Tirana, Albania 2

The former communist dictator Enver Hoxha had citizens build a couple hundred thousand bunkers throughout the country in a paranoid frenzy, thinking the Americans were going to nuke it or invade Albania for some reason. In fact, none of us even knew where the country was.

But now several of these bunkers are museums and we decided to go to the larger one on the outskirts of town called Bunk'art 1. It's a large bunker complex that was supposed to hold the high government officials during a nuclear attack. It's now a fascinating history museum with art exhibits. Some of the details of all their recent wars was too much but it is fascinating. King Zog? Never heard of him but I love his name.

The best part was seeing the private bunker that was supposed to hold Hoxha. It was pretty sparse.

We walked around town a lot more and enjoyed the parks and chill vibe of Tirana. After splurging on an expensive meal the night before, we opted for a cheap local cafeteria style restaurant for lunch. It was just as delicious. Lots of workmen came in and ate quickly. Each got three pieces of white bread with their meal.

We took our time and ordered a half liter carafe of local white wine. Deanne ordered white beans with beef and it was incredibly tender and savory. I opted for stuffed peppers and couldn't have been happier.

Deanne found a cooking school so we booked that for dinner last night. It was really fun and there was way too much food. We couldn't eat it all. The class included a couple from Albania who live in Prague and missed their home cooking, a family of four from Stuttgart, Germany, and two women from England. We made fast friends via raki (Balkan brandy) and wine.

We made a dessert, burek with onions and tomatoes instead of cheese, and Tave Kosi, the Albanian national dish. Burek is Albanian fast food and it's usually phyllo dough stuffed with cheese but you can put anything in it. And Tave Kosi is lamb marinated in yogurt sauce and then baked. It was all crazy good.

We were only one block away from Skandebeg Square, so afterwards we went to listen to some free music at a festival they were having this weekend. That was fun, especially seeing the people dancing in the traditional slow circles.

On our last full day in town we planned on having a picnic in a cemetery. I know, weird isn't it? But those can be fun, especially when the tombstones are works of art. But we waited forever for our first bus, then got stuck in traffic so we got off and walked after only the first stop! We lost a whopping 80 cents on that deal. Then we waited forever for the second bus and decided it wasn't worth it.

Instead, we had a picnic in a small park behind a mosque and enjoyed people watching. Then we stumbled upon a fish market and had the Albanian version of the Fredo Cappuccino at a really nice Albanian coffee chain.

I'm absolutely astounded at the number of coffee shops, cafes and restaurants here. There were so many in Greece also but I think there's even more here. Are they just fronts for the Albanian Mafia?

Tonight we'll go back to the Music Festival in Skanderbeg Square.

More photos and videos are here.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2ePiSBgT1Dtiukfy5もっと詳しく