Editor's Note: I know that most of our family and friends will likely not have the opportunity to visit Albania, so consider my "Beautiful Albania" posts to be an attempt to give you an arm chair tour of our little neck of the woods.
In my previous post I shared that Christmas-time traditionally would find us on the road, splitting our break between Illinois and Ohio. After 15 years of this holiday tradition, it felt a little strange to be in our own home for Christmas. Since we finally had back-to-back days off we decided to go away for a few days beginning on the 26th, returning to Tirana before the 'craziness' of New Years Eve.
As to where to go, we decided on Shkoder, a city in the northwestern part of the country. We heard that the former prime minister was from the north and had heavily invested in road improvements there so it wouldn't be a difficult drive.
I don't want to say that my expectations were low -- it's just that sight-seeing in Albania is ... evolving. For a worthwhile trip, one needs to utilize word-of-mouth recommendations and a good dose of self-education to know where to go and understand what you're seeing. Historical sites aren't necessarily well-preserved, well-identified (though road signs have been popping up over the past few years which is super helpful) or well-described (few sites have tour guides or multi-lingual signage/markers -- the day they offer handsets I'll fall over). In spite of doing some research and going with some idea in mind of what we wanted to find, I was still concerned we'd be able to fill our time adequately. Especially when I learned the ferry we wanted to ride (and I had devoted one entire day in our schedule to) had closed.
It turned out that we found in the north a great combination of natural beauty, rich history, decent food, new friends, and plenty to fill our days, yet also plenty of time to relax.
A break was just what we needed and we returned with an increased appreciation for the history and culture of this country we now call home.
I'm learning again that distance is relative. Looking at a map, Shkoder looks so far away. In reality, we made the trip in less than two hours.
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Ura e Mesit (or, Middle Bridge)
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Driving through town we saw signs for the Ura e Mesit, a bridge we had been told was worth visiting, so we took off in it's general direction. Less than 2km away, we started to doubt ourselves and pulled out the GPS. We laughed when we discovered how close we were.
This was built in 1780 by the Ottomans when they realized what an important commerce center Shkoder represented.
Keep taking this road north east and one would end up in Pristina...
Shkoder has a couple of pedestrian streets that are being refurbished (below).
Crumbling buildings and old fashioned lamp posts are always a good photo-op!
We stopped for coffee, of course, but not before bumping into one of our friends from the Hope Center, visiting family in Shkoder for the holidays (I never cease to be amazed at what a small country Albania truly is, and how we seem to run into people we know almost everywhere we go).
We were humbled to be invited to dinner by the Zefi family. We have several mutual friends but had never met them personally. When we were inquiring about hotel recommendations, friends in the States and friends in Tirana independently contacted this family. Fredi and Prenda both work for Hope For the World Albania in their orphanage ministry, so we knew we already had much in common with them! Thanks, friends (you know who you are) for connecting us!
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| The kids enjoyed a picnic on the floor. |
Oh my goodness, Albanian women can cook. The longer I am here, the more and more impressed I am with the women of this country. They do so much and do it all well.
Another recommended site was the mask factory. We were told that the masks produced in Shkoder were world-renowned, primarily sold and used in Venice and Las Vegas.
Visits are 'by-appointment-only'. While waiting for a reply from a local contact about arranging a tour, we stumbled upon a travel PDF for Shkoder online. It contained a phone number for the factory which we called. A gentleman answered the phone, welcomed us to come over right away, and offered to meet us at a major intersection in town so we could follow him to the factory grounds.
He shook our hands upon arrival, then excused himself after introducing us to another employee. After
reading this article and seeing his photograph, I discovered that none other than the owner of the factory itself had come and met us!
This factory now employs 60 artists which produce 20,000, hand-painted masks per year. They use the best materials, including real gold leaf and Swarovski crystals which set them apart from the mass-produced, lesser-quality masks from Chin*.
We were a little overwhelmed at the volume and variety of mask designs available for sale in their shop.
On a side note, a few nights a week, Abby, Anna, Nathan and I will watch an old episode of The Amazing Race on hulu. Imagine our surprise last night when we saw the contestants compete in a challenge involving identifying these very masks on actors during the contestants stint in Venice! (Season 3, episode 2)
Genti told us to drive around the edge of the lake (Lake Shkodra is the largest lake in the Balkans, bordered by three countries) to the village of Shiroke. He said there would be a handful of restaurants and any of them would have a lovely view of the lake.
It was off-season, but we managed to find a place to eat. The menu was... seafood. ;-)
As promised, the lake was stunning and beautiful in its raw, rugged state. We kept remarking how much tourism money could be pumped into the economy if someone would invest in development -- but then I can't help but think it would lose a big part of its charm.
No visit to Shkodra is complete without a trip up to the fortress.
This fortress hill dates back to the Illyrians, but the present walls date back to the Venetians. It's been sieged several times, which isn't hard to imagine when you see how imposing it is from below.
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| They did say 'selfie' was the official word of 2013, right? There were lots taken by these two on this trip... |
The fortress grounds are quite immense. We discovered this little stair well that led down to some tunnels requiring flash lights for illumination. Pretty cool!
Ellie and Reni were good sports in spite of visiting yet another place built out of 'old rocks'.
Above -- my favorite souvenir from the trip
My next "Beautiful Albania" post will be from Lezhe... (
Layzh)
