Faleminderit Tirana!!

I'm back!!

There will be two successive posts, one for each part of my holiday. It will probably be long and rambly, feel free to just look at the pretty pictures...

I flew to Tirana on Malev and I almost didn't make it because the first BA flight was delayed by 45 minutes, so I had the most heart stopping half-hour in Budapest airport, running around (not speaking the language) picking up my bags, going through to customs, picking up my Malev ticket and checking in for the flight to Tirana. But thankfully, it went OK. When the plane landed in Tirana, some people in the plane clapped. It amused me. Elona had arranged for a taxi to meet me at the airport but the driver spoke no English and I spoke no Albanian so that was a surreal half hour getting to Tirana town center, the airport is quite far from town. I got to the flats and met Elona (YAY!!) and Alvi with his whole family. This is a truly Albanian immersion experience.


View from the National Museum into Skenderberg Square.


This amused me, a brand new finished building needed a new road up to it, so to get into this new building you walk precariously across these wooden planks!

Slept a lot for the first two days so not much to say about that, then started walking around the town center. It's a chaotic city, there are no road signs along the streets but people seem to know where to go. The whole place is like a giant construction site but it would be great in a couple of years time when things have settled. I drank a lot of coffee, the city is the same pretty much to a lot of continental European cities, people sitting down chatting and drinking coffees. I like.




The mayor, Edi Rama, decided that a city of old Communist/Soviet style blocks was boring so he decided to have them painted in a multitide of colours! It's like being in a psychedelic dream. Fun!



In Albania, if someone close to a woman dies, she mourns in black, so all around the city, there are plenty of old/older women (who would be more likely to have lost someone) mourning. The length of time you wear black depends on your relationship with the person you have lost. It's a nice thought but as I was told you are reminded of death everywhere you look. Is that a good thing?


There's a big artificial lake in the city and went there for a walk one day with Elona. The park is full of statue/sculpture type things.

Some children playing

The Fasheri brothers were Albanians who were important in the Ottoman Empire and helped further their causes. One was a poet/writer, another was a governer and the other did something equally important!

In Albanian folklore, the stories go that a tired soldier will go to a town well and be met by a woman who will give him water, to quench his thirst and maybe fall in love. The village well is all important for social events so I assume that's part of the stories.


Met a lot of Elona's and Alvi's friends, it was fun. Visited one their friends who got married when Elona was in England.

Next day went to the National Museum, it was really quite fun. Lots of picture displays and good timelines. Learnt about Skenderberg, the Albanian National hero, the one who kicked out the Turks and helped unite the country.

"A typical Illyrian woman"

Good old Skenderberg


Et'hem Bey mosque in Skenderberg Square, the oldest mosque in Albania.

Went to Kruja (Kru-ya) the next day, which is a little further out from Tirana. One of their friends drove us (and it's scary how they drive in Albania)! And also, oddly enough it was hailing/raining when we were up there that day. Hail isn't odd, but it's odd when it's 27C and drops of ice are falling from the sky...


Kruja, it was raining as we were driving up there.

The bazaar just before the castle.

The remains of the castle.

Restoration works of the castle....

Went for a walk around older bits of Tirana and everything is just mixed in, it's just part of life.

The oldest bridge in Tirana.

I found a road sign!! They do name their roads after all...

The old walls of the city serving a new purpose.


Fresh fruit and vegetables are available everywhere! Smallholders drive into the city and sell what they have, on the side of the streets, along the sidewalks, anywhere they can set up shop. Except in the middle of the streets, but only because they are too scared of the drivers...

I learnt in Tirana that crossing roads is an art, one which you must practise on a daily basis and driving etiquette is for wimps.

An example in action.














A 3-wheeled truck, first time I saw one and it was in Tirana.














These little scooters are common in Tirana, they are pretty basic but they work and it amused me.
I am easily amused.








The next day, we went up Dajti (Dye-ti) which is the mountain around Tirana and took the cable car.

Me in cable car













Elona and Alvi in cable car














View from cable car











A bunker in a field. The former dictator Enxor Hoxha put up 700,000 around Albania to protect the people against invasion by outsider.
They have never been used.
Again, as I have never seen one, it amused me.









Sunset from the mountain. AH....













Walking around one the makeshift markets, Elona bought me some fruit (I can't remember what it's called, but it was good) and the seller measured it out using a pair of manual scales.










Standing around, waiting for the next one to buy something.












Thanks to the generosity of the Albanians, I managed to gate-crash an Albanian wedding on the penultimate day of my trip. It was nice to get a peek into the culture, especially something as important as the wedding. The bride and groom dance around while the well wishers throw money at them. This is part of the wedding ceremony, there's lots of eating and dancing.






In a more traditional setting, there would be an orchestra playing and all the money thrown on the floor during the dancing is payment for them but this couple was more modern so they hired a DJ to spin some tunes. But there was still a lot of dancing!

Elona and Alvi in action.







On my last day, went out for coffee near Taiwan (strange,but true) which is recognisable being one of the newer buildings and having a fountain which is lit up and 'dances' to music. You know what I'm talking about.








I can't express how kind Elona, Alvi and his family were to me while I was there. They made sure I was taken care of the whole time and fed me so much. I am sorry I didn't take any pictures of the meals but Violeta made sure I ate a lot!

And on a final note, Faleminderit is thank you in Albanian.

Thanks Elona!