Posts Tagged ‘albania’
Albania Tourism: Uncovering the World’s (Once) Most Isolated Country
He was scruffy, his beard matted and his shoelaces undone. He was drunk or stoned, or both. “Foreigners bad! Foreigners go home!” Evening life had started spilling onto the sidewalks of Blokku, the tony quarter in which Tirana’s elite once lived. Today it is home to chic cafés, delicious restaurants and well-stocked shops. As he spotted us – two…
Read MoreThere Was a Time in Communist Albania
Albania used to be the most communist of communist countries – but you’d never know it today. Evidence of the world’s strictest Marxist-Leninist regime has all but disappeared. What’s left are bunkers, thousands of ugly, concrete domes of which more than 700,000 were built to keep out ‘the enemy.’
Read MoreThe Forgotten Churches of Voskopoje
The Albanian village of Voskopoje harbors hidden treasure: remnants of extraordinary ecclesiastic art, murals and frescoes which unexpectedly survive in a handful of ancient mountain churches. It is a miracle they’re still standing, having been battered by just about everything: war, erosion, abandon, graffiti. Many of the walls are gone, the ceilings crumbling, paint flaking…
Read MoreRiding the Blue Rustbucket on Lake Komani, Albania
When a guidebook calls it “one of the world’s classic boat journeys” there must be a reason. Here it is. You’d think such an extraordinary destination, a gateway to the Albanian Alps, would be easy to find, with hundreds of travelers making a beeline for the lakeshore. Not quite. But that’s part of the adventure.…
Read MoreThe Many Faces of Albanian Women
Albania was stuck in a time warp for 45 years under the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha and only emerged a couple of decades ago. Today it is rushing to catch up with the rest of the world and while some women are easily making the transition to modern times, others continue to live much like…
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