20 June 2014

All about Albania- London Evening Standard

With the Pope planning a visit to the once cut-off country, Tim Adler samples its eccentricities first hand


Stride along the seafront at DurrĂ«s, a seaside town an hour from the capital Tirana, and as you look up at hot peach and lime green hotels and apartment blocks you could be in a jolly cross between Blackpool and Miami. But then everything in Albania is a clash between something, which is what makes the country so hard to define. “Even for us it’s hard sometimes,” one Albanian told me. After all, what did I know about Albania before coming here — other than that Pope Francis is gracing the nation with a visit in September?
 Read more
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/all-about-albania-9545436.html
 

18 June 2014

Walking Albania: Beautiful country and intriguing cities in this Balkan nation

Yet, another writer, Richard Webber from UK,  falls in love with the beauty of our country, stunned by our spectacular mountains and tasty, bio and cheap food! Enjoy the reading.

This forgotten Balkan country has some of Europe's most specular mountains and as it hopes to join the EU, some of its cheapest prices too…

Not far to go, just another hour," said Alix, our ebullient guide, as we bounced along the deeply rutted track. As the bone-shaking minibus crawled its way farther into the rugged mountains, I felt every bump and vowed never to complain about British potholes again.

When the occasional oncoming vehicle meant our driver steered perilously close to the track's edge and the steep-sided valley below, I started wondering if I had been right to embark on an eight-day walking tour of the former Communist country of Albania.
While the main routes are surfaced - there is even a stretch of motorway in the south - many secondary roads, especially in the mountains, are nothing more than rocky tracks.
My fellow walkers, who included a biochemist, vicar, software engineer, supermarket manager, and accountant, and I cheered through sheer relief when Alix pointed towards flickering lights ahead and announced: "There's Thethi!" This tiny village was our base for the next two nights. Surrounded by jagged peaks up to 9,000ft high, Thethi's remoteness means only the most intrepid travellers make it to this scenic spot.

Read the full story here!
http://www.express.co.uk/travel/activity/483037/Albania-walking-holiday

15 June 2014

Huffington post : planet appetite into mysterious Albania

Planet Appetite: Into Mysterious Albania

The author could see only Tirana, Durres and Lezha, but he is very impressed about our country, especially food! Finally his call ...Albanian tourism has a great future, but get there before everyone else finds out.

Long seen as one of the severest former communist countries, Albania has now emerged from the darkness and is a surprisingly attractive tourist destination
.. The most curious building in the centre is what was meant to be a museum, dedicated to the memory of former dictator Enver Hoxha. It's an ugly rumbling concrete pyramid, designed by his daughter and has been a nightclub, then TV HQ, but is now desolate.