A Week of History and Travel in Albania

Last week I went on a week long trip to Albania, arriving in tirana and then travelling down to the coast to spend time in sarandë

Having landed in the midst of the protests against Jared Kushner’s attempts to buy ‘flamingo island,’ this provided an interesting comparison point to the decades of communism within Albania during the 20^th century. As a bit of a history nerd, I wanted to find out more about Albania’s communist history, especially in light of all the protests against the Prime Minister.

The capital, Tirana, is a city surrounded by mountains with winding backstreets and wide-open squares. This contradiction of the city, crammed spaces and then suddenly large empty surfaces, perhaps, sums up the contradictions of Albania itself.

Having until 1990 been under communist rule, this country has dramatically opened up in the decades since its fall. In the middle of the city is an underground museum, bunk art 2, that documents and details all of Albania’s communist history, stating and sharing all the country has endured. Once a place that had a list of what sorts of people were not allowed in the country; men with long hair, women dressed like men, anyone wearing flowy trousers or clothes. It now is extremely welcoming and happy to receive travellers. On more than one occasion we were told enthusiastically about what a great place Albania was to live, how many have tried convincing friends over the years to come and see it, but only recently has the offer been taken seriously.

What I didn’t realise was the role individual Albanian’s played in helping hide Jewish people, fleeing the holocaust. Whilst the subject of intense scrutiny and fear, Albanian’s still risked their lives hiding Jewish people. They were often put in remote mountain villages, that usually all the inhabitants of the village knew about.

The moral code Besa that Albanias lived by, was that of protecting guests at all costs, meant it was the only nazi-occupied country to make it out of WWII with a larger jewish population. Named as ‘righteous among the nations’ a room in the bunker was dedicated to non-Jewish families who took in Jewish people.  

Tirana is also a city of some unique architecture, the pyramid originally built as a memorial for Enver Hoxha is now a cultural landmark from which to get some great views of the city, as well as a place to slowly roast in the heat! 

Down by the coast of Albania lies Sarandë, by day a scene of families on beaches and tourists on boat trips, by night a single pulsing organism pumping out music along the beachfront. It too has its own intriguing history, the Butrint National Park is a half hour bus ride from sardana and is a ruin of a fortress/settlement since prehistoric time. Mentioned in Aeneid, Aenus comes to Butrint and describes what he saw as ‘Troy in miniature’ believed to be founded by Helenus son of Priam.

Flying out of Corfu, we got the short ferry across at 7am, and on our early morning traipse across the city were again reminded with the homelessness within Albania. Folded up pieces of cardboard were used as blankets, as a family of four lay asleep on the floor. We tiptoed past trying not to wake them up, but the image stayed with me long after we passed. 

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