We have found our way to Tirana and we can tell you that it’s been bloody hot! We still managed to be out and about, and tried the food , beer and wine.

It didn’t start well when our taxi driver dropped us off in the middle of the city and pointed us in the direction of the hotel. Eventually after searching for a while, we found it and we were told that we didn’t have a booking for us that night! You can all imagine Gregory’s mood!🤦‍♀️😬. It was sorted out relatively quickly so we dumped our bags and headed off for a well deserved lunch and drinks….in the 40 degree heat! We tried an agulua salad and stuffed aubergine. It was bloody delicious and really cheap!

Our hotel was in the Old Bazaar area, quite colorful, and resonable! We wandered around the afternoon quite close to the hotel, had a few drinks, a delicious SEA BASS dinner and were in bed early due to our very early flight with our 4 am wake up call.

We were up early the next morning to have our coffee fix and found a great little cafe called Noor. We were told that Albania has a coffee culture and Noor proved it correct.It was a day of wandering around Tirana. We found the remains of the Tirana Castle. Only some walls remain now but now it is a small pedestrian lane way full of trendy bars and cafes.

We wandered past a rather unusual sculpture called “The Cloud”, we wandered through the fish market, and lastly the Namazgah Mosque.

We wandered on….in the heat…..🥵 to The Pyramid of Tirana, built originally as a museum but now a convention centre and no we did not walk up those steps, too bloody hot! By that stage we needed a coffee so wandered through the trendy Blloku district and found a “nearly Brunettis” coffee place, and a lot of healer too!

We crossed the Lana River and Greg had a rest on one of the ladies laps on the bridge. By this time we were rather thirsty and rather hot so needed a refreshment. We went to the rather eclectic Bar called Kometiti, a bar/museum for a well earned aperol and GnT. Then headed back to our morning place, Noor , for an early dinner, a calabrese salad and a Caesar wrap.

We noticed when walking around the city there is some very interesting a modern architecture. The Skanderberg Building is built to the likeness of the head of Albanias National hero, Gjergi Kastrioti Skanderberg. Quite unusual, and another has the map of Albania protruding out on its facade.

That evening we met our group for the first time for drinks. Out of 15 people, we are the only Aussies. The remainder are Scottish and English. On that first night the jury was out as to how the group would come together but we had already made our first impressions which have ended up being what we initially thought!😂

Day 1 of the tour, bloody hot again, and we started with a tour of Et’Hem Bey Mosque., situated on the main square, Skanderbeg Square and built at the end of the 18th century and spared from destruction by the Communist Party when 10000 people protested and it became the onset of the fall of communism in Albania. There are beautiful frescoes in the interior.

Then onto Bunk Art 2, an underground Cold War nuclear bunker now converted to a history museum. It was built between 1981 and 1986 under the dictator Enver Hoxha as a secret shelter for the Ministry of Internal Affairs Officials. There were 175,000 bunkers built across Albania in the Communist era. There was an interesting sculpture in one room with the following quote..” we built socialism by holding a pick axe in one hand and a rifle in the other”.

We then hopped on our tour bus and went into the hills surrounding Tirana for a rustic lunch at a family guesthouse. It would have been a lot more pleasant if it wasn’t so hot. Then we made our way to the Dajti Express Cable car to admire the views of Tirana below however with the heat haze and smoke coming from fires still burning, we did not get much of a view. At the guesthouse there happened to be a pink flamingo, the symbol of the ongoing protests held in Tirana each evening against the impending resort that Ivana Trump and her husband wish to build. Rhonda didn’t get a chance to join the protest but had the photo taken with the flamingo instead!😂

We headed back to the hotel for a rest then time for a final drink and dinner in Tirana. As they say in Tirana…” if you haven’t eaten a salad in Tirana, then you haven’t been to Tirana”. Well we’ve eaten plenty of salads so we have certainly been to Tirana. The stuffed aubergines and peppers and the grilled vegetables have been absolute delicious and so very cheap.

So that is Tirana in a nutshell. Sorry it’s been a while since we did a post being this being on a tour does not give much time for relaxing! Will try to give another update soon!

So bye for now until the next time

lots of love

Greg and Rhonda