Hotel Iliria Tirana

... von Envar Hodscha jedenfalls ist heute eine Disco, Envar Hodscha, d** Albanien 40 Jahre lang regi**t hat, ist heute in einem namenlosen Grab auf einem gewoehnlichen Friedhof begraben. Seine Statue ist ebenfalls z**truemm**t, auf dem Zentralplatz steht nur noch die Statue von Skand**beg, dem nationalen Helden.

Albanien geho**te auch zum ottomanischen Reich, ab** ein Alban**, d** von den Ottomanen in Byzanz ausgebildet wurde, hat einen Aufstand ausg ...

... to dump all over my Tirana fun.

On the ride to Shkodra the bus driver was playing a mix of folk music and American hip hop. If those old folks on that bus only knew what was playing. As we rolled we were treated to "Back that ass up and press it on me. Ride it from head to toe." Its just funny to see a woman with a black headscarf bumping her head to the beat.

Shkodra is like a mini Tirana and a fascinating place to watch Albanian life. It is ...

... conversation, I imagine I would have got more out of him if I claimed I was German, but he didn't seem to speak English. Eventually, their caffeine fix sorted, my fellow passengers filed back onto the bus- almost being decimated by a second bus pulling in next to ours. I followed and fell to sleep as the music began again. Another jarring wake up call. I woke up and found the bus somewhere in the mountains, the bright lights of a border ...

... n'est pas construite de la meme facon... je peux dire que les gens en albanie sont plus chaleureux, plus accueillants et plus curieux, du moins ceux et celles que je rencontre... tout le monde veut savoir d'ou je viens et quand je reponds, les autres autour questionnent la personne qui a recu la reponse... aujourd'hui il a fait soleil et il a fait chaud... j'ai pris l'autobus berat-tirana; on a mis ...

... at the station I was gasping with the thirst, starving, and covered in my own sweat. A kebab, chips, can of coke, and train ticket to Tirana later, all for the cost of Eur2, I was sitting relaxed in the station reading the last of my novel and awaiting the arrival of the train. The novel wasn't even that good but it needed a group of kids shouting "Tirana, Tirana" at me before I noticed the train had arrived. Making my way towards the carriages I turned back to see a line of kids all ...

... s no running water and the electric heaters don't work. And it's rather dark in the evenings since the sun sets around 4:30pm. All of this adds up to a slew of fun times shivering in the candlelight waiting for the power to turn back on. On my second day in Tirana, I attempted to visit the National Art Gallery. When I arrived around 4:15pm, I discovered that it was closed from 3-5pm. No problem - I could easily return 45 ...

... Another trivia question: Who is the only Albanian you've heard of? Answer: Mother Teresa. They even named the country's largest airport after here. Bonus fact: She was actually born in Macedonia. That's the Republic of Macedonia, not Greek Macedonia, for any hair-splitters out there. Tirana, the capital, doesn't look to be much of anything when we get let out at one of the bus stations. It isn't really even a bus station, just a random dirty parking lot ...

It took about an hour to drive up to Kruja from Tirana- it's nestled in the mountains, so again there are great views- and you can see all the way out to the sea at Durres. When we arrived, we met and waved off the Leeds team, who were driving the minibus back down to Tirana. Then followed a somewhat formal orientation with Trev and Kaye. They are a New Zealand couple, both grandparents, who felt called to Albania so left their ...

... roads. As we were driving through, highway construction was quickly proceeding. Definitely would like to go back, didn't get to see much of Albania other than on the bus, stayed in a hotel well outside of town and was too groggy from the bus ride to muster the energy to head into town, early night for all around.

... Terrorists" and Ethnic Albanians for the Serbs is not something that is simmering under the surface but is the ever-present subject of each conversation. Kosovo is said to consist of 80% Ethnic Albanians--most of these claiming the Islamic Faith. My guess is that someday soon...Kosovo will be almost 100% Ethnic Albanian...the Serbs will have given up and moved away. The former Yugoslavia was composed of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia ...