Cool thanks, I’ll be trying all of those out! As for the language stuff, I’m sure it won’t matter for my level of speaking, I just find it interesting.
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Went to Kruje. Finally got a real taste of what Albania’s like. Tirana is basically a city trying to be like the rest of Europe and getting it half right. Outside of that, it’s like being in a different country. Think random donkey wandering on the street and nobody even flinching about it different (whiffed on the photo of it sadly). Almost all businesses are small. Multinational corporations have a limited presence in Albania. As an example, are two KFCs and one Burger King in Tirana. That’s it for American food chains. Everything else is local restuarants, bars, and pubs with an occasional Albanian chain. Not to say there are no imported products (I mean it’s not communism anymore) but being closed off from the world gave Albania a lot of time to do things their own way which is kind of cool.
I’ll post some photos later. They mostly suck because they’re taken on a shitty Czech camera phone so they won’t show what I saw that well but it’s definitely worth it.
At least for some people. If you’re a person who needs luxury or things to be done on a reliable schedule, then you’ll probably hate Albania. Schedules seem to be more like aspirational posters than anything else, especially when it comes to intercity transport which is quite an informal process. Furgons are the means of travel if going to nearby towns and cities and it is definitely an experience. Not a comfortable one but an experience in how crazy people can drive on unsafe roads. Felt bad for the people who had to stand in the aisle of them. And no wonder why they end so early. Most of the roads outside Tirana don’t have lights.
Along the way, you’ll meet some friendly people both tourists and locals. Seems like they’re even confused about the schedule on occasion but we all figure it out together and have a good chat in the process.
And I’ll end this mini-trip report with a statue that stands tall in the town of Fushe-Kruje. You might recognize him.
Y’all thought I was go with Skanderbeg given where I was until that last sentence, didn’t ya?
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I was like “That can’t be who I think it is”, so I looked it up, and it is indeed who I thought it was.
The square is named after him, though apparently most don’t use that name.
And he has a street in Tirana as well
He visited Albania in 2007 and was the first American president to visit the country. Most notably, he visited Fushe-Kruje which is a town of less than 20,000 people about 30 km away from Tirana. No idea why. I was surprised it was so late in his second term. Figured he might have done so to pander to EE/Balkans to garner support for the Iraq War (remember bragging about Poland and “new Europe” supporting the war?) but apparently not.
Even looking it up, I’m still skeptical, one because of who it is, and two because it really doesn’t look that much like him to me.
It doesn’t really look that much like him, but the facial expression is pretty spot-on.
The 43rd US President visited the town, which lies close to Mother Teresa International Airport, to discuss a US-funded microloan programme with a baker, a barber, a tailor and a shepherd.
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No, it’s definitely him. Could be the angle of the photo that makes it look like someone else but when you see it in person, it hits you immediately (assuming you know what Dubya looked like beforehand).
Maybe if Pete goes he will also get a statue.
That statue is supposed to be Bush 43?
Even if you told me it was a US president, that wouldn’t have been my first guess.
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+1
IIRC Albanians laud GWB and Bill Clinton for what they see as US policy in the Balkans being in favor of Kosovar/“Greater Albanian” interests.
Love it, sounds like Albania hasn’t changed too much in the last 13 years since I went.
Was it not?
AirBNB has FINALLY added the option of seeing the final price per night after AirBNB fees and cleaning fees.
I found a place in Gdansk for like $30/night and thought I found a steal, but when I requested to book they notified me that there’s an additional $25 cleaning fee that needs to be paid in person. Fuck off with that shit, I ended up booking a similar place for $60 (incl. all fees) out of principle. If you’re gonna have a cleaning fee for a one night stay, fine, but include it on the page like everyone else does, don’t try to hide it.
Looks like my stay in Berat is gonna be a mere 3 hours. Got out later than expected and traffic is absolutely horrible. If I whiff on the last bus out (appears to be 4:30) then I might try to stay overnight since it’d be cheaper than taking a cab back.
Yeah, just don’t want someone to “well akschually” me since I’m not an expert in Balkan history and it’s legit extremely complex
The real question is why he hasn’t visited Albania already. Is he too “woke”?
The people of Albania really love Jimmy Stewart
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ITA Airways’ customer service center is in Albania, I called them when I was trying to deal with my Italy seat assignment situation. Sometimes the phone would be answered, but most of the time not. And the two times I spoke to somebody they gave fewer than zero shits about my issue.