Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Traveling back to NY

A quick phone call came late Monday to inform me that my standby return ticket was confirmed. It was time to get back to NY, and I left, this time on Lufthansa Airline, Via Munich. Soooo..good bye Tirana and its lovely mountains for a while!






It was my first experience with this airline and it was a good one. First of all I didn't not have to skip sleep the night before, to leave Rinas airport at the ungodly hour of 5-6am the next morning. Their service was just as good as the one of Austrian Air, and most of all, I enjoyed better seats and leg room on their new, huge Airbus 330-300 plane (I can't stand the Boeing 767 used by other lines for transatlantic travel). Even the short haul from Tirana to Munich was on a pretty large, modern, and comfortable plane. Once in Munich, I didn't not even have to wait an hour to make the connection to NY. Got off one plane, easily reached the other gate, boarded immediately, and left on time!



Additionally, but unrelated to the line used, I also had a nice, and unexpected experience at Tirana's airport. A very bright, multilingual young lady I met more than 8 years ago is now a top manager there, and, without me asking for anything, she had someone do my check in while she and I were having coffee at the airport's bar. It was a real,and unexpected treat!

Europe was covered by a smooth, but extensive layer of clouds, with the sun shining above them, but it was drizzling in Munich, looking very neat in the approach. Its sparse, red roof villages, with their green fields looked like a painting of miniature dwellings.





By 5:30pm I was back, safe and sound, on American soil. But, alas, it took a while to retrieve the luggage and get back home in NYC, where the traffic is just as heavy as in Tirana (where is more chaotic!), but the travel distances are far, far greater in the US.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Tirana musical

I had not been out recently in the evening, thus, last night it was a treat to walk in beautiful, clear air with a temperature just perfect for a stroll. When I reached the Opera house with my friends a large crowd was mulling around waiting to enter the theater, where the show "Moulin Rouge" was being featured in Albanian.



Here, a few years back I was a guest of other friends for an evening of opera, and the place was not spruced up as it is now. I don't know what the cost was then, but now we were fortunate to get excellent front line, orchestra seats (for a mere $15.00 a piece!). They, however, did not seem to have the number prominently displayed on them. It was an interesting, pre-curtain time, scene to watch many people exchanging seats, and rows, with the help of an usher who, with raised arms, had an act of her own going.











It was a wonderful performance with many talented singers and dancers. Their voices were excellent, but the music was too loud for my ears (I have the same problem at any Broadway musical in NYC!). I found it intriguing, though, to listen to the Albanian version of a well known story; although I could not understand every word, I was impressed by the beautiful flow of the rimes of the sung arias. The show went on, without intermission, for 2 1/2 hours.



At the end of such a pleasant day, it was impossible to refuse a drink offered by my friends at the highest spot in Tirana. Thus, we went to the rotating bar on top of the round, so called "Sky Tower" and enjoyed a gorgeous 360 view of the city at night, especially in such a clear evening. Will have to return again during the day to be able to take some pictures, however.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Another Easter

Yesterday was the Greek Orthodox Church Easter Sunday, and the holiday weekend extends into today. In the morning I walked to the Opera house that is now featuring the musical "Moulin Rouge" to buy tickets since I wanted to treat some friends to the evening performance. I should have known better: the ticket office was not open at 9am, as advertised, and someone finally showed up at 10.



While waiting, I walked around along the long building (to the right of the Hotel Tirana pictured above), which includes, beside the theater, also the Palace of Culture, a bank, a cafe' and a large bookstore, well stocked also with publications in every language.








The day was gorgeous, and I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and the fresh morning breeze, while taking some pictures (again!) of the large Skanderbeg square, always a maze of pedestrians and vehicular traffic.




the yellow/red building to the left currently houses the Ministry of Defense, but it's dear to my heart since, when I was a baby, it was my father's office, right on the 2nd floor where the flag is displayed, facing the main boulevard


At 1pm I had a lunch invitation, and was picked up for a ride to the city of Durres, a few km aways. There I experienced a new restaurant, where another great meal took place on a terrace, not too far from the main port. A variety of appetizers (of sea food and otherwise), salads, grilled fish and meat was followed by a delightful scoop of sorbet on top of freshly cut fruit. However, I was informed that we would consume a 'real' dessert in another place, where we leisurely walked to on the newly restructured road along the sea shore, lined with palm trees, and where there is also a small children's park.





The sun was brilliant, the air delightful, and the 'torte', actually a light, fluffy, creamy layer cake, a long term specialty of the place, was scrumptious!


this monument depicts a post war 'resistence fighter', which replaces a previous one that was erected under the fascist Italian regime during WWII


From there we drove further south to reach the actual beach areas of Durres, where I have a small, so far empty, lot, which we visited briefly. Nearby, some bunkers, built at a great cost by the ex dictatorship, fearful of foreign attacks, are impossible to miss! The large ones, such as the one pictured below, were for the military and used to include arms and ammunitions.



When we returned to Tirana in the late afternoon, every one seemed to have vanished from the city; Tirana was empty and unusually quiet. The pleasant day for me, however, was not over yet. At 8pm the musical at the Opera house was on my schedule.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Other Tirana views

Less than 2 blocks away from my property, two of my long term friends live in a 14 story building a few feet from the main boulevard that crosses the capital. The views from the balcony of one of them follow.


beyond the boulevard, the Palace of Congress, and behind it one of Tirana's sport stadiums



my friend Adile, whose friendship goes back to when I was 5 years old



the tallest skyscraper in Tirana - beyond it Tirana's Student City



in the foreground the Prime Minister's offices - behind it the 'pyramid' and the chain of Mount Dajti

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Map of my property


View Larger Map

For my friends, here is a Google map of my property. Unfortunately I'm unable to superimpose a mark on it, but it is right at the center of this view.

It's starts at the corner location (crossroads on upper left), where the main entrance is between the 2 round trees. It extends downward to include the entire wooded area behind the large light colored U shaped building.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

An update

Since I wrote last week about my trip to Montenegro, a new development has taken place about the border crossing of Muriqan, which we used coming back to Albania. An agreement has been announced for the modernization of this place financed by the European Commission.

An update also from me about my return to the U.S. As most of you, my friends, already know, due to a variety of projects I'm involved in while in Tirana, I have postponed going back to NY for at least another week, if not two (depending on airline seat availability). So, instead of closing up my apartment here, today I went shopping for more fresh food...Albanian style!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Warm sunshine finally!

During this trip to Tirana I experienced some very strange weather. I have been here for several years during the spring, and it has been much warmer. This year it was cold and rainy all the time during March, and just in the last couple of days the temperature has risen. This past week we actually had a few days when the sun would peak out almost on an hourly basis, alternating with periods of dark clouds, and splashes of rain, long enough to fill the many potholes of the city streets. Today, finally, the sun stayed out all day, and we reached almost 80F (27C) degrees.

It was a gorgeous feeling to be outdoors for the first time in short sleeves! Decided, therefore, to accept an invitation by some of my friends to drive to the port city of Durres, just a few km away.


Instead of the usual fish lunch at one of the many outdoor eateries along the beaches, this time we stayed in town, and had an excellent meal in a very nice, air conditioned restaurant not to far from the port area. We were lucky to find room inside since it was filled with entire families lunching with their children.



From there we drove up the hilly part of town, near the villa of the ex king that overlooks the city, where I have been many times before. However, today we went for dessert and coffee to a fancy, modern, high rise building where a restaurant bar occupies the entire top floor with a wonderful 360 degree view of the entire city, the coast, and the sea. Everyone else seemed to have had the same idea!













Folklore

Last evening I had a quiet dinner in a neighborhood restaurant with another of my Albanian friends and we were heading back home, when I got a call from the friends I traveled to Montenegro, who wanted me to have a new experience.

It was 10pm and they came to pick me up and drove to a restaurant bar where music and dancing was going on, full swing. The place was packed with whole families and everyone was enjoying a variety of music that ranged from Slavic and Turkish, to European and, of course, Albanian. They explained to me the difference of the songs, their origin (from north, south, and central areas), their moods, and the type of instruments that were used in the past to play them. I was impressed by their knowledge on this subject that was not limited, BTW, to their own Albanian world.



The customers were happily drinking, smoking, eating, clapping, singing, and dancing, sometimes even without getting up, raising their arms to accompany the music, which never stopped! The male and female singers had wonderful, strong voices, and seemed tireless. The woman also played the violin expertly.



A gentleman from another table, who apparently knew my hosts, approached us at a certain point to bring a small bottle of home made raki that had aged for 2 years in oak wood containers. It was as enjoyable as any good cognac!

It was almost 2am when I got back to my apt, where I had no trouble falling asleep!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Visit to Montenegro - part 3

By midmorning on Sunday, we resumed our travel, and, first, drove north to the internationally recognized resort of Sveti Stefan, which I had seen from a distance during a trip I took in ex Yugoslavia in 1976. The view of this small, rugged looking island, which is full of modern hotels and beautiful homes, was magnificent under the brilliant morning sun. Here some Hollywood people have invested in real estate.






Later, we turned to the south and visited briefly the port city of BAR, ending up by midday at the bay of Kotor.



It was quite a sight to approach this picturesque area from the mountains, overlooking the bay below, full of yachts, and populated areas on all sides. The winding road led us down to the town, where we parked and walked throughout the old city, with its very quaint, narrow, stone paved alleys.


Here almost every historic building was marked with the names of the families that owned them, and the centuries (ie: XIII, XIV, etc.) in which they lived in them.




Inside the old walled city there were café’ in some “piazzas”, and many European tourists, visiting several churches of more than one denomination. Every turn we took brought us to interesting nooks and crannies, small shops, and food stores that emanated inviting smells of freshly baked “byrek”!


From this town, at the foot of high mountains, one can observe an enormous castle, actually an old fortress – named St. John - which can be visited by climbing very steeply however, and its fortifications span over several peaks.






Instead, we relaxed a while at a large outdoor café’ in a sunny square, drinking an aperitif under the shade of colorful umbrellas, watching the locals and the typical tourists, munching on food while trooping around, dressed in comfortable clothing and shoes, armed with backpacks and water bottles. It was twelve noon on the main clock tower, and the church bells reminded us of midday with their pleasing sound.




From beautiful and quaint Kotor we continued to travel southward along the coast and headed for Ulqin. This is another very interesting, bustling city, located in a long valley that opens up toward the sea, and built also on both mountain sides that enclose it. Instead of stopping here, we proceeded traveling south, in order to have a late lunch, closer to the border of Albania, where my hosts wanted to treat me to another fish meal along the Buna river that flows also within Albania.

When we got to the restaurant of their choice, it was chilly to dine outdoors, so we used the inside dining room, which was cozy, and built right along the water. A couple of small boats actually stopped right at the back door, to make deliveries while we were there. The Buna river was slowly and quietly running toward the sea as we were enjoying another very good meal (terrific, tasty fish soup, grilled ‘levrek’ with potatoes and spinach, very colorful mixed salad, and excellent baklava). On the opposite side of the river several wooden homes with fishing nets and boats docked nearby could be observed.







At dusk we reached the Albanian border. This crossing (Muriqan/Sokobine)was opened only a couple of years ago, and it’s small, with only a few cars going through. It was funny to watch my hosts telling the controller not to stamp our entry on the passports because theirs were already too full of markings all over. Guess what…the guard readily complied!

It was night by the time we got into Tirana, As we approached the city and the traffic was thickening, for a moment I had the feeling of getting back to NYC , when one has invariably to slow down and find alternative routes to re-enter the city. And that was exactly what my hosts did! Although a bit tired, but very happy to have taken this trip and had such pleasant experiences, I nevertheless tackled the waiting email before going to bed!