, the

population was about half of what it is now and there was not that many cars on the road. There

were so few cars back then that the entire country only had 2 or 3 sets of traffic lights and they

weren’t working when I saw them.

Constant construction, unlawful buildings, and no knowledge of how to use rubbish bins has

resulted in a dusty, dirty city with rubbish throughout the streets and construction rubble piled up

high. The main square Sheshi Skenderbej is one big construction site with all the roads and paths

pulled up and traffic jams on every street. Thankfully a Belgian company is working on the square

so it should look great when they’re finished.

Pollution is unbearably high. The heat, the old car exhausts, the lack of greenery all contribute to

thick smog which makes breathing difficult. Tirana is not a city you want to spend time walking in.

Not that there is much to see anyway. As far as architecture goes, you’ll find 90% of the buildings

are hideous concrete blocks built during communism. There are a few attractive Italian built

buildings dating from the 30s and a handful of older buildings built long before that. If beautiful or 

interesting architecture is your thing, stay away from Tirana. The parks need maintenance too but

maybe my standards are too high after having lived in France for so long where you don’t see a

single flower out of place.

The most popular part of Tirana is the Blloku area which is where the former communist leaders

used to live. It was blocked off to the public during communism and is now the place to meet up for 

a coffee in the afternoon or drinks in the evening. Drinks are super cheap, tea or coffee is around 70

cents (euro), red bull is around 2 euros (it’s 5.50 here in Paris), and cocktails are 3-4 euros. Drink 

up!

Drinking coffee is the favourite pastime of Albanians. Not many people seem to drink beer or other 

drinks, it’s coffee, coffee, or coffee. Cafes are full day and night but there don’t seem to be that

many restaurants. I have no idea where the people eat. Maybe they have their coffee and then head

home.

One of the specialities of Tirana is what they call hot chocolate but which is more like a dessert. I

was quite shocked when I received it. It is a thick, mousse like ‘drink’ which you eat with a spoon.

It is sickly sweet and neither F nor I could drink it. The poor waiter felt sorry for us and didn’t

charge us for it which I felt really bad about it. I had no idea it was their specialty and I would have

finished it if I’d known but I was expecting something completely different.

The food in Tirana (and in all of Albania and Kosovo) is generally simple meat dishes like kebabs

and qofte or roast lamb or chicken with potatoes. All the food I had was delicious and very, very

cheap, usually around 5 or 6 euros per person including drinks. It’s so much cheaper than when I

was last here. That’s what competition does I guess. I recommend eating at Lulishte 1 Maji andVilla Ambassador (in the former East German embassy) for tasty Albanian cuisine.

The biggest danger when visiting Albania are the cars. No one knows how to drive. I’m pretty sure

they all bribed their driving instructors to get their drivers license (this is actually commonplace).

They like to speed and do u-turns or 3 point turns at the most inappropriate times. They often won’t

stop at red lights. They don’t wear seat belts. You take your life into your own hands when crossing

the street and beware even if you have a green light.

Also on the roads you need to watch out for potholes. This was a huge problem 10 years ago and I

can’t believe it hasn’t been fixed yet. Be careful driving and watch your step when walking,

especially at night. You don’t want to fall through the road and end up in a crappy Albanian

hospital.Another thing to be aware of is that Albanians nod their heads to say no (yo) and shake their heads

to say yes (po). This can be very confusing and I’ve been caught out numerous times

8/7/2019 Destination Europe - Albania

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/destination-europe-albania 2/4

misunderstanding what people are saying. I think younger people are starting to use the European

way but oldies definitely won’t.

The last annoyance with Albania is the currency. The currency (lek ) was revalued over 45 years ago

and yet the people still refer to the old values when they discuss prices. Albanians are obviously

stubborn people who don’t like to change! So if something costs 1,000 lek (8 euros) they will say

it’s 10,000 lek but you’ll pay them 1,000. Don’t give them 10,000 or you’ll be paying 10 times too

much (although they always use new money with foreigners, they don’t try to rip you off). It’scompletely ridiculous and extremely confusing, for me anyway, they think it’s normal. I’ve argued

with F about this many times but he just says, c’est comme ca.

8/7/2019 Destination Europe - Albania

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/destination-europe-albania 3/4

The only reason to go to Kukes is to change taxis on the way from Tirana to Prizren in Kosovo.

Kukes consists only of communist era and new buildings as the old city was flooded and buried by

the nearby dam.

F’s father is from a nearby village and he still has relatives in the region as well as in Prizren. On

the way back from our day trip to Prizren, a guy offered us a lift back to Tirana. Within two minutes

of taking off we discover this guy is married to one of F’s relatives and he knows all about F’s

family. Small world.

We then took a detour to visit this guy’s uncle who wrote a couple of books about another of F’s

relatives, Havzi Nela, a famous writer/poet/dissident who was hung in the centre of Kukes for 

political reasons, just before the fall of communism.

It definitely made for an interesting trip as I am always interested in hearing stories of life under 

communism in Albania.

8/7/2019 Destination Europe - Albania

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/destination-europe-albania 4/4

Most tourists only visit Shkodra, in northern Albania, on the way through to Tirana from

Montenegro. That’s exactly why I was there. Since the end of communism, the town has been in

decline and there is very little to see aside from the Rozafa Fortress.

I got a quick glimpse of the fortress while stuck in traffic in a gypsy camp where local kids knocked

on the car windows begging for money. That reminded me of the last time I was in Albania when

after entering getting off the ferry at Durres, I was waiting alone in my car when about 10 gypsy

kids surrounded the car knocking on the windows. The kids are quite cute but they can be veryaggressive!

The only building I saw in Shkodra which wasn’t a concrete apartment block was a mosque recently

built as a gift from Saudi Arabia.