Hello again! Shortly after Georgia, we planned our next trip too in 2021, to Albania. Covid restrictions were starting to cool off a bit, and we had both received 2 doses of vaccination. Eid holidays were coming up, and also the 30th birthday of my HumSafar, so couldnāt have planned for a better way to celebrate! After the usual ordeal of research and negotiations, we got an amazing deal which gave us flights, transfers, tours all included, and a couple of leisure days too for us to figure.
Day 1– After a fairly comfortable flight of ~6 hours, we arrived at Tirana around 2 PM to find our driver outside. While we had taken a fixed departure package for this trip, what we especially loved was that we had private transportation arranged for us for all tours (no SIC).
Similar to Georgia, we were greeted with rain even here! Even though we were technically seeing rainfall just after 3 months, we just couldnāt stop smiling.
Good vibes only!š§æ
Our driver got us a local sim and helped convert some currency before dropping us off at our hotel. The hotel was decent, but the room, a spacious suite of sorts, with a balcony overlooking the garden and pond was more than what we had in mind while booking. The location was very convenient too with a grocery store, multiple shopping complexes and many restaurant options at walking distance. Perfect, considering we had the rest of the day at leisure.
After a short rest, we headed out to explore Tirana. Took a walk down to city center, and explored Skanderbeg square while admiring all the beautiful artwork on the buildings around us. The square is named after a medieval Albanian ruler, who fought against the Ottoman empire and has a beautiful statue commemorating him. We made our way to the Tirana castle, which hosts a variety of restaurants and cafes inside its fortified walls to satisfy our hunger after the long journey. The street just outside the castle was very beautiful, adorned with cafes and wall murals. We even came across a street artist playing a small guitar of a different kind, which was fascinating. Roamed around for a while then made our way back to our hotel to call it a day.
The land of Mother Teresaš
Day 2– After a good nightās sleep and a filling breakfast (the muffins and fruit juices were to die for!), we headed out for todayās activities. First up, we were taken to the Saint Paul Cathedral, very close to the city center and open to non-catholics. It had a modern appearance, we were especially attracted by the statue of Mother Teresa outside. Once we saw a glass painting of her inside too, our guide told us the church pays tribute to the local legend Mother Teresa (I didnāt know she was of Albanian descent). We paid our respects and continued our walking tour around the city. Unfortunately, the driver wasnāt very fluent in English, so while we did walk around the town center, clock tower, parliament and so on, we couldnāt really comprehend the significance and history of these buildings.
From there, we made our way to Bunkāart 2, which is an ex-antinuclear secret tunnel, part of hundreds of bunkers built over the country and converted to a museum as a tourist attraction (along with Bunkāart 1). This had sufficient space to accommodate the whole ministry if need be for multiple days. Spread over 1000 sq ft underground, it had over 20 rooms built in it, including elaborate set up bedrooms, meeting rooms, holding cells etc. While you go about exploring the rooms, there is also information/simulations on the torture methods that were used by the dictators there during the unrest. While it was all very informative, at some point it became a bit depressing reading all those horrific stories and imagining the plight of the people subjected to all this.
The next stop from here was the complete opposite- While the bunker was cramped, dark and kind of suffocating (we were inside a reinforced steel fortified underground bunker after all), the Grand Park of Tirana was a breath of fresh air, literally! A beautiful park filled with trees and plants, spread across 275 hectares, complete with a serene lake in the center. After living in Dubai for 1.5 years, this natural greenery felt like heaven! We walked around along the track, clicking photos now and then, and then just sat at a beautiful spot, overlooking the lake to just relax, and catch up on some deep conversations. You need these kinds of moments with your HumSafar after all.
There were also a few very cozy cafes/restaurants around, so we grabbed something for dinner and made our way back to the hotel to retire for the night.
Nature at its bestš
Day 3– We had spent the last 2 days exploring the city and soaking in the greenery around us, so today was booked for the beachside and hills. After a hearty breakfast out in the garden, we made our way to the city of Durres, which is the beach town closest to Tirana. First stop was the Amphitheatre at Durres. We took a guide right at the entrance, to learn a bit more about the place. This worn down structure apparently had a capacity to host over 20,000 people at some point, and is the largest Amphitheater built in the Balkan peninsula and also a UNESCO site. There were a lot of residential buildings nearby, almost looking over the structure which our guide told us that the municipality is trying to relocate to preserve the site. We explored the tunnels a bit more, and our guide also led us to the area where apparently lions were held before being released onto the gladiators in the arena to fight infront of an audience (the idea of entertainment was very different back then!) Having spent some time roaming those tunnels, and clicking some pictures on the steps as an āaudienceā to the arena, we made our way to the beach.
Our driver dropped us off near the beach entrance, but it seemed too hot that afternoon, so we decided to drop by a nearby museum first, which coincidentally is also the biggest Archeological museum in the country! This place has artifacts which tell the story of Albania, ranging from statues of the goddess of fertility, to sculptures of Roman emperors. It also included a lot of weapons from the pre-historic age, and coins from different time periods. To be honest, I kind of lost interest roaming around reading all those boards after a while, but my wife was still interested, so we kept walking around learning (plus the AC was definitely better than being out on the beach).
After a while, we made our way to the beachside. The Durres beach stretches over 10 kms, and is lined with restaurants/pubs for all kinds of budgets and cuisines. We found a nice cozy restaurant, kind of on an extension of land, so you are technically sitting right above the water on their balcony. Just ordered some snacks and drinks, and relaxed there listening to the waves crash below us. While we were clicking some more pictures near the beach, we ran into another couple (again) who had taken the same tour package deal from Dubai. While we had our own private cars and guides, our hotels/flights/itinerary were the same and we had bumped into each other at other tourist locations the past couple days so we (finally) exchanged numbers with the friendly Egyptian couple.
Next stop from there was the Kruja, which was the country heroās hometown. We made our way to the castle atop the hill, which at some point used to be the center of Skanderbeg’s rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. The castle itself is converted to a museum now, depicting details of the conquests, lifestyle, weapons etc. The area right outside the museum, had some lovely spots for pictures to post on the āgram.
There is a traditional market right below, with a couple of nice restaurants, and small shops selling souvenirs to carry back with you. We generally have a tradition of carrying back magnets from every place, so we ended up doing just that from here while enjoying some refreshing juices. We had coordinated with our new found friends to catch up for dinner and visit the Grand Casino. The casino itself was quite standard, we paid the cover charge which gave us access to the buffet and tokens for the same amount, so it seemed worth it. But would definitely NOT recommend this though, the food spread was very minimal, and honestly didnāt seem too fresh and since the 2 of us were vegetarian, we just ended up eating literally bread and cheese. Headed out disappointed and after losing some money (I really ought to stop visiting casinos), ordered some pizza to our rooms before calling it a day.
50 shades of blueš
Day 4– For today, first stop was Bunkāart 1, just outside the city of Tirana. Much bigger than Bunkāart 2, but equally depressing and pungent smelling. A couple of things did make this experience better than the first bunker, the fact that the way leading to it was covered with lush greenery, and lesser depiction/details of torture as this was more built to keep the ministry safe, rather than imprison people. Secondly, we now had another couple with us, who were equally confused and lost, so we could try and fathom all of it together.
Next, we made our way to Mt. Dajti, via a cable car which goes on for ~15-20 minutes. Literally, the longest cable car ride we have been in so far, with a beautiful panoramic view of the scenery below. We crossed a couple lakes, some plantations, and what seemed like a small forest too below us. We could see some houses and development too, but why would you concentrate on those amidst all this? On top of the mountain, they had a lot of tourist activities like horse riding, archery, shooting, ATVs and also a couple of good restaurant options. Once you are there, its feels like another city, with a mini forest, open fields, view to another mountain and so on. We ended up walking the trail clicking photos before settling in to eat at a rotating restaurant on the 7th floor of the Dajti tower hotel. While we have been to rotating restaurants before, getting a 360-degree view of the nature from that height was totally worth it!
From here, we headed towards ShĆ«ngjergji waterfall. One warning, the route to get here requires a bit of a trek, which is quite steep and hard at times. Once you get past all those hurdles though, the end result is beautiful! Our friends couldnāt make it all the way, as the lady was carrying at the time, but we went ahead to be able to click some pictures and describe the destination to them.
Our guide then took us to a restaurant which wasnāt very far from this waterfall, where the others were seated already. While as always, this place too did not have too many vegetarian options, it somehow had the best French fries we had ever eaten (until we visited Netherlands, but thatās for another post). There were fields right behind the restaurant, and apparently, they grew all their vegetables themselves, so even the salads were amazingly fresh and crunchy. After stuffing ourselves, made our way back to our hotel for some well-deserved rest.
Beauty Everywhereā£
Day 5– Originally, this was supposed to be a leisure day, with nothing planned. However, a little bit of research, some negotiations, and the fact that we had 2 more people with us now, we decided to head to a less-touristy, more hidden place, a beach at the Cape of Rodon. 4 of us cramped in a small car (for the first time this trip), bouncing on the bumpy road towards the beach. Our driver knew another location, which was even further away from the main beach, and tougher to get to. We prayed and hoped that the small car would manage the uphill journey will all our combined weights, because we couldnāt see anyone else for miles and miles. Once we did reach the spot, it was absolutely stunning! A beautiful, untouched beach with white sand, with the loud sound of waves crashing, and just around 2-4 more people around. In fact, the place was so untouched, it didnāt even have a proper restaurant or change rooms, just a make shift kind of space with couple of plastic chairs and tables and a basic structure for you to change your clothes next to a temporary kitchen of sorts. Went into the water, played around splashing around with the strong waves to work up an appetite, before grabbing a bite at the local joint. On our way back, our driver stopped at an ice cream store, which apparently was many years old, and pretty well known in the area. Amusingly, the store has always just sold 2 flavours- Chocolate and Vanilla. So all the people there, all the rush was purely over these 2 flavours (the literal definition of āspecializationā!). The taste was worth the hype, and we just sat there watching the sunset before making our way back to the hotel for our last night in Albania.
Water babies always!š
Day 6– Nothing was planned for today, and we decided to just roam around on our own after breakfast since we had a late evening flight. Just walked around the city, stopping at random cafes or restaurant which looked nice, took a cab back to the Grand park to enjoy the greenery some more before heading towards the airport to catch our return flight to the concrete jungle of Dubai.
A lil bit of us in the lush!š
Few Pointers-
- Language was definitely a concern here, and we had a tough time communicating with our guide/driver and people on the street (one of the reason the 4 of us bonded so much was atleast someone understood us!)
- Cards are accepted at most places, but good to carry some local currency around with you. Many stores also accept USD or EUR, but obviously the rate will be at their discretion.
- We stayed at Tirana the entire trip, but if you get a chance do visit the southern part of Albania, the Riviera, Vlore etc. While the north has more greenery, this region is famous for beautiful beaches/lakes and amazing party spots (just google Blue Eye Albania if you need more proof). Itās not possible as a day trip, so youāll have to stay there a night or 2.
- Blloku area in Tirana has a lot of restaurants, party spots, shopping options etc. If you want to explore the night life in Tirana, this is the street for you.
- As always, Vegetarian food is limited, but extremely fresh even here. But as mentioned earlier, even the French fries were unexplainably better, and the fresh fruit and juices were just mind- blowing (donāt miss the Persimmon fruit if you go in the season)! The food, alcohol in general was extremely low priced (not just compared to Dubai, even otherwise).
- Lastly, somehow this was one of the few places we visited where we did not see any Indian/Asian tourists at all! Maybe it was just at that time, but kind of makes you wonder if this is kind of an unexplored territory, and you should visit before it gets more commercial.
- Approx. costs of trip (prices for 2)
- Flight, Hotel and Private tour Package – USD 2000
- Overheads (Food, Cabs, PCR test)- USD 500
- Hotel we stayed at- Prestige Hotel, Tirana
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