Trips

Tues., 5/22/18 - To Tirana, Albania

Today we spent at least 6 hours in our bus driving to the capital city of Tirana. Of course, Gazzi filled some of the time talking about Albania.


In 2018 it is amazing how many farmers are working without machinery in the fields. We see farmers turning and loading hay with hand rakes, donkeys pulling carts full of unbaled hay, and workers using a hoe to clear between rows of corn.

New Orthodox Cathedral	Local gas station
Shepard and flock	Harvesting hay by hand
Statue of Ali Pasha	We entered the walls enclosing the 2400 year-old Berat Castle. All of the town’s people once lived inside these walls. At one time there were 26 churches and two mosques. We walked up more steep stone block roads to visit the National Iconographic Museum (or the Museum of Onufri) inside the Church of the Dormition of St. Mary, built in 1797 (no photos, of course). We were able to go behind the elaborate iconostasis of the church into the area for the priests because the building it is now a museum and no longer a church. Our guide is a professed agnostic and was unable to tell us much of the significance of the structures or icons. We walked through the gallery with 16th c icons by Onufri and his school of painters to more modern icons from the 19th c. We ate a nice 8-course lunch in a restaurant within the walls and walked back down to our bus.
Berat Castle Map	Entrance
Walls
Daisy	Walking paths
	Courtyard of the Museum
Valley view
Valley view	Statue of Constantine
Still in the town of Berat, we stopped for photos of the Hill of a Thousand Windows and of the Osum river running in front of the hill.	Foot bridge over the Osum river
Osum river	Hill of a Thousand Windows
Berat	Osum river
Berat minaret	Berat
Greenhouses	Fields covered with plastic sheeting
	Local train
After finally arriving in Tirana, we settled into our hotel, the Rogner, right next to the Prime Minister’s residence. At 7 PM we walked to a nice restaurant on Shkurti Street for another meal of 10 dishes. All were good. Then we joined everyone at the rotating bar atop the Sky City building for an OAT included drink - Bailey’s and Sambuca for us.
Wed., 5/23/18 - Tirana, Albania This morning we set out for a tour in Tirana, the capital and most populous city, of Albania. Next to our hotel is the Prime Minister's residence with its “modern art” exhibit of flashing neon lights on the facade and a “triple mushroom” in the courtyard. The PM is an artist by profession and these pieces were done by a friend of his. We looked at the government buildings built during communist times, the two national theaters, the clock tower, a mosque, and entered the central square with the large statue of Skanderbeg astride his horse. He fought against the Ottomans in the mid-1400s and kept Albania free from Ottoman rule for 25 years. He is their national hero. We entered the Museum of History(no photos) built in 1981 with communist assistance. The exhibits are arranged chronologically with all things unearthed within the borders of Albania: Greek, Roman, some Ottoman, but mostly about Skanderbeg.
The Prime Minister's Residence	Our hotel
The poles and the support arms of the signal lights were wrapped in colored lights that changed as the signal changed from green to yellow to red. Never seen that before. It made it hard to miss the intent of the signal.	Red
Yellow	Green
The brooms are fascinating
We arrived at the Komiteti Coffee House and “museum” to listen to a presentation by Eduardo Kurtezi, a University of Tirana English professor and writer with international experience. He talked about why and how Albania has changed since declaring independence in 1912.	Komiteti Coffee House
As we walked to the Museum of History we passed Mother Teresa Square. She was born in Skopje, Macedonia of Albanian parents and both countries want to claim her. She won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2016. We looked at St. Paul’s Cathedral and listened to Gazzi’s disrespectful description of the church.
St. Paul's Cathedral	St. Paul's Cathedral - statue is of St. Paul
Statue of Mother Teresa	St. Paul's Cathedral
Old Socialist Realism statues	Old Socialist Realism statue
We walked under the sculpture called The Cloud Pavilion by the Japanese artist Sou Fujimoto - interesting and different.
Cloud Pavilion	Cloud Pavilion
One of the many very colorful buildings in Tirana	Minaret of the Ethem Bey Mosque in the center of the city
Statue of Skanderbeg	Wonderful building!
Carousel	Carousel
Nice sign	We did not take the afternoon optional tour so we walked back to our room and enjoyed some quiet time. It finally rained hard and long today. At 7 PM we met Alexandra and four others and walked to Artigiano and ate pizza. Their specialty is putting bits of truffles on many of their pizzas. I tried one but was happier with a vegetarian topping. We walked home in the rain.

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