Triana, Mrizi pottery workshop, Shkoder

For this week-long pre-trip extension, we had eight participants that included three men, all retired physicians, and eight women, all retired with very interesting careers. And the trips are all educationally oriented.

Today, we observed the owner of a local pottery workshop. He can put out a piece in 2 to 3 minutes each before firing. He loves his work. A neighbor family runs a busy farm, producing wine, salami, cheese, and much more. Both families had left Albania due to the Communist period and decided to come back home afterwards.

Lunch was at the farm restaurant. There was no menu to pick from. Every few minutes, they would bring out a few more items for everyone. This continued for about 40 minutes. It was all very good and all were satisfied.

Pictured are two of the medium-sized concrete bunkers built to stop any invasion by the great enemy, the United States. Enver Hoxha, former Prime Minister of Albania, was very paranoid. The bunkers were death traps!Read more