Tirana seems fairly busy but more like a small German town. The infrastructure is needing a lot of investment and there are some inconveniences like needing to buy bottled water since the tap water is not recommended as drinkable. But once you get inside a restaurant or cafĂ© you find it very nice and clean and people are very polite and attentive. It’s actually a very pleasant city to walk around. The buses are not quite understandable since Google maps shows them with numbers and even the city designated transport maps show the buses with numbers corresponding to the routes, none of the buses have numbers indicating the route and many don’t show exactly where they’re going. The bus stops are just small standing signs with a bus icon. But I found people very helpful and responsive so if you were to take a bus just ask where the bus is going or tell them where you are going and they will let you know if you should be on that bus.
Most of the food and beverages are served outside on the small covered area at the Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) which is really not very close to Brussels. I think they ran out of space at the terminal and found this the quickest way to expand services. This was where I boarded my flight for Albania.
A red glass of wine and a cheeseburger seemed to be the right thing after my arrival in Tirana. The hamburger tasted good and was not as expensive as most of Europe. The service was also very good at this bistro, Bistro Park.
The view from my apartment which was about US$37 a day for the one bedroom complete with a living room kitchen area stocked with everything I needed to do my own cooking, a pretty nice apartment. Most of the prices for these apartments were very reasonable, Maybe a little bit more than what I paid . it seems there is not quite enough hotel space in this country so people and companies rent out apartments and you can expect a nice apartment like this to be somewhere around twenty US dollars to US$40 a night depending upon the city and location.
A very communist style road, very wide and long leading out of the city but not the main road by any means. This country overturned the communist government in the 1990s and is now very actively becoming a tourist destination for people from all over the world.
Just an apartment complex area near the huge road above.
Everywhere you go you find cafés like this where people are drinking coffee or water or some other drink and they tend to double also as bars so you can buy alcoholic drinks.
I visited this place twice because the squid (this version was really cuttlefish) was cooked perfectly and the rice was tasty as well. This lunch was US$13.
This electrical system brought back memories of Thailand or Lao. But those two countries have much more extensive and artistic wire confusion everywhere.
Walking to a small restaurant managed by the son of a college friend. This is just a typical neighborhood apartment area
Southern barbecue at the “Holly smokes” Southern barbecue restaurant open as a regular restaurant but also as a meeting place for the “Christian community “and people interested in that religion. The two fellows running this place have been in the city, from the US, for a few years and really enjoy Albania. The food was very nice. Normally people would have some bread (bun) with the pulled pork but that was too much for me so I just had the meat contents.
this is definitely double billing.
This bus had a destination indicated but no bus number. A circle around the center of the city is covered by the “green line”. Most of those buses are green but some are not but they do say “green-line” on the front of the bus. To pay for the bus you just get on and there is somebody walking up and down to collect the fee which in the city is about 40 US cents.
Not the most attractive main waterway running through the city but I expect over the years they will make great improvements here.
The old bridge in the city, very attractive.
I didn’t translate the plaque on the outside but something to do with a monument to the communist something or other
The evening view from my apartment
Bunk’art museum highlighting the history of Albania since the founding of the country.
In 1960s communication center when the party (Maoist) controlled everything. The communist party was overthrown in the 1990s and the oppression of the people is on display at this museum.
Worse than schizophrenic. I am again having a conference with myself, shades of Prague .
I think you can appreciate the symbolism here
On the map this is indicated as the cultural center but it seems to be used mostly for large crowd entertainment such as the opera. This is in the main Square.
I had to try this restaurant again. This time it was squid, 200 g so it came to US$22. It was delicious. This is the traditional meat and fish restaurant at the corner of Rruga Reshit Petrela and Rruga e Barrikadave. It is not expensive and it’s all local food.
Name brands in the local shopping mall. Conad is the nationwide supermarket.
Statue of the unknown soldier
Grilled pork ribs without hardly any bone on the plate was cooked perfectly and very delicious. I asked for some sauce and what they had was ketchup which I did not use, of course. My lunch came to about US$10
I found what I have been looking for all my life, a UFO university
The intercontinental is also here. I think by the size of the building they are trying to make up for the lack of hotel space.
Every time I walked by this statue they had police standing outside. I am not sure why because I never asked.
The history of the pride of the Albanian people.
A beer festival in the main town Square
I have seen some of the strangest architecture here, this one obviously not finished
