We stayed in an apartment in the center of the city.
It was easy getting to the building but up to our apartment on the second floor was another story. (0 is the ground floor).
We took a free tour today. There must have been 100 people, but they divided us into language groups: Italian, German, Spanish, and English. Our English group was big so it was divided into two groups. We were with the head organizer so we counted ourselves as fortunate.
Eri, pronounced like Eric without the c, is 35 years old. He studied Albanian history at the University of Tirana. We lucked out! He said that the tour will last two Albanian hours which means from 2-2½ hours.
“One Albanian in a group is more than enough. We love to argue and debate.”
Albanians came from ancient Illyrians. Romans ruled here for 700 years, and then the Roman empire split into Rome and Constantinople. Byzantines were here for 1,000 years and became part of the Ottoman empire. In 1912 Albania was independent.
Next the Balkan wars started in 1913. Every Balkan says that they lost territory. Albanians say they lost land to Kosovo.
There are 2.4 million people in Albania. 9 million more Albanians are spread worldwide so more people live outside Albania than in the country. One third of Albania’s population lives in Tirana.
Shqip is the Albanian language and one of the most ancient languages. It is the only language in its branch. Albanians live in Shqipëria. The technical name of Albania is Shqipëria, but they like being in the front in the Olympics.
Eri tried to teach us “Thank you” in Albania. He said that it will take one week to learn how to say it and one more week to remember it. We only have four days!
Albanians respect all religions so they observe all holidays … and there are a lot of them, especially in the spring.
When there are no buildings for worship, religious buildings start to pop up.
“We are not happy about tourists. We are super happy. Tourism helps the economy. In 2019 there were five million tourists. Last year we had 11.9 million tourists. Not only does it help our economy, it helps to keep our culture alive because people are moving back to their small towns. We all benefit.”
Eri said to be patient with them since it has only been 34 years that they have been able to have tourists. Things are a little rough around the edges.
For example, we went to have an afternoon drink. We ordered hot chocolate and wanted something to eat to go along with it. The waiter didn’t really know what was on the menu … and when we did select something, they were out of it. We finally arrived at something that they had. We saw the cook leave and return with a grocery bag. Soon after, we were given something that looked like a grilled cheese sandwich.
The national hero Skanderbeg was a Janissary. This means that he was taken hostage by the Ottomans from his Albanian Christian family and became part of the Sultan’s military guard. He lived at the same time as Vlad the Impaler. Perhaps they were Janissaries together.
In 1444, Skanderbeg switched sides and defeated the Ottoman empire. In 1463 he died of malaria, and the Ottomans were then able to take over Albania.
Durrës was the capital, but it was on the sea so it was constantly being invaded. The capital was moved to Tirana. Tirana is a newer city as it was founded in 1614.
In 1939 Mussolini invaded Albania, and the king left with a lot of money. The Albanian Communist Party came from the mountains to attack the Italians. They did not have an army, only locals.
Mussolini was responsible for creating the Vatican City in 1929. This ensured neither side could interfere with the other.
In the last few days, Albania has been busy which means traffic problems.
The 2025 edition of the Giro d’Italia bike race started in Albania on May 9. This was a landmark moment for Albania’s global visibility. Hosting the Giro boosts global tourism, showcases local infrastructure, and cements Albania’s position on the map of international sports events.
On May 11, Albania just had an election. The candidate, Sali Berisha, that lost (and was backed by Trump) claimed that there was fraud. Sound familiar? The winner was Edi Rama. He is beginning his fourth term as Prime Minister.
On May 16, fifty three leaders from Europe were here to discuss how Albania might join the EU. They are guessing that it will take nine years. The EU is discussing 35 points that need to be addressed to help the country grow.
Communism
Every 4 years Albania had elections, but there was only one party. From 1945-1991, Albania was a large jail.
Albania was never part of Yugoslavia. Albania aligned with Russia and then accused them of not being communist enough so then they looked to China.
People were suffering but didn’t know it. Media was not allowed. Albania was the only country that didn’t see the landing on the moon.
They were shown films about homeless people in the USA. This made them scared of the outside world and that they could be invaded at any moment. Albania had 170,000 bunkers ready to fight the USA. They found out that not only was the USA not coming to take over Albania, they didn’t even know where Albania was.
If someone tried to escape, there was a public hanging. Three generations of that person’s family would be punished. 11,000 people are still missing.
Book Recommendations
- Broken April by Nobel Prize author Ismail Kadare. Other recommendations by the same author are Palace of Dreams and Chronicle in Stone
- Free by Lea Ypi is soon to be made into a movie. (Is that pronounced Yippee?)
- Enver Hoxha by Blendi Febzíu
In 1967 Albania banned religion. Churches and mosques were destroyed. One mosque was spared because there were cityscapes painted on the walls. This is highly unusual for a mosque to have scenes rather than ornamental decorations, but the government declared it culturally significant so it saved the mosque.
Albania was isolated. In 1991 after the fall of communism, half of the population left Albania.
After communism fell, everyone bought a car. Previously, there were only 40,000 cars in the entire nation. They had cars but didn’t think to get a license. Good luck, drivers and pedestrians.
So many new things in 1991. Albania’s market was opened. Banks, insurance, credit cards appeared, to name a few.
Coke was the first western product in Albania. They had never seen a banana. Eric’s parents were skeptical and didn’t try one for three months. Then they bought a banana and stared at it for three days. They decided to try it. His dad went first, after two hours, his mom ate the banana.
Everything from the west was called a banana. Eric’s grandpa asked for his son to bring him a banana. So he did, but the grandpa said that he got the wrong banana. He wanted the red one (a coke).
The fact that humans have rights was a new concept to Albanians.
Albanians are just starting to deal with their history which needs to be rewritten since there were lies in communism.
Mother Teresa was born in Albania. We will go to the town of her birth, Skopje, North Macedonia, in a few days.
By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” Mother Teresa
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