Albania Adventure

15th June, 2024

We went to Albania for my friend’s birthday this year and enjoyed staying in Tirana, the capital city. Most people live in high rise apartments so the city has a cafe culture, lovely parks and a lake. We explored the communist sites Bunk’ Art 1 and Bunk’ Art 2, which are now museums housed in bomb proof tunnels. The House of Leaves, the former surveillance centre of Albania’s secret police was built in 1931 as a maternity clinic. It had the department responsible for spying on residents and foreign visitors housed in the basement.

Many drab apartment blocks have bright murals painted on them. One day we took the cable car up to the top of Dajti Mountain and had lunch in the restaurant at the summit. We treated ourselves to a few relaxing days in the sunshine at Himara beach, which was worth the effort of travelling on a bus for several hours over the mountains to get there.