Week 5
8/4 - 8/6 | Tirana
Welcome to Albania. I learned after arriving here that the country has a bit of a reputation for being backwards due to a long period of isolation by the communist regime that governed it until 1991. Some things are definitely harder than they are in other European countries (paying with credit card, finding a taxi, navigating), but I was pleasantly surprised at the hip, urban feel of the city. After arriving 6 hours late (noon instead of 6am…this appears to be a theme with overnight buses in the Balkans), I taxied into the city center with some Croatian women on my bus. I then dropped my bags and my hostel and headed out to get a feel for the town.
Tirana is being built up rapidly, and has a very modern feel because of it. Lots of new buildings and construction is apparent around the city, but the modern infrastructure suits it well. One of my favorite features was the traffic lights—instead of just having overhead lamps, stops in Tirana have LED strips along the entire traffic light pole, which illuminate for both cars and pedestrians. It makes it very obvious when it’s your turn to cross and has a very unique feel too. I wish they did this in other places.
My first stop was a surveillance museum called the House of Leaves. This was the old command center of the Sigurimi, or the Albanian secret police during the communist dictatorship post-WWII. Inside you can see the surveillance equipment and techniques they used to suppress, harass, and control the population during their reign. It has a somber flavor, like the House of Terror in Budapest or the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, as torture was also conducted on citizens inside the building.
In the afternoon I took a walking tour (per usual) to learn more about the city’s history and culture. We visited everything from Orthodox cathedrals to many, many statues of Skanderbeg (the national hero), to the Pyramid of Tirana—an old government building-turned-nightclub-now-almost-turned-shopping-center. Albania is full of surprises.
The next day was misty and cloudy, and unfortunately, I had booked a day trip to Kruje, the historic capital of Albania about an hour outside of Tirana. On the way up, rain began to set in, further dampening the experience (and the view—Kruje is nestled among mountains that overlook the entire countryside up to Montenegro). On arrival, I and Xack (pronounced: Jack, Albanian is weird) my tour guide meandered through the markets in the old medieval village before taking refuge inside the national museum in Kruje castle. There I learned more about Skanderbeg and the brief history of Albanian independence between the Austrians and the Ottomans. The power went out several times inside the castle, much to my amusement, but otherwise, the museum was well-architected and I was happy I visited.
Unable to go for lunch at the mountaintop restaurant with an incredible view (thanks, rain), Xack drove me back to Tirana and I ate at Oda, a traditional Albanian restaurant. I ran into a couple of people from my hostel and shared some lamb shank, traditional Albanian bread, and stuffed peppers. The food was quite good, especially in the cloudy weather. We escaped back to the hostel (seating was outside and we got a bit wet) to dry off and prepare for the rest of our day.
I took the afternoon to wander around the streets as the rain had worn off again. I found myself near Bunkart 2, another communist history museum located in an old military bunker, and spent another few hours depressing myself over the atrocities that the Albanian government committed on its people not even 40 years ago. Ironically, this depressing museum is located next to a beautiful pink building which houses the Department of Energy, thanks to quirky choices by the mayor of Tirana. The evening I spent watching sunset from the Pyramid, people-watching in the main square, and going on a pub crawl with a bunch of friendly Dutch people. Overall, a good way to spend my final hours in this whacky city.
8/6 | Frankfurt
I left Tirana early the next day, but was forestalled on my way to Bulgaria with a long layover (overnight) in Frankfurt. I’ve heard that the city is industrial and mostly forgettable, but I happened to be there on one of the best days of the year: the closing of the Main festival. All along the river and into the main square, booths and rides and lights were set up. Fair food of all kinds (from mushrooms to sausages to crepes), carnival games, carousels, thrill rides, you name it—everything was here. It felt like the entire city had come into the streets to celebrate, even though it was really cold and raining. I had an amazing evening sampling junk food, going on rides, and dancing in the rain with old and young people alike to American music sung live by a local German band. My low expectations were drastically exceeded—same time, same place next year?
8/7 - 8/10 | Sofia
My Bulgarian adventure took place in the country’s capital (surprise, surprise) of Sofia. This is actually one of my favorite cities I’ve visited so far on the trip. It’s not over-touristed, it has a nice city center with a main shopping street and large public parks, it feels safe and not too spread out, public transport and infrastructure is very good for Eastern Europe, and I liked the Bulgarians quite a bit. I spent my afternoon getting a feel for the city and went out to a couple of neat, unique bars later that night (I highly recommend Hambara, which is a windowless bar lit only by candles).
The next day was tours galore. I spent the morning on a historic tour of the city (everything from its early Roman occupation to its state in the age of the Ottoman Empire to the modern communist state), left the afternoon for personal errands, and then partook in a graffiti tour of some of the slightly adjacent neighborhoods later on in the evening. Sofia has a very eclectic mix of historical architecture, art, and culture. This day was just a small sampling of everything the city has to offer, and I loved it.
That night, I joined a pub crawl, but I got distracted at the second bar by a group of Bulgarian guys who I had met in the street the night prior. Instead, I ended up bar hopping with them, learning more about life in Sofia, and chatting with other Bulgarians (most of the conversations I didn’t understand, but it was fun anyway). After an exhausting night of running around the streets of Sofia (including a few parkour shenanigans), I somehow reunited with my original pub crawl group at our final stop of the evening, after Lime scootering halfway across the city at 3 in the morning. I took this as a sign to finally head home, and I slept very well that night.
My final day in Sofia I revisited some of my favorite areas and took a communism history tour in the afternoon. A full 3 hours, this was an intense, deep look into the reign of the communist party in the country, the attitudes of the locals towards their history, and more. Along the way, I made friends with a couple of Bulgarian cousins and we went sneaker shopping and for traditional Bulgarian food afterward. After a good conversation over dinner in the park, we parted ways and I headed off to the bus station to head over to Bulgaria.
