Lasting impressions of Albania

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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF ALBANIA

Ok - usually I don’t write these sorts of entries but as I was heading back to mainland Italy there were many things that ‘stuck’ in my head about Albania that I thought I would share. Some of them were perhaps scattered through as mentions in the main blog entry but this is a bit of a summary of sorts. Enjoy…

1. The sheer number of cafes. Particularly in small towns and by the roadside. It didn’t seem unusual for some towns to have a café/bar every two or three shops. While most of them would have a small number of customers, most of them would be almost deserted. There must be like one café to every two or three people in Albania - I am not sure how many of them stay in business.

2. Livestock. Cows were ‘tendered’ in fields with no fences. Chickens, ducks, and turkeys would all roam, often wandering onto roads - although the buses always seemed to slow down for them. Goats and sheep would often wander into the road. One of the consequences of no fences I guess. Although you do have to wonder how they keep track of how many goats they have…

3. Cats and dogs. They are everywhere. Wild dogs roam. In Saranda during ‘tourist season’ tourists often complain about the barking at night. When this happens - some locals will go out and kill them. Wild dogs are a massive problem, although they tend to be quite scared of humans and generally steer well clear.

4. Rubbish. I know I have mentioned this before. It is everywhere. There were street cleaners in Tirana and Saranda, and although rubbish is clearly collected, I do wonder if they have rubbish dumps/ tips; or whether the companies who collect it just dump it. It just seemed as I was on the buses that whenever the ground at the side of the road sloped slightly downhill, that there would be a massive pile of rubbish. A lot of it seemed to be plastic bags and plastic bottles.

5. Cars. But not of the working variety. I am more talking about the vast quantity of wrecks in what I could only describe as a wrecking yard. Some were attached to ‘servis’ places which I think were places you could take you car to get fixed. All of the cars in the wrecking yard were pretty much stripped bare - only really part of the body remained. Seemed like the place where someone should set up a metal recycling place. Some of these yards would only have a small handful of cars - others would have literally hundreds;

6. Construction - a lot of it. There were a lot of roadworks and a lot of construction going on. I noticed in Saranda that there seemed to be a massive number of new hotels/ apartment buildings being built. Yet the roads are in disrepair and there is rubbish everywhere. It was difficult to tell as I was there in off-peak season, but it seemed like there was already a plethora of hotels and apartments, I am not sure they need all of the ones that are being built.

7. Gravestones/ burial plots on the roadside. Sometimes these looked more like memorials - perhaps to road crash victims. But some were definite gravestones - and not really old ones either that had simply already been there before the roads were built.

8. Unfinished houses. This you do get in a lot of places. There are a couple of reasons that houses often only have one or two storeys built with a flat roof where additional storeys can be built. The reasons are usually that the oldest son, when he gets married, will then build his own house on top of the family home. The other reason is that people simply build what they can afford - which could also be why you sometimes only see a concrete frame with steps and nothing else. The other reason is the high taxes that are paid on finished homes. Apparently you don’t have to pay taxes on unfinished homes. And I guess because no one bothers with building permits…

9. Potholes. They are everywhere. On pavements and on roads. The pavement ones are particularly dangerous as you really have to pay attention to where you are walking or risk breaking an ankle. The day it rained non-stop in Tirana was particularly treacherous as not only were the roads flooded in parts (either because of a lack of drainage, the incredible amount of rain or the fact that the drains were probably blocked by rubbish!) but so were all of the potholes. Which meant that if you misjudged the size of a pothole - you ended up with wet shoes/ ankles/ legs. Not fun!!

There are probably heaps more that I could come up with - but these were some of my lasting impressions of the ex-communist country!!

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Comments

[Liz]

I will add one more to your list: the bunkers! And we definitely went out of our way to get a nice up close look. :o)

[jolieeeee]

haa, whatever.
i love how you have all negative things to say abut albania but nothing positive. Albania is a beautiful country; from the beaches to the dajti, the mountains, tirana (capital) and so much more. You obviously didn't look into the country as much because if you did you wouldn't post all of this negative shit. Of course it has flaws: what country doesn't? AlbaniaForLife

[Mandaz]

Response
Actually - these 'impressions' are the things I liked about Albania and why I would like to go back and see some more of the country. Regardless of whether they are positive or negative - they are the things that I thought made Albania unique from other countries!!