Tirana, Albania

8/04/09 (Posts were posted several days after being written...)

After two very bumpy Malev-Hungarian airlines rides (and a frantic run through the Budapest airport to catch the connection) I've made it to Tirana, Albania! I had no idea how beautifully the capital city is situated against a backdrop of mountains - the view on the ground at the airport was wonderful.

I took the bus (much to the chagrin of the uber persistent taxi drivers) to town and was let off right in the middle of the city center. I had read in my guidebook that Albanian drivers are crazy (and inexperienced...almost all drivers have less than ten or fifteen years of driving since cars were not widely available under Communism) but I was not prepared for the harrowing experiences trying to cross the road with my luggage. I quickly learned to shadow an Albanian and just do what he/she did.

The city is an interesting sight. Most of the buildings are the typical cement-block style of Communism. After the country became a republic in the early 90's the new leader decided to spice things up a bit by having many of the buildings painted in bright colors and fun designs. There are neon orange and yellow striped ones, and some with concentric squares. My kind of city! My orange bedroom would fit right in.

Walking around Tirana unexpectedly brought back many memories of Cuba. The strange mixture of Communism, bright colors, street vendors, and horrible drivers was only missing the 1950s American cars for me to feel as if I was back in Havana. And the catcalling men...thank god they were missing as well.

I left my stuff at the hostel and took in the sights. The University of Tirana had a large statute of Mother Theresa in front of its main building...I searched for it only to find that its courtyard is now used by skateboarding Albanian middle-schoolers. I got a picture of the statute as the kids stared.

I ate dinner at a nice restaurant in Tirana's trendy district. All the restaurants and bars have seats outside on the sidewalk and street, and the street is closed to cars. (I learned quickly, though, that that didn't mean cars did not drive down it anyway.) I had a dish of fried eggplant with Albanian white cheese on top. Not as good as Cameron's fried eggplant (they didn't know to cut the skin off for me) but it was still delicious.

Off to Ohrid, Macedonia tomorrow!