G’day folks! Today I continue on the tale of last year’s ‘Dhaka to Dakar’ Adventure, and today it’s the Albanian capital of Tirana which is the focus of today’s blog! Albania’s capital is a surprising and youthful city, with a dark past and I think, a bright future!

Anyways, I was travelling Dhaka to Dakar and I had a reservation in Florence, Italy I had to keep and I was getting there by the ferry from Durres, just 30 minutes from Tirana (where the ferries for Italy leave from). So my route was always going to take me through Tirana.

The journey there is covered in the video, but to sum it all up in a paragraph, took a minibus from Skopje. I think it took about six hours including a reasonably simple border crossing in the mountains, a drive around part of the beautiful Lake Ohrid and an unnecessary food stop less than two hours from our final destination. There were only a couple of options from Skopje’s main bus station, it was cheap and not too uncomfortable but then it wasn’t full. The total distance travelled isn’t that far – less than 300 kilometres but it takes time because you are taking winding roads over mountains.

Once in Tirana I took up residence at the Tirana Square Hotel, definite budget digs well located in the centre of town, a couple of minutes walk from the main square, Skanderbeg Square which made it perfectly located even if it wasn’t super comfortable. I booked for two nights even though I was only staying one. The second night I would be on the ferry but the ferry left at 2200 and so I took the room for the second night so I could spend a day exploring the city and then return to the room and get ready in the early evening before making my way to Durres and checking in for the ferry. And that worked out really well.

Tirana I found had a really good, youthful vibe even though the history of Tirana and Albania is somewhat dark after a brutal communist regime ruled the country with an iron fist from 1946 through to 1991. During my single day in Tirana I learnt a lot about the methods used by the regime to suppress the people of Albania and hold on tight to the reigns of power through complete surveillance of the population, torture and execution. In fact this regime was as brutal as any I would say.

Much of Tirana is doable on foot which is always nice. Given a second day I would have branched out further into the city and probably head to the surrounding hills as well. But considering the restraints, I decided to stick to the centre of town.

Skanderbeg Square was and is the obvious place to start. This large square features a statue of Skanderbeg (real name Gjergj Kastrioti) a feudal warrior of the 15th century who fought against the Ottoman Empire. A significant figure clearly in Albanian history. The square itself is probably THE place to meet your friends in Tirana, and is massive. On one side is the Opera and Ballet, opposite is the National Historical Museum which I declined to visit and I thought there were clearly more interesting things to visit.

You can take your selfie by the ‘I Heart Tirana’ sign, or check out the really cool carousel there too. Further along you will find the small but attractive Et’hem Bej Mosque. This is perhaps a mosque upi could refer to as ‘cute’, and was shut during the communist times. Interesting though that building was obviously left standing and was able to be reopened in 1991. It was originally completed back in the late 1700s.

Just off the square was perhaps the highlight of my day in Tirana. Although considering what it was perhaps ‘highlight’ is not the right word. ‘Bunk Art’ are galleries around Tirana, I think perhaps there are three of them. They are housed in bunkers under the city of Tirana, I think perhaps some have art but the one I visited, Bunk Art 2, is really a museum to the communist regime and it’s secret service.

This museum utilises the space very well in telling the story of Albania as a police state, starting well before communism took full hold in Albania, with the rise of the police state dating back to around 1912. 1939 saw a fascist regime in place, and then at the end of the Second World War a totalitarian police communist state. Enver Hoxha was the man from 1944 until his death in 1985 at the head of the Communist Party. In this bunker prisoners were kept in cells, people were tortured, disappeared. Hoxha was clearly a paranoid dictator who ran the country from bunkers which are located not just in Tirana but all over the country. In Bunk Art 2 you can see replications of offices which were located there during the regime, historical artefacts such as uniforms and machines as they were and also in some rooms arranged as art. It was very eye opening and to be frank, quite frightening.

The Old Town dates back nearly 2000 years and was a short walk from there. There are some walls and a gate or two, but mostly the old city is quite gentrified and full of not particularly cheap restaurants and the like. It’s quite attractively done and makes for a nice walk, however I guess it’s a little sad that so little of the Old Town is still standing today. You might see this area referred to as ‘Tirana Castle’ but if you are looking for an actual castle, you will be disappointed.

I walked past quite a number of pleasant open parts of town. Rinia Park is worth a stop with an Independence Monument and a fountain and it was abuzz with life. Nearby is Tirana’s Resurrection Cathedral. Built in 2012 it’s a modern cathedral with a nice clock tower outside and a high dome, and is very pleasant.

Opposite is the House of Leaves. This is now a museum to wire tapping in Albania. A fairly large house, and a very pleasant one too. Except that inside was housed a massive wire-tapping operation. It’s fascinating to see all the equipment used and the stories, any foreigner staying in Albania from the 1970s onwards (maybe earlier?) would stay in a certain hotel (it was a very closed country) and their room was 100% bugged. It is a great little museum and won the award for Best Museum in Europe in 2020, so, how about that!?! Only downside is they don’t allow photography, which is a little you know, controlling! However, you can be sneaky as I was. Am I a bad person?

And so with that I made my way back to the hotel to get ready for the next leg of Dhaka to Dakar! I’m not sure Tirana has a million things to see and do, but I think it was still make a very pleasant stay for a week if you wanted or more doing day trips and enjoying what looked like a pretty decent restaurant scene. The population seemed fairly young too and the vibe was great!

Thanks for joining me on this one – next time as I continue on the Dhaka to Dakar trail I will be getting from Tirana to Florence by ferry and train in less than 24 hours! Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!