Advertisement
Published: September 27th 2022
Edit Blog Post
Monday morning and the whole Explore group assembled, the late-comer having arrived at around 3am.
Kicked the trip off with a couple of hours Walking Tour of the city centre. Very useful as we had thought to find the Tirana Free Walking Tour possibly on our return next week, but now no need to do so.
Starting in Skanderbeg Square this is dedicated to and dominated by a statue of Albania's 15th C national hero. More on him after Tuesday's visit to the National History Museum.
Our guide, Alfred, was very forthcoming about what he saw as the "limitations" and the "problems" associated with the explosion in development in the city centre. This included:-
- That the Skanderbeg Square was previously a pleasant green open space before the mayor had it made-over at a cost of ~$20m, even though it appears that the works probably / should have cost substantially less than that.
- The new marble surface, such admired by Pip, was a slip-slidey disaster in the wet, and a heat bath in the sun.
- 11 or more tower blocks are being built or planned around the square, with some dubious funding sources
implied for some of them
- One of the new tower blocks had been nearly completed over the last 12 months or so (private investment) whilst the National History Museum had been "under renovation" for 4 years or more.
The following 2 hours took us around a 4 mile circuit of noticeable landmarks in the city:-
The main Orthodox Cathedral
The Catholic Cathedral with both statues and stained glass dedicated to Mother Teresa
Enver Hoxha's house in the most gentrified part of the city, which even now has the highest house/apartment prices. Oh the irony of having the country's first Kentucky Fried Chicken being placed opposite the former communist dictator's front door.
The Pyramid - something of a vanity project, this was designed by Hoxha's daughter. It is said that it was planned as a mausoleum for Hoxha but that aspect never happened. (Incidentally, Hoxha was originally buried in a "heroes" graveyard but was later re-interred in some nondescript graveyard "somewhere in the countryside"). The Pyramid is currently closed and is being totally gutted and renovated into a more communal space, but - according to Alfred - with little regard to its original historic origin
and design. And well over time and budget.
Past the being-constructed Mosque, the largest by far in the Balkans. Slap bang next to, and overpowering in size Albania's State Parliament, this building is being funded by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. This "overpowering" of the "church" over the "government" is not finding favour.
Various other government buildings, including the Ministry of Defence. After the fall of communism it was discovered that there was a secret underground nuclear bunker beneath the ministry. That is now another Albanian history museum, Bunk'Art 2, which we will visit on our return to Tirana during our extra days.
Past 2 or 3 pill-box bunkers, and a segment of the Berlin Wall.
We got our first rain of the trip, but not enough to spoil the walk, though it intensified later that morning so we subcombed to buying a 2nd (cheap) umbrella.
A free-time lunch break gave us the chance to visit the market. Local produce, a few crafts. Unusually for any market we've been to before, but not surprising us for Albania, there were several stalls dedicated to smoking. That is they sold cigarettes, pipes, large quantities of roll-your-own filters, cases
etc and had piles of loose tobacco. Not something we can recall ever seeing elsewhere.
(PS - don't think we have mentioned it but Albania is clearly a country of heavy smokers, with no limitations in bars, restaurants, cafes...)
There was also a stall selling 2nd hand (they looked well worn) watches, some of which (based on Antiques Roadshow valuations) could be worth a small fortune - Rolex Submariner anyone??
First time onto the group bus in the afternoon for our first 3 "stops".
First was to the Bektashi World Centre. This Islamic order, supposedly blended somewhere between the Shia and the Suni styles, we were totally unaware of.
Apparently started in the 13th C in Ottoman domains, President Ataturk of Turkey caused them to be shut down in Turkey in the 1920s, so they relocated their headquarters to Tirana.
As Muslims they follow the Quran, but with several noticeable differences to our general understanding of that religion. Eg
Their decoration in, for example, buildings and writings, do allow for people to be depicted, including the Prophet Mohammed.
Prayer is only twice a day (not 5) and not at set times. And also, therefore
Mosques do not have minarets, and there is no call-to-prayer. The ritual pre and post-prayer washing is carried out
No dress codes for women ie no veil rules etc, and men and women are not segregated at prayer.
Alcohol allowed to be drunk
Ramadan only lasts 10 days.
Senior adherents would pilgrimage to Mecca, but it's not regarded as an absolute need for the average worshipper.
One wag described it as "Muslim-lite".
It's a very all-embracing religion, with a tenet of harmony with other religions. This was an opportunity for Alfred to emphasise that whilst Albania is still (since Hoxha's time) constitutionally a non-religious, nay atheist, country, the five main religions in the country - Muslim, Bektashi, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant - live very peacefully with each other "as an example to the world".
The museum beneath the mosque was quite new, well laid out, modern except.... all captions in Albanian only. So we required the services of Alfred to give us translation and further info.
The mosque was beautifully decorated, but felt less reverant than the usual "Muslim" mosque eg we weren't required to remove footwear before we could enter.
On the way to our
next stop a coach fuel refill gave us a chance to ask about fuel prices. As we suspected these are fixed centrally, currently every few days. It is something of an issue in the country. As Alfred explained, whilst the prices are not dissimilar to the UK, eg at current exchange rates diesel here is around £1.70 per litre, the average wage in Albania is substantially less than the UK - about $300 per month /$3600 pa compared to the UK's £25k+ (?).
What makes this all really galling is that Albania could be self sufficient in oil, but they have no refinery - the last communist one was razed to the ground. So all of Albania's oil is exported and more expensive refined fuel is imported. And surrounding Balkans countries, who have no crude oil, have substantially lower - ~25% - fuel prices.
On next to a hill top village, and to a local volunteer project which is being supported by Explore. This is quite usual for Explore, for them to be involved in some local "charitable" good-deed and then incorporate a visit there for tour groups.
The Pellumbus Guesthouse and the Duqi family have transformed
The Pyramid
Is being "renovated" on there somewhere a ruined farmhouse into a wholesome 'retreat' - basic living, self grown food (essentially vegan, though there was village butter and cheese in what they served to us), sweat lodge, wood burners, building some mud houses in the grounds...
All this is done by volunteers who "work" here for three weeks or more.
The "business" is effectively bringing tourism and hence work and income into the area. There is a cave nearby which they have developed a path to. They encourage locals to produce goods - jams, preserves, alcohol etc - and are even contemplating "branding" the village's produce
We were served bread, tomatoes, figs, grapes, plums, pomegranate, jams, cheese, grape juice, but none of the vat of early fermenting wine which was bubbling in a 40 gallon drum in the corner.
I guess you would call it very "alternative", but certainly not off-grid as our host's ringing phone and blinking lap-top attested to.
Final stop for Monday was a steep climb, first by bus then by foot, to the Petrela Fortress, one of the oldest extant structures in Albania.
Thought to date from 3rd or 4th C, but re-built in the Byzantine period
during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527 - 565). The fortress controlled the local "crossroads" of both military & economic importance, the Via Egnatia, but became extra important in the XI century during the battles between the Normans and Byzantines (crusades?)
In the XV century, Petrela was the first castle liberated by Albania's national hero, Skanderbeg (yes, him of the square in Tirana) from Ottoman occupation.
The views from up there are supposed to be very good. And there is also a sight line to what will be our final stop of the tour, somewhat north of Tirana, that was used for signal-fire communication. Alfred also likes to visit there late afternoon for a lovely sunset.
Not on this Monday though. The afternoon was dampened somewhat though by the constant interruption of heavy rain showers, and by all accounts this has set in for the coming days.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.046s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.023s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb