It was a long journey from Cinque Terra in Italy to Tirana, the capital of Albania. A two and a half hour train trip, a forty minute delay on the train, a half hour change over time (which I was grateful for given the delay to the trains), another few hours on the train and I’d made it to Milan. Once finally at Milan’s main station, it was another half hour train to the airport.
The slight catch at Milano Malpensa Airport was that there were no food shops once you went through the security gate. Normally this wouldn’t have been an issue except that my flight was delayed for three hours. My experience with Wizz Air was a dream compared to that with of other budget airlines I’ve previously flown on. No one yelling no the plane for starters.
Given my flight was delayed and now arrived at around 0030hrs, I was worried about getting to the hostel given that it closed reception at 2300hrs. I messaged and emailed from Milan with no reply. I called on WhatsApp on the airport wifi and to my relief someone was there waiting for me.
Negotiating a taxi price at 0030hrs in the morning is tricky. I was a bit worried as the taxi driver took me to a random car and told me his price was three times what I knew it should have been from online research before getting there. But with no other taxi’s insight, what choice did I have? At least someone knew I was supposed to arrive to the hostel soon.
The hostel was fabulous to my relief! I kind of felt that I’d been transported into the 70s! It was a place for alternative and creative people to gather. I’m in no way creative or alternative but the people there was so friendly, I felt right at home (and the bathroom was a thousand time better than it had been in Italy!).
After getting over my initial shock at arriving in the middle of the night to an unfamiliar place, I woke up the next morning to explore Albania. Several people from the hostel were going on a walking tour of the city and this was one of the best things I did while in Tirana! I had never done a free walking tour before but I learnt so much about the history of Albania and got a good feel for the surrounding area. Eri (I think his name was) was a fabulous guide!
Eri told us that once the end of communism came about in 1991, the first thing introduced to the people of Albania was Coca Cola. People supposedly put their empty cans on their mantle pieces. The other great thing that they discovered was bananas! Eri’s grandfather didn’t know what name was for banana and so would ask Eri and his father for Coca Cola. When they arrived back with the Coke, his grandfather was confused about why they hadn’t brought him back a banana.
Some of the other top activities I did included Bunk Art 1 and 2 (although you probably don’t need to go both), the cable car with a great panoramic view of the city and the ocean and venturing to some of Albania’s second hand clothes markets. I can thank a couple from Melbourne that I met for this experience: Eugenie and Felix! Felix ran a business selling vintage clothes and was on the hunt for some vintage clothes. I invited myself along and learnt a lot about vintage caps!
The National Historical Museum was great. It helped me solidify my understanding of some of the social history of Albania that I learnt during the walking tour. The tribal history, the ancient Roman history and the modern history, from a democracy to a monarchy, to fascism, to communism and then an open democracy. Albania had seen a lot of change especially in the last one hundred and twenty years.
A few things that I didn’t see that I would love to see next time I am in Tirana are the Archaeological Museum which was sadly closed when I was there and the House of Leaves Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of surveillance during the communist era.
So many people that I met on my trip in Tirana were keen to leave and see the country side. I got the impression that some people weren’t too impressed with what the city had to offer but I found that the people were all very friendly and willing to help, the food was great, there was a lot to see and a lot to learn. Albania and the hostel were a great place to meet people and make friends which made the experience all the more worth while, especially when travelling by myself. I hope that I can come back to Albania to see all the things I didn’t see this time!
Daisy Azmi 