Every first time visitor in Albania is impressed by so many
things that you can find attractive and worth a visit in this forgotten corner
of Europe.
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| Kruja citadel: Getty Images |
“Ancient Greeks, then jeweler-loving Illyrians, the
ancestors of many of today’s Albanians, were followed by Romans, Byzantines and
Ottomans who all seized, settled and surrendered here in a relentless game of
thrones.
Today’s democratic Albania is transforming fast in other
ways: the power blackouts and potholes are in retreat and the young as stylish
as their European counterparts. Few too would have predicted the land’s
dividend from a failed state that never saw through its plans for collective
farms. Albania’s small family-run farms stayed largely pesticide-free and its
wildernesses untouched. Today that means
organic havens for produce and wildlife, a place for taste delighting foodies
and ramblers, with lots for the locals to shout about.
What to see in
Albania:
Tirana - Capital of
many colours
The capital Tirana is lively and safe, but with an
understated, surreal side that often leaves visitors wondering what to make of
it.
Part Mediterranean town, part Soviet relic its
rainbow-coloured apartment blocks, painted on the orders of a former mayor to
bring some cheer, are more faded pastel these days.
For good reason perhaps Tirana’s citizens seem to have a
Pythonesque talent for looking on the bright side of life. Ask them about
Albania’s reputation as a gangster factory and they promise – only half joking
- “there’s no trouble here, we’ve exported all the criminals”.
The city’s cultural highlights include a triumphalist
history mural guarding the entrance to the classical artefact-packed national
museum and the pretty 18th century Et’hem Bey mosque’s minaret and rare floral
mosaics.
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| Tirana: Getty Images |
Kruja: A land of
thrones
More weird and wonderful Albania unfolds during the hour’s
drive from Tirana to the medieval citadel of Kruja.
Vacant buildings in various stages of abandonment stand
beside the highway, some half built or decaying shells and some brand new but
desolate and often for sale.
Through a great stone archway lies a long bazaar, its low,
long-eaved timbered houses and busy cobbled alleyways a lot like an episode
from the TV medieval fantasy.
Beautiful Berat
South of Tirana a great gorge splits the mountains and you
come to Unesco world heritage site and Albania’s poster girl Berat.
Dating back to the 4th century BC, the city’s seven-arch
Gorica bridge, a favourite Ottoman masterpiece, spans the Osum river and tiers
of white gabled houses climb steep cliffs to its citadel.
There towering walls form a hilltop cradle for ancient
mosques and eight medieval churches, one housing a stunning collection of icons
by 16th century master Onufri, famous for the luscious ruby coloured paint he
used.
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| Berat- Maisha Frost |
Wilderness walks and
ancient ways
Wild nature is never far away in Albania and as I followed
herders’ trails for a morning’s ramble in the sweet air high in the hills above
Berat I was surrounded by slopes thick with poppies, campion, delicate blue
lilies and wild orchids peeping among the tall grasses.
The crowds have not caught up yet either with the country’s
archaeological sites, rated among the best in Europe.
Layers of history are densely packed in Durres, the port
city and transit point for the ancient Via Egnatia route to the west of Tirana.
Although this does not have the manicured magnificence of
Rome’s Colosseum, the stark suburban setting and details like the pens for
lions and the steps deliberately made uneven for crowd control made me more
aware somehow of history’s relentless tide.
Different again is pastoral Apollonia, a remote
Pompeii-without-the-people hilltop site dating from 588 BC that was once a
Greek city state served by slaves and then a Roman cultural centre.
At the entrance a Byzantine monastery’s stone walled
galleries are dripping with classic bronzes, busts, vases and coins and across
the cobbles gargoyles erupt from a 13th century frescoed church.
As I wandered deeper among its towering ancient pillars and
olive groves, red rump swallows and bee eaters flitted by and I was suddenly in
a moment only Albania could deliver.
In the distance rose the outlines of a mosque’s minaret and
the hump of a bunker, then an unseen church bell began to toll.
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| Scenic view of Albania Photo: Maisha Frost |
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