First of all, a confession, apart from the first shot of the beach, all of the better pictures are stock images. It was hissing it down with rain the whole time I was in Albania, and I was wrapped up in meetings most of the time in any case. The shots of the run-down housing, which give a better impression of what it is actually like, are mine, taken on a walk between the hotel and a nearby restaurant – which was, actually, excellent – on the first evening.
Those pillboxes are everywhere in Albania, a legacy of Hoxha’s paranoia. Crossing the land border into Albania is like travelling through a WW1 landscape, lines of fortifications – that would, of course, have delayed a modern Army for about, oh, I don’t know, a cigarette?
The last shot shows that, if you get out of the crappy, run-down, crowded cities, life can be quite pleasant for some – the rest of course, are on the dole in Dover or begging on the tube.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Crikey Bravo, each image sure tells a story.
Hiya, Bravo. I’ve never been to Albania, but I’ve been to places like it – squalid towns and cities surrounded by spectacular countryside. The shot of the beach is particularly reminiscent for me.
How were the people? Friendly, inquisitive, sullen or hostile?
OZ
Money grubbing brigands the lot of them.
The boy had an Albanian girlfriend for some time!
Nuff said.
He always would pick weird foreigners for girlfriends, the Mexican mathematician was another.
Strangely enough they never seemed to object to him being one legged, he always swore it was fetishism.
All of the above, QZ 🙂 Mostly very friendly. Went out to dinner on Wednesday night with a mate from Serbia and one from Bulgaria – in Tirana, this – in a local restaurant. The meal was reasonable, the local wine was excellent for table wine and the service, well, enthusiastic best describes it. The owner/waiter was keen to make a good impression as he explained, (in Greek, the only language any of us had in common,) that usually ‘tourists’ didn’t go to his restaurant, only locals.
Ah, one other thing, apart from family parties, and the central district of Tirana, where all the cool people hang out, the ambience was typical mediterranean old-style, only men in the coffee-shops and bars.
Comments crossed, Tina 🙂
Good call, Bravo. 🙂 I always made it a rule never to eat in ‘tourist’ restaurants whenever possible. Still don’t. When out and about these days I look for lunch in a roadside establishment with lots of vans and lorries outside. Portuguese workies want a quick, well cooked, well priced meal and lots of it. That’ll do for me too.
OZ
Thanks for the pictures Bravo. I looked at the beach photo and wondered why we make so much fuss about keeping our bit of the world clean… 🙂
Interesting part of the world, Bravo. I’ve just been on a quick fact finding expedition, courtesy of Google. I have to admit I don’t know much about it, but I’m not about to book a holiday!
Interesting snapshots Bravo. You have captured something that the tourist brochures wouldn’t show! Nonetheless quite revealing. (There was some footage tonight on BBC re a Norman Wisdom tribute.)