Skip to main content

In Tirana


The Artificial Lake






The Lake is part of the Main Park






Tirana traffic - though this is a rare sight. Most people prefer
a Mercedes-Benz or an SUV


The Mayor, Edi Rama, is an artist...


...the city is his canvas


One of the many construction sites in the city


A Tirana street - another construction site


Street surface up close - this is why we drive an SUV


Some of our neighbours - local street dogs


The British Memorial Cemetery in the Main Park


This is where the official British Remembrance Day service
is held


Skanderbeg Square - heart of Tirana


Mosque of Et'hem Bey in Skanderbeg Square


Statue of Skanderbeg - the national hero


Skanderbeg and Mosque


Money changing at the foot of the Skanderbeg statue

Comments

Anonymous said…
Enjoyed the pics
Anonymous said…
ulhey Alwyn, the pictures are great, looks like its great weather! and your house looks lovely too! hope you and viki are both well, Naomi
ITS said…
You know that marble memorial plate for the fall British soldier that you took a picture of, used to be the tomb stone for Enver Hoxha...!!!!

My-oh-my.... I am sure you are shocked but read this story and be amazed:

http://www.oneparty.co.uk/compass/compass/com13605.html

Cheers,
olli said…
Hi ITS. Thanks for the information. I had another look at the memorial and saw the holes she was talking about. It's a great story - I hope it's true. I've contacted the people who run the cemeteries to see if they can confirm it. I will let you know.

I read your piece on the internationals - I'm not quite as cynical as you. I think there are just too many doing the same kind of things.

I'll keep reading.

Popular posts from this blog

Dy Rame Per Tirane

I was watching Top Channel last night, first the news, then Fiks Fare. According to them Tirana's citizens now have a choice not only between Rama and Olldashi, but also between Rama and Rama. A minor right-wing faction, Parti 'Balli Kombetar' , submitted papers to the election authorities registering their candidate, Akile Rama. The people on Fiks Fare got hold of the papers and sent a reporter and camera team to the address listed for Mr A Rama. After much ringing of the bell the gate was reluctantly opened by a middle-aged woman who refused to speak to the reporter and tried to close the gate on her. Back in the studio Saimiri and Doctori - the two presenters of Fiks Fare - revealed that Mr Akile Rama was 73 years old, in hospital, and did not know he was now a candidate for mayor. They also compared two documents - the papers submitted on his behalf, and a genuine document he had signed. The signatures were not even remotely similar. There was an interview with the lea

Albania and the Perils of the 21st Century

Another article on religion in Albania appeared yesterday. Patrick Poole, writing in the American Thinker , argues that Saudi funding for the construction of mosques and the training of imams is a threat to Albania, since these mosques and imams reflect the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Guide Turistike

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council , the future is bright for Albania. The Council ranks Albania ninth out of 174 countries for tourism growth over the next ten years. A summary of the Council's report is available, as is the full report complete with many pages of graphs, charts and spreadsheets. This summer I have seen a number of tourists on the streets of Tirana. Some of them may well be Albanian expats, or people of Albanian descent returning home to visit family, but others are genuine 'foreigners'. Judging from their appearance, they are probably best described as 'independent travellers' - the kind of people who are not interested in luxury hotels or crowded beaches. This is a good start, but independent travellers are not the kind of big spenders that the tourist industry likes. In the longer term, if Albania wants to bring in the kind of free-spending tourists who currently holiday in Croatia or Slovenia, there will have to be a huge invest