Albania: Tirana

Tirana, Albania: the national museum
see all photos »

Since I had no power or water in the hotel room, I went for a stroll through downtown Tirana.  The main square, Skanderbeg Square, is massive and crowned by a powerful monument of Skanderbeg, the 15th century Albanian hero, on his horse.

The National Museum frames one side of the square with its social realist architecture and huge nationalist mural which graces the facade.  In the central portion of the square is an area where kids can drive motorized mini trucks.  Trying to cross the wide boulevards that circle the square is a serious challenge because Albanian drivers could care less about pedestrians.

Tirana Nightlife = Cemetery Nightlife

Tirana, Albania: statue of skanderbeg
see all photos »

I perused the surprisingly large English book section at the National Library's bookstore, and then walked past a lovely, overgrown deserted parcel of land before I ate lunch in a fantastic little kabob hut.  Most Albanians speak Italian and Albanian, so, although the kabob hut girl was hot, we unfortunately couldn't interact much.

I returned to the room and read the International Herald Tribune in the dark while I waited for my brother.  Finally, around 8 p.m., my brother Sean, Richie (bass player in my brother's band), and Brian, all Boston residents, made it to the hotel.

Tirana, Albania: statue of skanderbeg
see all photos »

I'm still amazed we all met up in Tirana on the actual day we planned.  They had their own little adventure getting to Tirana from Montenegro.  Apparently they had to hire a personal driver to get them through Albania.

My recommendation, should you ever want to travel through Albania, is to be flexible.  You never know what is going to happen.

Since it was a weekend, we were expecting Tirana to be jumping off.  It wasn't.  We had a decent dinner near a large, color infused fountain.  Our waiter is still to this day expressing amazement over our generous tip.

Tirana, Albania: the central square
see all photos »

After dinner we searched for some nightlife.  None whatsoever.  We walked all over the place, passing countless deep potholes and other sidewalk obstacles. We crossed Tirana's river into the wealthy part of town.

If you ever hear anyone mention Tirana's "river," please understand that is an extreme euphemism.  It looks like a dinky canal filled with sewage.  And it smells too.

There was a Yahoo! cafe, complete with the official Yahoo! logo and Yahoo! wastebaskets.  Something tells me Yahoo! is not aware of their Tirana counterpart.

Tirana, Albania: lovely piece of land
see all photos »

Our late night journey brought us past large government buildings, a football stadium where work was still being done, and numerous large embassy buildings, including the fortress that is the United States embassy and residence.

The U.S. embassy stands on a massive parcel of land with extraordinarily high walls and numerous security guards out front.  Despite all the embassies around, we still couldn't find much nightlife.

Finally we ran into a jazz bar that was quite nice inside.  Gracing the bar was a framed photo of Boston's own Pat Metheny (afro intact!).

Tirana, Albania: root canal anyone?
see all photos »

The bar staff didn't seem too excited to see us, so we had a beer and took off.  I drank a Corona which would prove to be one of the bigger mistakes of my trip, due to the lemon wedge that was inside.  On our way back to the hotel we did find a club with heavy activity in front, so we figured we'd check it out.

As soon as I headed toward the steps, I got a stiff arm from a burly staff member informing me I was not welcome inside.  I guess they were closing.  We took off and headed toward the Hotel California around 4:15 a.m.

Tirana, Albania: richie, brian, me and my brother
see all photos »

One of our favorite sights near the hotel was the enclosed gas station.  Yes, enclosed.  I don't know much about gas stations, but I don't think that's the best idea.