Albania is heavenly...

...for history buffs.(and not just history buffs!)

Article from the Times newspaper in the U.K. advising holiday makers going for 2 weeks to Corfu to take a couple of days break in Albania.

I would recommend that as well...or how about holidaying in Albania and taking a couple of days break in Corfu?! ;-)

What's in YOUR suitcase?

Summer is coming, and I guess more than a few Albanians will be returning home to catch some sun and enjoy their mum's cooking!

However, surely the temptation is to try to take some of Albania back with them on the aeroplane!

Wine, cheese, byrek, raki, ...some things that you just can't find in the "land of plenty"!

My parents tell me that once returning from Israel someone took strawberries as their carry on luggage. As the plane dipped and turned the strawberries started to drip down on all the passengers. No-one owned up to be the "strawberry-owner".

Just be careful though....as this article will tell you...I sometimes take a kilo of groshe with me, but I certainly wouldn't have thought of taking a whole goat!( I hope it wasn't in his carry-on baggage, or that would be one smelly trip)

Albania on horseback

Interesting site here regarding the trip by Robin and Louella Hanbury-Tenison on horse back through Albania. They start in Theth and end up in Gjirokaster. Looking forward to seeing the film and their book in the future.

Lead Mosque - Xhamia e Plumbit

I hear that money is being made available from the governement and the “Bashkia” for the renovation of the Lead Mosque.
Built towards the end of the 1700’s this is one of the few mosques that were not destroyed around 1967, when Enver Hoxha’s communist government declared Albania an “atheistic country” and banned all religious meetings and literature.

Some of these buildings have now been rebuilt….like the Mosque in the main street and the one in Parruc, along with the Bell/Clock Tower at the large Catholic Church and the tall tower with the illuminated cross at the Françeskan Church.
However, it has taken a long time for anything to be done regarding the Lead Mosque.

It appears that it has been “unlucky” in many ways.
The River Drini seems to have caused the land around the mosque to rise and what used to be an elevated mosque now is on the ground level.
Also, many people have built houses nearby which appears to have caused blockage in the draining of rainwater and the mosque is often surrounded by pools of water.

Hopefully, now there will be no “red tape” and unnecessary delays in getting the work started to bring the mosque back to something of its former glory. (and a little bit of a tourist attraction!)

By the way, there is a very good photograph at the Foto Marubi building taken from Rozafa Castle looking down on the mosque surrounded by trees and shrubs that sadly are no longer there.

I will bring more news as and when work starts….but knowing Albania – don’t hold your breath!

Update on Bank repairs

I posted a few weeks ago on repairs that were started on the bank on one of the main streets of Shkoder. The bank was burnt down during the riots in March 1997. Since then there has been no work done to it, nor did there seem to be any plan for reservation, even though it is still a beautiful building.

Now, it appears that the plan is to use the building to display the exhibition of “Foto Marubi”.
Pjeter Marubi was an Italian that came to Shkoder in the mid 1850’s. He took with him some photographic apparatus and took the first photos in Albania, particularly of people in Shkoder and the North of Albania.

There are around 150,000 photographs as part of this collection dating between around 1850-1940. Since 1994 there have been endeavours to make Marubi’s work better known to the public.


At the moment, the exhibition is very well hidden, behind some building near the centre of Shkoder. It would not surprise me if many local people never knew where the exhibition is situated – nor the “treasure” within. A more public building will be more accessible to the rising number of tourists that are now visiting Shkoder, giving this exhibition it’s proper place in the town’s history!

This can only be good for Shkoder.

( I believe there is a book available on the work of Pjeter Marubi )