Tirana, Albania

Arriving in Tirana from Sicily was like a breath of fresh air. What was immediately noticeable was how clean and modern the city was. On arrival, we walked out of the airport terminal and were directed to a coach that was waiting to depart for the city. For €4 each we were delivered to the city centre which was bustling like a modern first-world metropolitan.

We had no real preconceptions about Albania and very little knowledge about its history or geography. The only person that I know who’s been here rode a horse over the mountain range and described it to be a pretty wild place. Our decision to come here had again been guided by Skyscanner.com which offered one of the cheapest flights out of Sicily. We quickly discovered that Albania is still relatively unknown to mainstream travellers. One reason for this is that it was under communist rule until the early 90's. During that time, access into and out of the country was heavily restricted. As a result, the country took a while to improve its economic situation before it eventually started attracting tourists. In saying that, immediately we got the impression that Albanians are extremely friendly, and working hard to improve the reputation of their home to the outside world.

After a fairly busy past 2 weeks in Italy, we were keen to settle into a single place again for a while. Helping that situation was the ability to rent a full apartment with all the creature comforts for only $35/night. We rented an apartment in the city centre and began to look at what was here to do. Still a bit naive to their recent past, I found a museum nearby that had repurposed a Cold War bunker and was recommended for people who wanted to understand the realities of living during the years of communism. The entrance led directly underground. It connected to a series of passages beneath the city centre that were designed to withstand a nuclear blast. Each room had been arranged with displays that took you on a journey through what became an increasingly police state. At one point in time, 1 in 3 people were spying for the security services to identify and prosecute any opposition to the government. An extremely eye opening and sobering experience that really described the state of fear that was perpetrated on the population during this time.

Keen to find a nice beach to settle in for a while we found that the nearest coast town was only 45 minutes away. Despite our easy transfer from the airport we started to realise that public transport isn’t very easy to navigate as a tourist. While the buses themselves are quite modern, the schedule and routes aren’t that clear on google. We ended up scoring a taxi with our bags intended to go to the bus terminal however for an easy €25 we were taken the whole way to Durres.Read more