Additional sightseeing and tasting experiences

On Monday morning my Italian trio came to my place after breakfast at their hotel, and had their first taste of freshly baked Albanian byrek.

The wife of one of my associates rang my bell at 9:30am and delivered a stack of these hot phillo dough wrappings filled with cheese that she knew could purchase in a specialty shop, along with individual cups of a yogurt drink.

In another bag she had more than 2 kgs (4 lbs) of gorgeous ripe cherries, and a couple of pints of local strawberrries that emanated an incredible aroma. Their taste was also incredible!

While I got busy with my own work during the day my guests spent their remaining days sightseeing Tirana and surroundings on their own. One day, I arranged for them a tour by taxi to the town of Kruja. The old citadel and the modern museum are a must to see in this habitat perched up in the mountains, about 35 km north of Tirana. I visited the place several times and have described it with pictures in previous entries of this blog in the past.

This historic place was the home of the national hero, Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg, who lived there in the 1400's. Also known as the 'Dragon of Albania', with his armies he not only ousted the Ottomans from Albanian territory, but kept Albania free from foreign occupation throughout his lifetime.

He also helped King Alfons of Aragon fight the barons that had rebelled against him in Italy, and later on was rewarded with land in Italy's south that became populated by Albanians, known to today as 'Arberesh'.

Every evening, around 6:30pm, my Italian visitors came to my apartment for snacks and drinks, and then we would go out for a late dinner. We tried different restaurants every day, tasted their specialties, and drank their local wines, which were very good everywhere.