Tirana
This was going to be a long travel day even though Ohrid and Tirana are less than 100 miles apart. I first took a local bus from Ohrid to Struga to catch a bus to Tirana. The bus station in Struga is outside the city, so me & 3 other people got dropped off to walk 10 minutes to the bus station. We were all going to take the same bus. When we were in the parking lot of the bus station, this guy asked where we were going & offered to drive us to Tirana for 50 euros which was only 2 euros each more than the bus ticket. We also arrived there 3.5 hours earlier compared to the bus since we took a shorter and more direct route.
The other 3 people were all in their 20s, one guy from Germany, one guy from Russia, and a girl from Hong Kong. The first border stop leaving Macedonia was quick, but the one to Albania was slower since there was question about the guy from Russia and whether he needed a visa. After a little bit of a wait, we finally were able to enter Albania. The roads were windy through the mountains, but in decent shape. We eventually made it to Tirana & we were dropped off near the city center square. It was funny that the girl from Hong Kong made a comment about how much stuff I had. Yeah, traveling for 9 weeks in weather ranging from snow to hot & humid conditions means you need a bunch of clothes plus all my camera gear.
After taking a break in a nearby mall, I made the mile walk which fortunately was mostly shaded to my hotel which was easy to find. The very nice lady at the reception desk knew who I was when I came in the lobby since I had emailed her the night before & was probably the only American there. I arrived at 12:30 & instead telling me to come back in 3 hours to check in, she had my room ready in 15 minutes. A few things I noticed in Albania were the friendly people, that they really like the USA (there was a USA flag next to an Albanian flag at the hotel), and about 25% of the cars were Mercedes.
My hotel for 2 nights
The area I stayed in is called "the Block", which during communist times was where the communist elite lived & it was walled off from the rest of town. It has really wide sidewalks with large trees along all the main streets. There are many nice hotels, restaurants, and bars in this area. Also the former mayor of Tirana had an idea of painting many of the old grey communist apartment buildings with bright colors to liven up the city. Here is an article about it and some of my photos of these places.
http://blog.ted.com/9-views-of-tirana-albania-with-its-bright-multicolored-building/
After World War 2, Albania had a communist government ruled by a crazy and paranoid dictator named Enver Hoxha. During the 1950s they were affiliated with Russia, but after Stalin's deaths and a falling out with Russia they became friendly with China. The Albanian people were very repressed and isolated during this time. There were very few Albanians able travel outside the country and those they tried to escape were shot & killed. They also built about 700,000 bunkers (one for every 4 people) which you still see all through the country. They had a really good museum that I visited called Bunkart2 which is an old bunker complex that chronicled that time in Albanian history.
I did a walking tour on my second in Tirana, which was pretty good. When we reached George Bush Street on our tour, we were joined by stray dog nicknamed George Bush who follows the tour every day at that point. The dog doesn't like old men or people on bikes, so he charges at them barking. One old guy tried to kick him & fell on his rear end. When the dog was around the tour group it was very quiet & got lots of attention. George Bush visited Albania in 2007 and was treated like a rock star. They even have a statue of him in a small town that he visited on his trip.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/world/europe/11prexy.html
One of the stops on the tour was the Tirana pyramid which was designed by the dictator's daughter and is in bad shape now. After the tour, I went to a place near the main square which is under construction to get a photo of the famous communist propaganda mural. A worker saw that I wanted to take a photo & nicely opened up the gate for me to come in.
In the afternoon, I took a bus to the outskirts of town for a cable car ride to the mountains overlooking the city. Unfortunately it started to drizzle, so I couldn't get any decent photos from there. But it was a cool ride up there and only $7 for the roundtrip plus I had a good inexpensive lunch there too.
Both nights in Tirana during the sunset, I went a rooftop bar at the sky hotel which had drinks for a few dollars with great views. The bar on the top rotated around every 30 minutes. The 2nd night that I was there some young girls were having a birthday party & one of the parents had a dumb idea to give them sparklers. They were holding them for several minutes & soon the whole place was filled with smoke. Then another couple started arguing with one of the parents about the smoke & angrily left the bar. I left soon after since I had finished taking photos by then.
I found a nice park to run in the next morning which was not far from the hotel before I was ready to leave town for my next stop in Albania, which is Berat. The small hotel that stayed was really great for only $30 a night and the receptionist at the hotel was so friendly & was very helpful with information about the city. Overall, I really liked Tirana and so far I am enjoying Albania. Here are a few more photos from Tirana.
The favorite sign that I have seen on my trip.
The other 3 people were all in their 20s, one guy from Germany, one guy from Russia, and a girl from Hong Kong. The first border stop leaving Macedonia was quick, but the one to Albania was slower since there was question about the guy from Russia and whether he needed a visa. After a little bit of a wait, we finally were able to enter Albania. The roads were windy through the mountains, but in decent shape. We eventually made it to Tirana & we were dropped off near the city center square. It was funny that the girl from Hong Kong made a comment about how much stuff I had. Yeah, traveling for 9 weeks in weather ranging from snow to hot & humid conditions means you need a bunch of clothes plus all my camera gear.
After taking a break in a nearby mall, I made the mile walk which fortunately was mostly shaded to my hotel which was easy to find. The very nice lady at the reception desk knew who I was when I came in the lobby since I had emailed her the night before & was probably the only American there. I arrived at 12:30 & instead telling me to come back in 3 hours to check in, she had my room ready in 15 minutes. A few things I noticed in Albania were the friendly people, that they really like the USA (there was a USA flag next to an Albanian flag at the hotel), and about 25% of the cars were Mercedes.
The area I stayed in is called "the Block", which during communist times was where the communist elite lived & it was walled off from the rest of town. It has really wide sidewalks with large trees along all the main streets. There are many nice hotels, restaurants, and bars in this area. Also the former mayor of Tirana had an idea of painting many of the old grey communist apartment buildings with bright colors to liven up the city. Here is an article about it and some of my photos of these places.
http://blog.ted.com/9-views-of-tirana-albania-with-its-bright-multicolored-building/
After World War 2, Albania had a communist government ruled by a crazy and paranoid dictator named Enver Hoxha. During the 1950s they were affiliated with Russia, but after Stalin's deaths and a falling out with Russia they became friendly with China. The Albanian people were very repressed and isolated during this time. There were very few Albanians able travel outside the country and those they tried to escape were shot & killed. They also built about 700,000 bunkers (one for every 4 people) which you still see all through the country. They had a really good museum that I visited called Bunkart2 which is an old bunker complex that chronicled that time in Albanian history.
I did a walking tour on my second in Tirana, which was pretty good. When we reached George Bush Street on our tour, we were joined by stray dog nicknamed George Bush who follows the tour every day at that point. The dog doesn't like old men or people on bikes, so he charges at them barking. One old guy tried to kick him & fell on his rear end. When the dog was around the tour group it was very quiet & got lots of attention. George Bush visited Albania in 2007 and was treated like a rock star. They even have a statue of him in a small town that he visited on his trip.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/world/europe/11prexy.html
One of the stops on the tour was the Tirana pyramid which was designed by the dictator's daughter and is in bad shape now. After the tour, I went to a place near the main square which is under construction to get a photo of the famous communist propaganda mural. A worker saw that I wanted to take a photo & nicely opened up the gate for me to come in.
In the afternoon, I took a bus to the outskirts of town for a cable car ride to the mountains overlooking the city. Unfortunately it started to drizzle, so I couldn't get any decent photos from there. But it was a cool ride up there and only $7 for the roundtrip plus I had a good inexpensive lunch there too.
Both nights in Tirana during the sunset, I went a rooftop bar at the sky hotel which had drinks for a few dollars with great views. The bar on the top rotated around every 30 minutes. The 2nd night that I was there some young girls were having a birthday party & one of the parents had a dumb idea to give them sparklers. They were holding them for several minutes & soon the whole place was filled with smoke. Then another couple started arguing with one of the parents about the smoke & angrily left the bar. I left soon after since I had finished taking photos by then.
I found a nice park to run in the next morning which was not far from the hotel before I was ready to leave town for my next stop in Albania, which is Berat. The small hotel that stayed was really great for only $30 a night and the receptionist at the hotel was so friendly & was very helpful with information about the city. Overall, I really liked Tirana and so far I am enjoying Albania. Here are a few more photos from Tirana.
Good photo of the "no peeing sign"!
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