Red Corner: Tirana Slandered

by Neil Woodburn on

Every once in awhile I run across a travel article that completely gets it wrong.

Having recently spent a very enjoyable time in Albania, I was very disappointed to read A.A. Gill’s unfair rip on the country that was recently published in The Times (UK). Sure, the country has some shortcomings and challenges to overcome, but instead of accepting this and embracing the differences found there, Gill attacked with far too much glee and, perhaps even, xenophobia–hardly the attributes one normally finds in a travel writer.

For example, what responsible journalist would ever pen, “The Albanians are short and ferret-faced, with the unisex stumpy, slightly bowed legs of shetland ponies (sic).” Even if such a description were true, and it’s not, why the need to piss on those far less fortunate? Indeed, Gill gets many of his facts wrong (There aren’t “millions” of bunkers) and speculates about others: “Albanians, I’m told, have taken over the crime in Milan.”

Personally I found Albania a great country and disagree with almost every one of Gill’s outlandish and inaccurate slams. By the way, I sure hope A.A. Gill is a pseudonym because the “quarter” of Albanians who work abroad performing “mostly illegal” services (in places like London), won’t take kindly to such a write-up.

(Thanks to the well-fed folks at Our Man In Tirana for pointing out this article)

Balkan Odyssey Part 15: Albania Wrap-Up

by Neil Woodburn on

Balkan Odyssey will continue but before moving on to Montenegro, I though I’d just wrap up the Albania segment with a few thoughts.

First off, I highly recommend this country. A few years ago it was almost impossible to travel here as a result of the craziness and crime which resulted after 50 years of isolation came undone with the collapse of communism. Things have settled down tremendously since then. I felt safe the whole time I was in the country (although caution must always be exercised no matter where you go) and was treated wonderfully by those I met. Not a whole lot of people speak English, but it is still relatively easy to get by.

I opted for public transport instead of renting a car and was pleased with the ease of doing so. The only hassle was occasionally waiting for the minivans to fill up so that they could leave. Of course the worst thing about not having a car is the inability to stop and check things out that look interesting off the side of the road. I still regret not having had the chance to photograph my favorite sign, “Puke 15 Kilometers” because we drove by it too fast in a minivan.

Travel hindsight is always 20/20 and if I could do the trip again, the perfect trip would be as follows:

Fly into Corfu, Greece and take the ferry over to Albania. I missed most of the south and the treasures it contains, such as the picturesque Albania Riviera on the Ionian Sea, and numerous old ancient ruins. Part of the reason I didn’t go south was due to lots of unseasonable rain which would have certainly put a damper on the beach towns. In addition, to get to the south and back from Tirana is very time consuming; the ferry from Corfu drops you in the deep south so all that you need to do is head north with no backtracking whatsoever.

I would certainly hit Gjirokastra, which is also in the south. Everyone I met who visited this ancient town, the birthplace of Enver Hoxha and Ismail Kadare, loved it.

The next stop would be Berat, followed by Tirana.

From Tirana I would head directly to Shkodra to catch a four-wheel drive to Thethi. A few nights in this small mountain village would be followed by a hike over the mountains to Valbona. Then across the border to Prizren in Kosovo. After Prizren I’d head to Kukës. This is where I run into a problem. My last bit of travel would include the ferry across Lake Komani. I’m sure a couple of minivans would make the journey from Kukës, probably on some pretty rough dirt toads. Or, there might be a ferry/boat service running the length of Lake Fierza.

So, that’s Albania. I guarantee there are many great sections of this mostly undiscovered land that I failed to discover on my journeys. This is great news for adventurous travelers, however, as it will still be a long time before Albania makes it off the beaten path–although I have heard recent rumors about a Club Med possibly being built in the Albanian Riviera…

Yesterday’s Post: Bunker, Bunkers, Bunkers!
Tomorrow’s Post: Ulcinj, Montenegro

Balkan Odyssey Part 14: Bunkers, Bunkers, Bunkers!

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s impossible to speak about traveling through Albania without mentioning the bunkers.

The bunkers are the product of the demented, twisted mind of dictator Enver Hoxha who ruled the country from 1945 to 1981. During this time he broke off relations with the Soviet Union, China and every other socialist country on this planet, not to mention the sworn enemies of communism, the western world.

The xenophobic leader completely sealed off Albania from the outside world, a world the paranoid dictator was certain would invade one day; he just didn’t know if it would be the communists or the capitalists.

To counteract this “imminent” invasion, he ordered more than 700,000 bunkers built with the idea that if an invasion occurred, every resident who could carry a gun would run off to the nearest bunker and protect the fatherland. Keep in mind that Albanian had a population of less than three million at the time. That means one bunker for approximately every four people. That means a lot of bunkers.

It is impossible to travel through Albania without coming across these concrete pillboxes. They have proven too expensive to remove and as a result, are slowly–very slowly–succumbing to the elements. Perhaps in another five hundred years they will disappear altogether.

In the meantime, they remain strategically located on hillsides, beaches, roadways, rail lines, fields, mountains, and every horizon. Sometimes there is just a single one, other times ten or more can be seen.

Yesterday’s Post: Shkodra, Albania
Tomorrow’s Post: Albania Wrap-Up

Balkan Odyssey Part 13: Shkodra, Albania

by Neil Woodburn on

Sometime there are disappointing travel days and this was one of them.

My goal was to get from Prizren, Kosovo, to Shkodra, Albania. To do so, I woke early and went to the Prizren bus station where I was hoping to grab a minivan across the border to Kukës. It was told, however, that minivans did not run that route, just shared taxis. I’m not sure if this was true, but since I couldn’t find a minivan that was actually heading into Albania, I ended up grabbing a taxi (20 euros) with another traveler and headed west.

I transferred to a minivan in Kukës, Albania, a rather drab town on the shores of Lake Fierza-a reservoir created by the communists to power the Light of the Party Hydro-Electric plant. The communists sure loved their dopey industrial names.

The journey took almost four hours as we passed through numerous miles of sparsely populated mountains, some of which were simply covered in waist-high shrubbery while other sections were blanketed in amazing pine forests. About half way through the journey as we were approaching the town of Puka, I hit my highlight for the day. Apparently the town name is conjugated on road signs because we came across one which read, “Puke 15 Kilometers.” Shortly thereafter, and I kid you not, some ten year old kid in the minivan lived up to the town’s namesake and lost his lunch out the window of the minivan. For some strange reason, I was the only one who found this funny.

A few hours later, I was deposited on the side of the main highway to Tirana where I flagged down my last minivan for the day and headed northwest. By mid-afternoon I had reached my final destination.

Shkodra turned out to be my least favorite Albanian town. Although it is situated near Lake Shkodra, the picturesque expectations I had in my head were quickly erased by urban sprawl and decrepit buildings. The city has almost no charm or character and is cheapened by the malaise that affects so many border towns. Montenegro is still about 12 miles away, but Shkodra is usually the first stop for those crossing the border. Sadly, this is all that many tourists see of Albania. Visitors to Montenegro often make the quick jaunt over the border to check out Albania and my guess is that most come away rather disappointed. The above photograph looks across Lake Shkodra and into Montenegro. The city of Shkodra is just to the right of the shot.

A better feeling for the town can be seen just behind this studly statue of Isa Boletin, an Albanian nationalist who fought against the Turks in the early 20th century. Although the town has a few nice streets, most of it is lined with buildings such as these.

Certainly the nicest street in Shkodra is this one, just east of Hotel Colosseo. Dhjetori is lined with old Ottoman houses and art galleries. Sometime in the future it will have cafes and ice cream shops and become a great little walking street that will inject some character into this town. Anyone looking for somewhere to invest?

The town’s main tourist attraction is yet another castle on a hill. Rozafa Castle was built by the Illyrians and modified by subsequent conquerors. Today it is a series of walls, ramparts and a few ruined churches. Wild grass covers the interior and farmers bring their animals here to graze. It’s quite fun climbing amongst the stone ruins and checking out the great view. The only disappointment was the taxi ride there. After surviving my whole time in Albania without feeling like I got ripped off, the taxi driver charged me $6 for the three kilometer ride–hardly a surprise when you consider that Shkodra is the only town in Albania I visited that is accustomed to tourists. I know, I should have walked. I was short on time, however, and was worried that the castle would close before I could get there.

I traveled through a large swath of Albania before finally coming across such an outstanding example of socialist realism artwork left over from the communist era. Such statues and their sturdy, looking-to-the-future gaze were typical throughout the socialist camp. This particular one, The Five Heroes of Vig, commemorates five martyrs who died for the communist cause in 1944.

Personally, the whole visit to Shkodra was worth it for me when I came across this beast of a steamroller. It was abandoned on the side of the road, perhaps decades ago, but still evokes a sense of sturdiness and power. They just don’t make machines like this anymore.

As for accommodations, I treated myself to the nicest hotel in town, The Colosseo. I paid 60 euros a night for the best accommodations I had in all of Albania. It’s central location, however, means a bit of street noise and the dreaded morning call to prayer at 5 a.m.

So, that’s it. I’m aware I’m not giving the greatest endorsement to this town. I will admit, however, I only spent 24 hours here; some places take a lot longer to warm up to than others. This might be the case with Shkodra. Or, my first impression might have been dead on.

Yesterday’s Post: Kosovo!!!
Tomorrow’s Post: Bunkers, Bunkers, Bunkers

Balkan Odyssey Part 12: Kosovo!!!

by Neil Woodburn on

After spending a few days in the mountains of northern Albania, it came time to leave the village of Valbona.

The best way to do so is to hike up the valley and over a mountain pass to the village of Thethi. This 7-hour hike is supposed to be amazing and should be done with a guide, as it is not clearly marked. Such trips can be arranged through Alfred at the bar/cabin in Valbona, or with the fine folks at Outdoor Albania in advance.

Unfortunately for myself, it started raining and I wasn’t able to even attempt the trek. I didn’t want to backtrack through Lake Komani again, no matter how beautiful it was, so I had to improvise. This is where it pays to have a guidebook that covers a larger area than where you initially planned to travel. I learned from my Lonely Planet Western Balkans that the closest place of interest was easy to get to by car was just across the border in Kosovo.

Kosovo?!?!

The name alone implies the same war-heavy weight and connotations of horror that places like Vietnam still do. But, according to the guidebook and a brief discussion with some Valbona locals, Kosovo is safe these days–providing one doesn’t stray too far from marked paths where active land mines still lay.

So, I was up early in Valbona to catch the 6 a.m. minivan back to Bajram Curri. The otherwise pleasant drive was punctuated by a baby lamb, tied up and tossed in the back of the van that bleated in horror throughout the trip. This was a one-way journey for Little Bo Bleat; she was on her way to market in Bajram Curri.

In Bajram Curri I discovered that the next minivan to Gjakova, Kosovo wasn’t leaving for about five hours so I hired a cab for the two-hour journey ($30) and headed east. Kosovo is technically in Serbia but the border is manned by UN troops. This was my first ever UN border crossing and other than barbed wire and those white UN vehicles you always see in photographs of really bad places, it was otherwise quite peaceful.

The best news for my travel weary bones, however, was that the highway crossing through the border had recently been paved and was the smoothest ride I had in all of Albania. Not too far beyond the border, I was dropped off at the Gjakova bus station where I caught a bus for two euros for the hour long trip to my final destination: Prizren.

Prizren turned out to be a pleasant surprise and one of the highlights of my trip. It’s a wonderfully quaint town with cobblestone streets, ancient two-story homes, pedestrian walkways, mosques, and a sea of red-tiled homes.

Shadrvan Plaza in the center of town is a lively square packed with restaurants and cafes. This is the place to be. I was fortunate enough to arrive when the town was celebrating the 128 Anniversary of the Prizren League (“a nationalist movemement which sought autonomy from the Turks) so the square was more lively than normal. This is definitely a café town; residents spend hours enjoying coffee or cold beers in the outdoor cafes which surround Shadrvan Plaza.

About 90% of Prizren residents are ethnic Albanians and the Albanian flag can be seen everywhere–far more often than I saw it in Albania itself. The people, however, are of a very different mentality. Of course, it could have been the 128th anniversary celebrations, but in the evenings, a number of discos and pubs exploded with drinking and dancing. This was a far different breed of Albanians than their more conservative cousins I came across in Tirana. Indeed when I later told a taxi driver in Albania that I had visited Kosovo his eyes lit up. I thought he was going ask me why I had gone to such a dangerous place, but instead he merely wanted to know if I had gotten lucky.

As part of the celebrations, a number of ethnic dance troupes came out to do their thing. It was a wild foot-stomping good time.

The only real tourist attraction is the Fortress of Prizren located on the top of a mountain overlooking the city. Not much remains, but the steep walk to get there is rewarded with wonderful views.

Perhaps the greatest highlight for me came rather unexpectedly. Upon arriving I popped into the first restaurant I could find, Besimi/Beska in Shadrvan Plaza and ordered some chicken. I expected the same, tough chicken I had throughout Albania, but boy was I wrong. Prizren still retains a heavy Turkish influence from its days in the Ottoman Empire and thankfully, so does the food. The chicken was amazingly succulent and seasoned with phenomenal spices. It was the best meal I had my whole trip. I kept returning for most of my other meals as well. Everything was excellent, the beefsteaks, Greek salad, baklava, bread and more.

The low point of Prizren, however, was accommodations. The Lonely Planet failed to mention even a single suggestion and now I know why. Their brief description of the town, however, referred to Hotel Theranda as a reference point. So that is where I checked in. This was a big mistake and I ended up doing something I’ve NEVER done before: I left.

I shouldn’t have expected very much from a room that costs only 15 euros. Normally any roof over my head is good enough for me, but this was too much. The hallways were like something from The Shining; they looked to be slowly melting in on themselves. The room was worse. The first thing I noticed was the dozen or so flies swirling about in a circle above the bed as though something had recently died there. These weren’t airy little gnats, either, but bug ugly horseflies.

Shortly after seeing the flies, the smell hit me. Bad smells are never your friend. I can always close my eyes to the ugliest of hotel rooms, but there is no way to stop the stink.

I left my bags in the room and started looking for another hotel. There was one directly across the street, but when I checked out the rooms they were only marginally better for 30 euros. It wasn’t until a few hours later, while talking to some local who had stopped to ask where I was from, that I learned about a pension in town. Bujtine Pension (rr M. Ugarevic – E Bujtinave 14, Tel. 381/0/29 631-628; 45-342) is located near Shadrvan Plaza. It was clean, had a nice bathroom with hot water, and was pretty much everything you could want for a place for the night. And, it was only 20 euros.

It was strange to think of ethnic cleansing while sitting in a café watching the crowds of people wandering past. And yet, every one of these people in this photograph was marked for extermination by the Serbs who wanted to wipe the ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. This wasn’t some World War II horror, but one that happened just a few years ago in 1998/99. It was difficult to imagine, everyone was in such a happy mood with the city celebrations going on, but the horrors are still very fresh.

Here’s the conflict in a nutshell. Muslim dominated Kosovo had been granted autonomy while part of Yugoslavia. This autonomy, however, was revoked in 1990 during a period of strikes against Serbian domination. To make matters worse, the Serbs banned the Albanian language in much of the mass media–the first sign of an empire swallowing up an indigenous culture. The Kosovo Liberation Army formed in 1996 and fought a guerilla style war with the Serbs. In early 1999 Slobodan Miloševic amped up the Serbian campaign and drove 850,000 Albanians into exile across the borders into Albania and Macedonia. NATO responded with a bombing campaign which eventually led to Serbian forces withdrawing from Kosovo. The exiled Albanian returned en masse and extracted what revenge they could from the few remaining Serbs. This included torching Serb homes on the mountainside (above photo) and destroying orthodox churches.

Christ the Savior Church, half way up the mountain towering over Prizren, was one of the churches damaged, but not completely destroyed. Today, it is manned 24/7 by an International Peacekeeping Force. You can see their bunker in the photo above.

Of course, history is always more complicated than the simple nutshell explanation I’ve provided above, so I apologize for such a brief summary. Those of you interested in learning more about the Kosovo conflict can click here.

Yesterday’s Post: Valbona
Tomorrow’s Post: Shkodra, Albania