Hotel Nobel Tirana

Kruja was a short day trip out of Tirana. <br><br>There is a well preserved fortress that has now been converted into a museum on Albania history of Skanderberg - a prominent Albania figure in 14th century who lead ...

... in a stange new land before sunrise and for a Sunday morning I was surprised that things began opening by 5am. We grabbed some coffee on the main square and watched this throwback to the 70s come to life. Tirana is a crumbling pile of highrise apartment buildings but I will say that bright paintjobs make the crumbling a little more eye catching. Some buildings had purple polkadots, others had multicolor stripes. At least Tirana knows how to decay with some ...

... I simply pulled a stupid face. "Other pocket" I ventured, smiling as I hastily stuffed the Serbian dinars out of sight. I finally produced my ticket. He smiled and wandered off. A while later the bus pulled to a stop at a little roadside café and the Albanians disgorged en masse, I followed. Within seconds they had all been served coffee and I found myself the sole owner of a bottle of Peja (One Euro. Not bad)- it was also the first time ...

... duregime: morts, mutiles ou extrades... j'ai aussi rencontre un ancien garde de securite de hoxha... j'ai mentionne qu'il parait qu'il etait un homme plaisant ... son visage s'est durci pour me dire qu'il etait beau mais pas plaisant a frequenter... on m'arrete ici sur la rue pour me demander d'ou je viens et quel age j'ai...on me demande si je suis marie et si j'ai des enfants ... c'est une ville "tourist friendly" et je m ...

... for me. The immediate task for me was to find transport to Tirana. I had no map of any kind but had convinced myself, not for the first time that a bus or train station couldn't be too far away. Not for the first time, I was wrong in this assumption as with 20Min's of walking in the sweltering heat I still hadn't exited the port compound and into the city proper. As I walked and took in the sights of dilapidated and unfinished buildings, of concrete rubble and rusting ...

... on any continent. It felt very post-communist with the massive concrete block buildings that are now painted bright colors with a special penchant for lime green and neon yellow, but also felt South American with the little markets up random alleyways selling a variety of objects including fruits and vegetables, sunglasses, scarves, shoes, electronics, and live turkeys. There was also trash everywhere! Even though ...

... 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 ...

... building this boat, and when it was finally ready, he proudly set it sail on the lake. A big gust of wind came though, and blew the boat away. He was so upset, he ran straight home and locked himself in his bedroom. The next day, he was walking into town, when in a local shop window, he spotted his boat- with the name he had inscribed on the side! He rushed in and gladly handed over all his pocket money to buy the boat back. Moral of the story.... this is like what Jesus did for us ...

... give it. I found it some food. Cheese pastry thing. It was scared of me, running away when i called it. Eventually i got close enough and put the food on the ground. I have never seen a dog so happy in my life. It gave this big smile and wagged its tale so much, and as it ate, it kept looking at me and wagging its tale. I was going to get it more, but it moved on. I stalked it some more and saw it found some other doggie friends, so i was happy enough with that. Made me ...

... the church was our reward! An amazing 13th Century Church...with a monk to show just the three of us inside! From the first steps inside...a oh-so-quiet-hushed-in-amazement prevailed... Frescoes from floor-to-ceiling...blue the favorite color. Chandeliers of candles... Icons... From the first section we were led through a door an into the second... This larger chamber contained the remains of St. Stephen enclosed in a crypt...more icons...more ...