There aren’t many countries where you can experience a sweep of over 3000 years of history with the old stuff and new stuff equally fascinating, but Albania is one of them. This is ancient Illyria (a contemporary civilisation of ancient Greece); subsequently a key part of both the Roman and Ottoman empires. Add to that ‘visits’ from the Greeks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Serbians, Bulgarians, Normans and Venetians (amongst others); a 15th century local warlord called Scanderbeg (who wore a helmet with a stag on top!) and an 18th / 19th century one called Ali Pasha; c.50 years of communism as a ‘closed’ country and 7 years of rampant capitalism & anarchy and you have a real cocktail ripe for exploration! Oh, I forgot the 20th century president who crowned himself King Zog….
The communist era was dominated by Enver Hoxha who ruled for 41 years until his death in 1985; amongst his many eccentric actions was to encourage the people to build bunkers from which they could fight the people’s war – the result is that the country is littered with between 500,000 and
1 million small concrete ‘pimples’ which have blended into the fields and hills to give Albania a unique landscape.
Albania abandoned communism, like the rest of Eastern Europe, in the early 90’s with the ceremonial destruction of the statues of Hoxha. Without strong leadership, it was followed by rampant capitalism, uncontrolled building (a maze of four story buildings built in parks!) and pyramid investment schemes which collapsed. This led to a period of anarchy which required international peace-keepers. It really only settled down 10 years ago and it’s astonishing how far they have come since then. Development is still uncontrolled (including the building of costal hotels on land the developer doesn’t own!), but the economy is growing, there is little sign of poverty or hardship and there’s a strong sense of moving on (c/f Serbia in April!).
In theory it’s a muslim country, but you’d never know it – the government official who opened up the mosques for us in Berat was wearing a t-shirt with the slogan ‘Hot Girls, Alcohol + Myself = Good Night’!
Tirana is a pleasant sirprise with a nice main square and wide tree-lined boulevards. It’s popular mayor Eddie Rama (an artist and basket-ball player who is in pole position to become PM in the forthcoming elections) decided he needed a quick fix for the sea of grey communist era apartment blocks so he personally created brightly coloured designs and got art students to execute them; the result is a colourful skyscape which is effectively the world’s largest art installation. From our base here we visited costal Duress with it’s Roman ruins and the hilltop citidal city of Kruja which boasts an extraordinary museum devoted to the 15th century warlord Scanderbeg, who gave the Ottomans a run for their money. It was created by Hoxha in an attempt to draw parallels between him and Scanderbeg so that he could reflect in his glory; all references to Hoxha have now been removed and Scanderbeg still towers.
Our journey south took us to sites where ancient civilisations have built upon one another so that you may have Illyrian or Hellenic walls, a Roman forum, a Byzantine church and a Venetian castle all in the same place. The sites at Apollonia and Byllis were both terrific, with fascinating archeological ruins set on hills with 360 degree views. The magnificent citadel cities at Berat and Gjirokastra were a mish-mash of churches, houses, castles and fortifications dominating the local landscape.
We ended up on the coast at Saranda overlooking Corfu, where my wanderlust started 33 years and 8 months ago on my first visit abroad. It’s a concrete jungle with few redeeming features, but was the base for out final visits including the ancient site of Butrint, beautifuly located between Lake Butrint and the Vivari channel leading into the Ionian Sea.
A really fascinating trip. I shall allow the photos to tell the rest of the story…..
You are invited to view Gareth’s photo album: Albania 2008
Albania 2008May 28, 2008
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