First day, and full day in Tirana

Today was cloudy and drizzly. The planned gondola ride to the top of the mountain was canceled.

The morning was spent at the large underground bunker for government officials. It is educational and scary. Reportedly, there are 170,000 smaller ones scattered around the country.

After the Nazies were defeated, the country voted to join the Soviet Union. The building style then followed the standard Communist style, all alike and cheaply done.

The nation's leader then embarked on building a progressively more oppressive regime to keep everyone in line. It then devolved into neighbors being rewarded for spying on neighbors. Who could you trust? No one! It became the North Korea of Europe.

When the iron curtain fell, the Albanian Communist regime fell also. When the demonstrations started, the police mainly stepped aside as the process was recognized as being unstoppable.Read more