Midweek holiday break

This year, according to the sighting of the moon, the celebration of Small Bajram, the Feast of Sacrifice, fell on Thursday, October 25^th .  It is observed annually by Muslims around the world, when, by tradition, they sacrifice sheep for this holiday, giving the meat out to their family, friends and to the poor. This meat is called kurban in Bosnia, thus the holiday is known as Kurban Bajram. This day is one of 3 national holidays observed annually in Albania also by the US Embassy, the others being Columbus and Mother Teresa Days.   

I was invited by some friends to join them for lunch, which took place in the countryside, in the outskirts of the city of Lezhë, one and a half hour car ride, northwest from Tirana.  This town of about 28,000 people, according  to some historians,  is considered the site of the League of Lezhë  where Albania’s national hero, Skanderbeg, united the Albanian princes of his time in the fight against the Ottoman Empire.

Today,  Lezhë is known for its site of Skanderbeg’s mausoleum. He was buried here in the cathedral that was dedicated to Saint Nicholas.

From the city itself, it took another 20 minutes or so to reach the restaurant my friends had chosen. It was really way out of town, located in the middle of nowhere, on hilly country and roads, where there were no signs or directions of any kind.  Curious about how they knew this place, I was informed that they also learned about it from other friends, just by word of mouth.  It is, what is known in Italian as, an ‘agroturismo’, which is a rustic inn that prepares foods using only local, specialty products, at usually very good prices. In some cases, these establishments also offer lodgings. 

Upon arrival we found that some cars ahead of us were denied entrance without reservation. The place was quite large, with tables setup also outdoors.   

The menu, as usual in these places, is pretty much the same for everyone, but can be tailored to people’s taste.  

We decided to skip the first course, because we wanted to fully enjoy the large variety of appetizers, which was followed by 2 types of meat (chunks of roasted lamb and sheep meat, grilled on skewers in very small bites) accompanied by 3 different versions of potatoes, all very delicious.  

One dish I particularly favored was fresh ‘porcini’ mushrooms, now in season,  the top of which was grilled to perfection (they sold here at the mere amount of less than $12.00/Kg). What a treat! 

The desserts consisted of a variety of “frutti di bosco” (wild cherries, blackberries, cranberries, and others only found in this area), a creamy and fluffy piece of the house cheesecake, and a drink also made from cranberries.  To wash down this gargantuan meal, ‘raki’ and ‘espresso’ coffee were also served.

 

After snapping a couple of pictures, we leisurely rode back to Tirana, but made a small detour to see the town of Shengjin, which houses the 3^rd in size, commercial port of Albania.

Shengjin's ‘black sand’ beaches are favored by the Kosovars that now flock to the Albanian coast to spend their summer holidays.  New roads and building constructions of all sorts were evident everywhere along the shoreline.  A gorgeous sunset accompanied us for a while, and we reached Tirana when it was already dark. 

It was a perfect afternoon since it allowed me to relax a bit and have some respite from my current work that occupies me also on weekends. 

 

Albanian Holiday weekend

At the end of this long holiday weekend in Albania, due to the annual Mother Teresa Day celebrated on Friday, October 19^th, Tirana has added a marathon on Sunday morning. 

It is the first time of such an event in Albania with more than 3000 participants from all over the world greeted by the Tirana’s Mayor, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Tourism and it befits the country’s centenary celebrations of its independence. 

The Mayor’s online site has posted many, many pictures of the event, but I am borrowing a couple of them to share here with my friends, who are not on Facebook. 

 

 I also was able to snap a couple of shots from my balcony, but only caught the tail end of the run. 

 

The way to travel

A few years ago I had the chance to take a R/T trip from NYC to Europe in first class, and I never forgot that pleasurable occurrence. The first European connecting hub then, was the huge Paris airport of Orly, which I had to navigate by walking miles from one gate to another. The passengers served at the time in the classy lounges were quite infrequent, smartly and elegantly dressed men and women, more or less in equal numbers, who sipped champagne without obsessively occupying themselves with cell phones, and none of them carrying laptops.  I was pleasantly surprised to have found a couple of unused computers, available on the premises, and I remember gladly using that service to get in touch with and update friends and relatives about my travel.

Although this was not long ago, services, people, and facilities have changed a great deal.

Thanks to accumulated frequent flyer miles, the other day I was fortunate again to replicate the experience, this time of traveling  to Albania in Business Class with similar comforts, but with very different observations, not only in the waiting lounges, but also on board the aircrafts.

First class passengers are still few these days, as they were years ago, and these are really individuals that can afford the enormous cost of high style traveling, or related travel benefits from their employers. In some short routes, however, they may have to be accommodated in a lower class since old, and smaller aircrafts only offer two levels of service.  The Business class of today’s travelers, as the word suggests, is really geared to the people that need all the facilities and services that allow them to arrive at destination feeling relaxed and ready to conduct their work and mission. Their short time turn around or continuation of long haul travels, coupled with time zones changes, can create havoc in their way of living and bodies, understandably so.  

Aside from the myriad of technical facilities now available, these lounges are designed with a variety of laid out areas that range from separate booths with desktops and printers, to chaise lounges and foot stools for TV large screen viewing, to high stools and shelves for laptop’s connection and usage, or a quick meal, to comfortable armchairs and small tables where to consume food and imbibe. Everything is self serviced: from all sorts of foodstuff (from soups to nuts), beverages, multi type coffee machines, and even newspapers and magazines, while a multitude of staff quietly and steadily cleans up and restocks the supplies. 

In Vienna, where I had the longest wait for my connection to Tirana, I was able to watch the steady flow of passengers and noticed not only that the place was constantly occupied (almost full to capacity), but, with the exception of a very few elderly couples, the crowd was evidently composed of business people, 90% of them young and mature men – the former in chino pants and t-shirt, the latter in more conservative suits. 

For the past couple of years the food on board, even in economy class, in my experience with both Lufthansa and Austrian airlines, has been constantly very good.  The new generations of chefs employed by the airlines these days offers more sophisticated types of dishes, especially in the higher classes of service, which I found interesting, but less important to the spacious areas in the cabin, the pleasurable legroom and the seats repositioning even horizontally for undisturbed night sleep. 

I found funny, however, that the ‘greater’ distance that one enjoys from the seat in front, actually does not offer a convenient reach to what one may store in the provided pouches, and that positioning of drinking glasses right on the arm rest is not very practical.  To offset the restricted shoulder and leg rooms, the ‘squeezed’ seats setup in economy class, on the other hand, provides more useful solutions in this respect, including an easier handling of the watching monitors .  Thus…….it can be re-said that there is always a balance in life!

Two great surprises during this trip were the arrival terminals both at Frankfurt and Vienna.  New, huge, enormously long areas that in Frankfurt still lack speedy transport facilities, since this building was inaugurated 24 hrs before our arrival.  It was practically empty, but with well marked signs that indicated more than 60 dates, if I recall correctly. I had no problems in reaching my next gate because my requested assistance was promptly carried out as usual, thanks to typical German efficiency.  I was informed that this new terminal in Frankfurt  that will handle mostly transport to and from the Americas, covers an area equivalent in size to the entire Hanover airport!  The long corridors have a width equal to a highway of at least 4 lanes and it was interesting to watch service personnel moving around in their work by using small bicycles for transport.  

The new terminal in Vienna, was already an extremely busy place, also huge, and with similar rectangular, and long construction. Frankly, I missed the familiar old round shape hub with a dozen gates all the way around, which were so easily and conveniently reachable, but the changes do, evidently,  provide better movement and handling of larger crowds, with more efficiency, and less cost.

Even at Tirana’s airport service is getting better and more efficient.  In no time I got my luggage and with my trusted old driver I reached my apartment  in about half hour.  As usual, my local friend had arranged for my housekeeper to clean the place, and my refrigerator was stacked with some of my favorite foods, with a huge basket of fresh fruits, enough to feed an army (deliciously ripe melon, persimmon, oranges, apples, kiwis, plums, grapes, grapefruit, lemons, and bananas)!!   I feel really blessed that all I had to do is take a nice shower, and unpack, after a few phone calls……and now even my computer is connected and working, after quite a few automatic software updates! 

So to all the friends and relatives that read me, I can say that this was a very comfortable trip and now am already at work with plans and projects. Keep tuned in.   Currently the temperature in Tirana ranges nicely between  55F to 73F degrees with some showers, but by the middle of next week we should experience again 85F.