El Pais: Five reasons to discover Albania

Albania is a small country with amazing natural and cultural treasures that are worth to discover. El Pais the popular Spanish daily newspaper promotes Albania in the article titled “5 reasons to discover Albania”.

“Albania- candidate to be part of the European Union - is a small country, with the same area as Galicia and almost three million inhabitants, a third of whom reside in the capital, Tirana. Despite its small size, its variety of landscapes is dazzling: mountains in the north, lakes that penetrate neighboring countries, beaches that can compete with those of its neighboring Greece. Lonely Planet has just included Albania in its list of top 10 destinations for 2019 for its good value for money.” writes El Pais.

View of Berat (Albania). R. HELEN GETTY IMAGES

1. In Tirana mostly, you will see the large influence of Italian architecture at the government buildings. The Italian influence is first on the list to visit Albania.
2. The second reason is the capital city Tirana for its mixed architecture of ottoman, Italian style, and for the avant-garde projects as the future National Theater, a project by Bjarke Ingels Group. The city is the main gateway to the country thanks to the Mother Teresa airport (which was Albanian).
3. The citadel of Krujë is also one of the reasons to visit Albania. “To the north of Tirana awaits a landscape of snow-capped mountains, ski slopes and lush forests. And castles up impossible cliffs, as if they were eagle nests (Albania is the country of the eagles, which wave on its flag). Its oriental bazaar leads to a citadel which is a national symbol: from there led the resistance against the Turks in the fifteenth century, the national hero George Castriot Skanderbeg.”
4. Apollonia was an ancient Greek colony city and former bishopric in Illyria , located on the right bank of the Aous river (modern-day Vjosa). After visit Apollonia you must visit the UNESCO town of Berat.
5. Llogara and Gjirokastra (The so-called Albanian Riviera looms in the Llogara National Park. A succession of beaches and coves, sea caves, cliffs and traditional villages. Porto Palermo is one of the most typical pictures of this holiday coast and Saranda, further south, is its capital. This area is home to two of the most remarkable archaeological sites in the country: Butrint, imitation of Troy, and Gjirokastra, with its Ottoman alleys and roofs of stone slabs preserved in extreme because it was the homeland of the dictator Enver Hoxha.

 

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