Turen til Albanien kom sig af at vi ville besøge Michael på et af de steder han arbejder rundt om i verdenen. Da vi snakkede om det så det ud til at han skulle forlade Albanien i slutningen af april. Vi skyndte os derfor at bokke en lang weekend (lande i Tirana onsdag ved midnat og flyve hjem søndag formiddag) i midten af april. Det skulle også normalt være en tid hvor det kunne blive en 20-25 grader. Så heldige var vi ikke.
Her følger en beretning Helle har skrevet til vores ven i LA.
So does Albania feel like Europe or Turkey or something quite different. It feels like southern Europe, just a lot poorer than most countries in southern Europe that I’ve been to. The people look European and the houses look European although I have to say that the Albanians have somewhat their own style of colouring their houses.
We saw many very colourful houses and though many houses are square houses there are also many houses that have either had an architect involved in building them or is inspired by architecture from somewhere else. Arriving at the airport in Tirana was a pleasant surprise. They have recently renovated the airport which used to be some old huts build for the military when it was a military airport.
It’s not a big airport – there are six gates from all of which you have to go by airport bus to the airplanes. And everyone is waiting in the same area. There are one souvenir shop, a newspaper/bookshop, two coffee bars, a tax-free shop and a jewellery shop. And only separated by a thin wall and some netting above the wall is the arrivals hall.
We arrived around midnight in Tirana and found the ATM to collect Albanian Lek. You can’t buy or sell Lek outside Albania. On our way out the hall we were accosted by a guy who asked us if we needed a taxi to go to Tirana. At first we ignored him, but as he had already called a taxi driver who approached us with an official nametag telling us, that he worked for the official airport taxies we followed him outside to the taxi stand and assured ourselves, that we did indeed get onboard one of the official taxies. They have a fixed rate and you can read more about them on Tirana airports webpage. (Just Google Tirana airport and you will find them).
The next day was used for walking around in Tirana. We had been given some advice the day before on where to go and what to see. Tirana doesn’t boast of many cultural or other big things to see, but most of them you can manage in a day. We missed the Datji express – a cable car that will take you to the top of Mount Datji. Tirana is surrounded by mountains and it’s easy to reach Mount Datji or some of the other mountains and go for a walk there and be back in Tirana again the same day.
We did pass some of the mountains the following day, but that first day in Tirana we merely admired the view towards them. We started the day by visiting the local market almost in the centre of Tirana. It’s not a big market. Here you can buy fresh meet hanging outside the way you often see it in warm countries, fresh fish, vegetables, fruit, uncut tobacco (almost everyone smokes and no-smoking signs are disregarded), and a lot of other things.
Food is organic and very fresh – often plucked, slaughtered or caught the same day. And it tastes great. You get Mediterranean food here – food that reminds me of both Greek and Italian food intertwined with their own local dishes. And it’s cheap to.
After the local market we wandered up to Skanderbeg square – past some of the big government buildings and buildings that has been in the process of being build the last year without anything happening on the project. That seems to be true of many buildings. Some building projects are never completed others takes years to finish. On our drive around Albania the two next days we saw many unfinished homes. The Albanians will start building the ground floor one year, then wait another year until they have enough money to build the next floor – where they will eventually live keeping the ground floor a one open room to park your car or sit during the warm summers. Having built the top floor they may have to wait around another year again before finishing the building.
While waiting for the houses to be built some Albanians will hang teddy bears, dolls or scarecrows from the building to avoid “the evil eye”. Not all Albanians are this superstitious – many don’t even consider them selves religious. Official numbers will tell you that about 70 % of the Albanians are Muslims, and another 20-30 % are Christians. But many Albanians don’t believe in any religion. They’ve had so many years of socialist rule, where no one was allowed to practice their religion that many don’t really believe in anything anymore.
One the attractions of Skanderbeg square is a very old mosque that survived the socialist rule because it was deemed a cultural heritage. I’m sorry to say we didn’t go in. It looked rather run down seen from the outside and too much like a place where we wouldn’t be able to be left alone to explore the wonders of the place.
The nearby church – Heart of Christ church seemed somewhat more interesting but it was closed for renovations. Skanderbeg square is named after the national hero of Albania. And man who grew up as a hostage of the Ottoman Empire. He received his training with them and was named after Alexander the great. He excelled in his training as was given a lot of responsibility – the Berg being some kind of title. As a grown man he seized the opportunity to gather the different tribes of Albania and fight against the Ottoman Empire and thereby helping to keep the Ottomans out of Europe.
The square has a major statue of him and the day after we drove to Kruja about an hours drive from Tirana, Skanderbeg’s hometown, to see the museum for him there. The museum was build or at least had as architects the daughter and son of Enva Hoxa – the last of the socialist rulers and a much hated man.
The museum for Skanderbeg is a very bombastic building – probably a good example of socialist architecture. It does hold an interesting collection of memories about him, but it isn’t a fantastic museum. The nearby old bazaar is so full of tourist souvenirs and old junk in every shop that we left rather quickly. So it is not a place to my liking. But you will get a good view from the museum and a good idea of why the build the original castle here. There’s also a museum of ethnography that might be interesting to visit. We didn’t have time to do so, as we had to drive to Dhermi the same day.
Back to Skanderbeg square and our first day in Albania we decided to visit the national museum which you will find here. Every museum we visited cost us 200 Lek pr person to get in to. 140 lek is 1 euro – so that is not too bad. The national museum – a large building once you’re inside holds the history of Albania, as the Albanians would like to see it. They try to prove to you, that they have always been Albanians and are descendants of the Illyrian people. They claim that Illyrian was the name of Albania. Whether this is true or not, I don’t know but it’s an interesting thought. They tell the story of Albania starting from pre historic time and until today.
The national museum also holds collections of Albanian stamps, a small area dedicated to Mother Theresa (who had Albanian parents), a room dedicated to Enva Hoxa and the crimes he committed and the people who participated in the revolution to get rid of him. I found the museum very interesting and very good. They don’t have that many things to show – which is liberating because most museums can be a bit crowded that way. But what they do have to show is interesting and shown in a good way. There are only one or maybe two English translations in each room to tell you the story of the things you see – same thing apply for all of the other museums we saw, but I’m okay with that as that gives you more time to actually study the things on display. Coming out the museum after about 90 minutes we took time to examine the mosaic at the front of the building. It is a beautiful mosaic but also very socialist in appearance.
From here we walked past the Opera which is also located on Skanderbeg square, the mosque I told you about and down to a nearby park to have lunch. We found a nice restaurant, shared a salad and each had a second course that ended up costing us 2320 lek including beer, soft drink and bottled water. Not a bad price. From here we wandered over to the church I mentioned (Hearth of Christ) and then down one the shopping streets. One the strange things we saw walking this way were seeing the woman who literally out of a basement sold pizzas. Below one of the shops there was this big opening down to her basement from where she sold the pizzas.
We also wandered down a small street with people selling things out of their back rooms, stalls or just on the street. The street was tightly packed and you could probably make a bargain if you found something you liked. Leaving the small street we found a pancake place – a recommended eating when in Tirana.
We found our way back a long the river up to the park, where we had eaten and from there found the art museum. Also, a very interesting place. It’s filled with socialist paintings – and good ones to. Here we discovered that 2012 is the 100th year of Albania as an independent nation – it wasn’t until 1912 that Albania separated from the Ottoman Empire. We heard more about this as we drove through Vlore the following day. It was here in Vlore that Albanians from different regions gathered to discuss the separation. There’s a big statue of the people, who gathered there to do so and of the man who declared Albania an independent nation. But the Albanian driver who guided us on our tour around Albania told us, that even if they do celebrate their independence there is still something missing. The Albanians believe that parts of Kosovo and Macedonia should be part of Albania as the people living here are Albanians. He told us that he believe that these parts of Albania was given to the other countries by foreign governments to appease the countries around Albania.
From the art museum we walked past ”The Pyramid”, another of Enva Hoxas daughters buildings. It was a centre of culture once but now it’s just a derelict building with young people climbing the roof to get a good view and some peace. We opted for the view in the Skytower instead. At the top of the building there’s a restaurant and a bar. The floor of the bar rotates and gives you the opportunity to see a full 360 degrees view of the city and the surrounding landscape. A very peaceful and enjoyable experience. The coffee and drinks are somewhat more expensive than what you find elsewhere, but it’s worth it just to get the view. And remember – in Albania it’s not uncommon to sit around for hours with your empty cup of coffee in front of you, smoking and talking to others. At least that is true when it comes to the men – women stay at home or work. Unemployment rates are high and many Albanians leave Albania to work elsewhere and then send money home to their family. There are about 3.9 million Albanians and about 1 million Albanian living outside Albania.
Leaving the Skytower we walked up to the Grand Park. A beautiful place to walk, run, bicycle or just hang around. There is a beautiful lake there too and anywhere else living close to a park like that would very expensive – I’m not sure that is so in Tirana. Part of the park is military area and thereby forbidden territory another strange feature. Where else would you find that in a big area like that?
The following day we drove from Tirana via Kruja, Durrës (one of the former main capitals), Vlore down to Dhermi on the Ionian coast. Once you get to Durrës you will find a lot of hotels build right at the edge of the beach – just behind this is the two way highway going through the city. Legislation on where, how or how much to build seems almost none existing which tends to spoils some of the good areas like Durrës, Vlore and Dhermi and other places where the good beaches are. As a note I should tell you that Durrës and Vlore is facing the Adriatic Sea. Driving to and from Dhermi we passed through a mountain pass that separates the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea. That was quite an experience.
I should tell you that the roads in Albanian aren’t of a very high standard. Some place you’ll a long stretch of road that is fine, but many places there are big holes in the road or the road is simply a unpaved road. Our driver told us, that reason for this is that up till 1989/1990 when the Albanians freed them selves from the socialist rule no one owned a car. It was only allowed for government officials of high ranking to drive around in one. Everyone else had to use public transport or ride a bike. This meant that once everyone was allowed to own a car and started driving on the roads, the roads couldn’t take the pressure and was worn down. The government has tried to rectify this, but there is still a long way to go. The state of roads is also the reason why it takes so long to drive from one place to another. Something we learned to respect.
Official busses still runs between the cities as well as private busses – there are a lot of minivans driving around bringing paying passengers from one place to another. Trains on the other hand almost don’t exist – we saw people sitting on the railways and many places railway lines are overgrown with weeds.
Not having own their own cars until 1989/1990 mean a lot of the drivers aren’t experienced drivers. And even if rules exist to guide traffic it doesn’t seem like people care. Negotiating a roundabout is something of a challenge when everyone is trying to enter at the same time. Our driver assured us, that you could easily drive in Albania if you were a patient driver. I think it requires guts as well – you can’t be afraid of the other drivers or you’ll never even leave home. The mountain pass to Dhermi and the other cities along the Ionian coast is has a steep road to climb. But the view of the sea coming down towards Dhermi and the mountain view coming down to Vlorë is stunning. We had cloudy weather driving towards Dhermi and the driver stopped at a viewpoint far down the road and told us that on days with clear sky you could see as far as Italy.
Going back up through the mountains the next day we were surrounded by fog. Visibility was about 20 meters in front of the cars much of the time. Dhermi is small town that seems only to wake up during high season. We had the Grand Hotel Dhermi all to ourselves as well as the beach. In summer this place is packed with young people and the driver told us, that if you wanted more peace and quiet you went down further along the coast to some of the other towns there. The hotel took a long time to find – there were no signs up, as the season hadn’t begun yet, and the road leading to the hotel looked more like a private road than a road leading to all the big hotels in Dhermi.
We were given one the two suites (40 Euros a night). A big cold room – there were nowhere to turn on the heat, with a good size bathroom (designed not to have a shower curtain and with only cold water), a large terrace. The view was great and the bed was good. A three star room by many European standards. We saw some of the other rooms – the doors weren’t locked and they seemed okay too.
As the hotel had only opened for us to sleep in we went to a nearby hotel (Hotel Lucianno) to have dinner and breakfast. For dinner they came out with a platter filled with freshly caught fish and gave us the opportunity to pick what we wanted. It was probably the best meal of all that I had in Albania. Fresh octopus grilled, salad and french fries. Wonderful – and breakfast consisted of an omelette with bread, butter, honey and jam. We sat outside to dine in the evening, but the night was rainy and stormy so we went inside to eat in the morning. Despite the stormy weather it was warm outside as we walked to the hotel to have breakfast.
On our way back to Tirana we visited Berat – an old Turkish settlement. The city of a thousand eyes it’s called. It is built on the side of a mountain and with all windows facing the land around it. The old part of the city that serves as a living museum – people actually still lives here is at the top of a very steep road. How people get their cars op there every day I don’t know. We drove a four wheel drive and had trouble climbing the streets.
The place – or at least the museum we visited is a UNESCO heritage place. The streets are narrow and laid in white stone. The stones are smooth from years of people living here. There are many churches and mosques here and the museum we visited is an old cathedral – not that big, but very beautiful. The custodian will tell you about the church and the history of the altars and decorations. I learnt something about catholic churches I didn’t know before. Many people come here to get married and have their wedding picture taken. I can understand that. It’s a beautiful place and has a wonderful view.
Leaving Berat we took an unpaved road up to Elbasan. Elbasan was the centre of or at least held a very big industry for processing steel and I think other metals as well. The factory was big – huge actually. And it was destroyed when the socialist government was overturned. Thus leaving what must have been thousands without a job. The factory isn’t used today and perhaps it was a mistake to close it down. It could perhaps have helped some of the unemployment in Elbasan. Driving from Elbasan we went over mountains again along a road our driver told us was called “the neck”. Many places we had view of valleys on both sides of the road. Again a beautiful road with many interesting sites.
All of what I’ve told you here is Albania. But there is so much more to Albania than this. Most of it can’t be told in words or pictures but should be experienced first hand.