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| albania |
| saranda, gjirokastra, tirana |
| What a surprise this city was? I came on a three hour ferry from the Greek island of Corfu. I was expecting the scars of war and poverty, but instead found a gorgeous coastal town with palm tree lined beach promenades, fancy cafes and plazas filled with young and old alike chatting and walking hand-in-hand or sitting on park benches watching the sunset. |
| Saranda |
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| I did find some destruction though. I guess corruption and poor building practices led to the collapse of this construction site. There were several 'buildings' like this scattered around the city. |
| I took a bus early the next day. The road wound through forested mountains and along crystal clear rivers, precariously close to the edge of steep cliffs the majority of the way. Our driver found it necessary to drive at the vehicle's top speed the entire way and pass on blind curves. It was a white-knuckled journey through some of the most beautiful countryside I had ever seen. Gjirokastra was a beautiful old medieval town on a hillside. The mist was coming in through the valley when I arrived and the view from my bed and breakfast window, high at the top, was incredible. |
| Gjirokastra |
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| The view of Gjirokastra from my window. Atop the hill, on the left, are the decaying remains of Klubi Kala Argjiro Castle. |
| (Above and below) While wandering through the fortress I discovered this US Air Force Jet, from some long forgotten mission, stripped and deteriorating on the castle ramparts. |
| A medieval-style doorway and knocker in the Old Town. |
| One of the many sloping, cobbled streets of the Old Town. |
| An old rusting clock face from the castle's clock tower, now lying in a pile of garbage just below where it once ticked away. In fact, the majority of the rooms in the castle were overflowing with garbage, piled to the ceiling. Maybe it's the town garbage dump now? |
| Another view of the Old Town and the slate tiled rooves common in Gjirokastra from up on the hill. |
| For much of the 1980's Tirana was the closed capital of a closed Communist country. The city was virtually unknown to the outside world, even throughout the 1990's. In early 2002, tourism and other outside funding started the economy booming again and now buildings are sprouting up like mushrooms, the night life is crazy, cafes, museums and parks are everywhere. The bare wide streets, once the hallmarks of communism, are now tree-lined boulevards, giant concrete buildings have now been painted bright oranges, yellows and reds. |
| Tirana |
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| The National Museum of History, complete with giant Communist mural. |
| The Central Plaza, with the Ethem Bey Mosque on the left and a large permanent ferris wheel in the middle of the square. |
| The former headquarters of the much-feared Sigurimi, Albania's dreaded secret police. |
| Skenderberg Square. Skenderberg is an Albanian national hero for leading resistance to the advance of the Ottoman empire in the 15th century. |
| This is the Albanian guy that was in my dorm room at the hotel. He followed me around all day and bought me beer, cigarettes and gum. I never found out his name, as he didn't speak a word of English. He showed me some photos of himself that he kept in his wallet and I was able to discern that he's a Commando in the Albanian National Army. |
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