Albania: intriguing east

Albeit this article by TravelFY was written to market tourism, it has a very appropriate title and it provides an excellent description of the still unknown, but worth visiting, mountainous hinterland of Albania.

Visited long time ago also by such notables, as British poet Lord Byron and British traveler and writer Edith Durham, these areas can now be freely rediscovered after more than half a century of forced isolationism.

Visitors, enjoy!

Year End in NY

After three busy months of planning and development work in Albania I am back home in NY, where now I am coping with a huge accumulation of paperwork that needs to be appropriately disposed of before year end.

The return trip from Tirana was smooth and uneventful, but tiring for me, as usual. Left my Tirana apartment at 3AM, in cool and drizzling weather. After a 9 1/2 hrs transatlantic flight, landed at JFK, on time, at 2PM, where the temperature was below zero centigrade.

The lengthy connection time to be spent at Vienna's airport is always quite comfy, though, due to the well organized and structured atmosphere there, followed by an excellent service on board the very efficiently run Austrian Airline. Arrival in NY can be shocking, however, due to the always enormously jam-packed and chaotic environment at the influx terminals. Thank goodness my taxi ride home was pretty speedy because it was Sunday afternoon and the vehicular traffic on the highway into town was light.

I still need to normalize my daily hours, get rid of the remaining jet lag, and catch up on much needed sleep, but, overall, so far, I have managed to put everything under control. Now I just want to add here the best of wishes for a wonderful holiday season to all my friends, relatives, and acquaintances living around the world.


MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

GEZUAR FESTAT dhe VITIN e RI!

BUON NATALE e FELICE ANNO NUOVO!

A Christmas Story - Journey Of The Angels/Silent Night by Enya.wmv

I normally don't do this, but this beautiful, very touching story, emailed to me by a friend, needs to be shared and watched to the end.

Street cleaning in Tirana

Modernization in the capital of Albania has been and is evident on a daily basis. I have watched its progress for almost two decades now, as described from time to time in this blog, but I am still amazed by how certain city services are still conducted today. Street clean-up is one of the services I am referring to.

The garbage trucks are of European standard and the metal collection bins are emptied twice a day (at midday and at midnight). Other mechanized equipment includes also water spraying vehicles that wash down the streets every night,following the trash pickups. But,to my knowledge and observation, I believe that the city is not yet equipped with mechanical sweepers. At least, I have never seen any of them around.

As done traditionally, all street and parks cleaning is still done manually, and it is performed at all hours of the day and night. I suppose this should help unemployment, but, interestingly, the cleaning crews are largely formed by women.

With this week total sunny days are being replaced by mixed weather conditions that include loud, but short storms, alternating with sunny intervals throughout the day, with, at times, very strong, unusual winds. The wet season was very late this year; the color turning of the foliage was beautiful, however, but is not lasting very long because the winds made the golden glow of the leaves disappear quickly.

During the day the women collect the leaves, and then a truck comes by to pick up, while during the night I watched two lonely men, working under pouring rain, one collecting the leaves and the other loading them onto a metal bin on wheels that he pushed by hand along the boulevard…..By the morning the road was clean, but thanks to the wind the process had to be restarted a few hours later.

Celebrations

Two days after successfully running a reception at work to celebrate the beginning of Albania's centenary, I received an invitation from friends to a birthday dinner at a local restaurant.

It was my first visit to this establishment, where, I found out, one would entertain foreign guests because of its ambience and good food. Upon arrival, I was impressed by its décor and atmosphere. The rustic setting has in its center a huge working fireplace used for cooking, and its light fixtures are covered with handmade linen covers, which are woven in the northern city of Shkoder, as well as their beautiful red tablecloths.

As the party gathered I realized I was the only ‘outside’ member, totally unrelated to the birthday person and his entire family, but I was honored to be considered by all part of their extended family, which I have known now for almost two decades.

The individual being celebrated is married to a vivacious and energetic wife (a psychologist), and they have two daughters.

There are now grandparents, so far from one daughter, of two beautiful grandchildren.

Various courses of foods (including some exceptionally delicious grilled meats) were served by an attentive and friendly staff.

The conversation was lively throughout the evening, and by the time the cake was served everyone also joined in singing and dancing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Busy weekends

As per tradition the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend in NY sees the start of the holidays' sales. I just watched on TV the madness caused yesterday during this, so called, 'black Friday', and can report that something similar has happened today (Saturday) in Tirana.

Another 'super' megastore, named TEG (for Tirana East Gate) was inaugurated in this capital. From what I hear, it contains products and stores that represent more than 20 different foreign countries.

The police had to intervene to redirect the vehicular traffic that jammed one of the longest throuroughfares of this city leading to this mammoth complex, which registered more than 138,000 visitors in this first day of operation.

Just like in NY advertising brochures are slipped under apartments' doors every day by all sorts of businesses, including restaurants and food establishments that, however, in Tirana do deliveries by motor scooters and not by bicycles. TEG was no exception. Actually, since a week ago, it also anchored 2 large balloons with their logo on it, shaped as ducks, into the Lana canal that crosses the city. Today I noticed that some passing children had fun jumping onto them from the surrounding green areas bordering this waterway. Needless to say one of them eventually slipped and got himself soaked, but they were all having a great time!!

Health market in Tirana

When in Tirana it is impossible not to notice the large number of medical facilities everywhere in town. Although it may seem an exaggeration, every couple of blocks one may find at least a dental clinic, and a pharmacy. This fact does not surprise me since it's no secret that for years some Europeans travel to Tirana for all their dental care, handled skillfully and inexpensively here.

Now there is also a fair number of foreign hospitals (Italian, Greek, Turkish, American) that have proliferated in the past few years in addition to the state medical institutions. Some of the latest methods of operations and health treatments are available here, for a fee of course, but they are performed by well known, foreign doctors, who offer their services in their own specialties by traveling to this capital on a regular basis.

I am making these statements from pure observation, but also from talks with the many friends I have here that, in the past, could afford to get treatments they felt comfortable with abroad, but now are happy to have choices in loco.

Personally, I have been fortunate enough in my travel and visits to Albania in the past 2 decades not to be in need of any of these medical services, and have done some shopping only a couple of times at local pharmacies, where I always found multilingual, competent, and extremely courteous personnel.

One such occasion happened the other day and wish to mention it since it involved the purchase of a prescription drug, needed due to an extended stay in town. This medication is quite expensive in the U.S., but I discovered that is part of the free market here.

Not only I did not need any medical prescription from a doctor to get it, but I calculated its cost to be 1/5th of what is charged in NY for same. BTW, this was not a substitute or a generic version, but the actual product, by the actual drug company, in its original package, sealed by its manufacturer. It was a real surprise for me, and this reality makes me wonder……

Albanian development

For almost two decades now that I travel to Albania regularly, I have witnessed sweepingly great changes in all sorts of Albania life, most of which are still, though, concentrated in its capital, Tirana, where a large number of Albanians from the hinterland has been flowing into for better opportunities.

But, another flow of people has been slowly, but increasingly occurring in the country from abroad. They are foreign visitors, curious to get to know a nation mysteriously isolated for more than half a century, which is now a fully fledged member of NATO, and aspiring to become a European state in the near future.

Some of Albania’s natural beauty consists of inland (splendid, mountainous) areas that are slowly getting better discovered thanks to new access roads, while its very attractive coastline, spanning over two seas (Adriatic & Ionian), offers Mediterranean climate throughout the year.

Tourism, touted by local and foreign tourist agencies, continues to grow and is an important element of business development, as indicated in this article of Balkans.com.

Another area of development is publishing, proven by an annual book fair that, each year, now attracts more and more participants with a growth of interesting printed materials, as confirmed also by this article in The Economist.

Blessed climate

Late last month, as I was leaving northern Italy, I left behind bad weather, only to hear and see that wintry conditions were also creating disasters in the U.S., but, here in Tirana, we are still blessed with a milder climate and wonderful sunny days.

The temperature has now dipped a bit at night, but during the day a light jacket is quite sufficient in walking around. On Friday, actually, someone came to meet me at my office, in short sleeves.

Last Sunday it was wonderful to still be able to eat lunch outdoors. It took place at a restaurant that has the shape of an airplane because is located just a few km away from Tirana’s International airport. The structure also houses a hotel and a bar.

It’s in the middle of the countryside, and offers interesting views of air traffic. The dining tables were scattered around the gardens, but the waiters moved around quickly, serving everyone in a quiet and efficient manner.

I could not but marvel about the beautiful display of violets in the surrounding garden and pool areas.

[the very old olive tree still thriving in the midst of flower beds]
The food was good as usual, and on the way back to town, a gorgeous sunset accompanied us home.

Italian visit – part 4 – ‘the old resting place’

One of the first places I visited while in Ghemme was the village’s cemetery, which is a jewel of a place, for its architecture and layout.

Here I have the family plots that I wanted to spruce up for All Saints and Dead days on November 1st, and 2nd, since I would not be in town to share the annual commemorative ceremonies and traditional annual visits done at this time of the year.

It’s also a place where I usually like to spend an hour or so walking all along its peripheral arcades to view the tombs that carry names and pictures of people I used to know during my youth. It’s a peaceful and relaxing visit that brings back many memories.

The newest addition to this cemetery, is quite modern in style. Contrary to the old area where the internments are done in cemented chambers underground, here the single graves are situated above ground, stacked in drawer-like style.

The entire complex is kept spotless and full of flowers by daily visits of the town’s residents.

My family plots are kindly taken care of all year around by the same old school friend that organized the big annual luncheon I described in my previous post.

Here rest in peace my Italian ancestors, grandparents whom I lived with during WWII, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My mother is buried in NY, while my Father and his beloved brother, are interred in Tirana, after I was able to reunite their remains in 1995. My paternal ancestors and grandparents, instead, are buried in the mountain areas near Podgorica (Montenegro), where they lived and where, to date, I still have 4 generations of living cousins.

My Italian visit lasted only a few days, but, overall, I was able to cover a lot of ground while in the familiar areas of my youth and see all I could. Now am back in Tirana, for more work and other types of meetings.

Italian visit – part 3 – ‘with friends & relatives’

I had scheduled a round of visits in the old village of my youth, while being hosted by one branch of cousins, who own food related industries in this area.

[my cousins' home]

[being restructred into a spa, friends' villa with a huge garden behind, where we played as kids]
My cousins' beautiful apartment is on the first floor of their huge building, while the 2nd floor contains a studio, and at least 3 bedrooms and related bathrooms facilities for guests.

They own a big German shepherd by the name of Ulisse, terribly protective of its lady owner; a powerful and fierce dog, who, eventually, accepted my presence in the household.

Its big eyes were constantly following my movements when I was doing something, especially in the kitchen, and ultimately would park himself on my side waiting for some goodie to be offered to him, as he is used to.

On Saturday night my cousins drove me to another town, where they planned to have dinner also with some other friends, with whom they play lots of golf together. I already knew one of the couples since I had hosted their daughter in NY years ago. The restaurant, owned by a Sicilian that moved north 20 years ago, is known for excellent fish dishes which we enjoyed thoroughly, followed by an exquisite dessert of meringue puffs covered with melted dark chocolate, and washed down by ‘ratafia`’, a sweet, but strong cherry liqueur!

One of my old school friends in Ghemme that had solicited my visit to Italy, annually plans a luncheon with the village people born in the same year, as per a tradition dating back to WWI. Wanting to include me this year, she planned it to take place on the Sunday that I was in town.

By 10:30am we gathered at the church to attend mass, during which time our presence was acknowledged and addressed by the officiating priest.

It was followed by a visit to the cemetery to remember those who passed away during the year, and in the past.

By 1pm our above group reached a nearby town where the luncheon was organized in a local restaurant, known for good food. There, we were joined by other natives that now live elsewhere, but return to the village for events such as this. The menu was extensive, beautifully served and the whole affair lasted 5 hours!

[sorbet served mid-meal before the grilled meats]

All sorts of goodies were enjoyed by everyone together with lots of conversation, catching up with family news and happenings, and ending up with old songs that one member that has a gorgeous voice usually delivers at the end of the gathering, supported by a cheering chorus!

At day's end, my friend and I drove home one of the attendees, who owns a big farm (known as a 'cascina' in Italian) in the outskirts of our village. Here, while sipping another espresso, we learned a few things about this farm's history and had an interesting visit of the grounds. Now they no longer have the big cows' stable of the past that produced milk and cheese, but rent some of their fields to a shepherd that brings his flock of sheep and goats down from from the mountains during the fall and winter seasons.