Tirana - wow. Phnom Penh All over again.

The airport in Tirana is easily the tiniest and most backward I have encountered anywhere in Europe so far. The immigration area is a small smoky room crowded with people, only four booths, three of which are reserved for residents and diplomats. The diplomatic and service line is surprisingly long. Luckily our flight was barely half full, on a tiny Fokker F70 jet, coming from Vienna.
Yes - just an hour's flight south of clean, friendly, orderly Vienna is a large garbage dump that goes by the name of Tirana. Actually, that's unfair: optimistically, though, Tirana is very much a work in progress.

I had wanted to call Albania second world, but what I have seen so far puts the country soundly within the description of a Third World country. I have witnessed all of the paradoxes of such political regions so far - no bank machines, but everyone has a cell phone. Torn up sidewalks, people walking along the highway, giant crowds of hangers-on lingering about in front of the entry terminal. It's hot, though, in early May, and the landscape is a lush green. Until we enter dirty, dusty, Tirana proper.

There is little to see; perhaps a day will suit you. Part of the city is a mess of impersonal dirty apartment blocks, and the other is a vast impersonal array of wide tree-lined boulevards which partition massive communist offices.







The art museum is interesting, though. Large busts of communist grandeur, as well as overtly proud paintings of the same can be seen. The progression of the paintings is quite interesting - in the 30's, the style is realist/constructivist, with representational figures but more jagged shapes than smooth ones. The subject matter is excessively political, with soldiers lunging into battle. In the 70's, the subject matter and style changes to a more impressionist style, still representational though, and the examples on the wall represented big happy families smiling, with a picture of Enver Hoxha (Albania's central leader of its communist times) hanging prominently in the background.

Enter the 1980's, and suddenly there are hints of abstraction, surrealism, and symbolism. Enver Hoxha is no longer represented as a source of pride, but as a neutral political figure. Finally, one final painting from 1989, just one year after Hoxha's death: near-photorealist style, a self portrait of the artist standing beside a blank canvas, confronting the viewer with his gaze. Obviously: Hoxha was all the Albanians knew. After him, then what?

Greek influence is strong here, as well as Italian influence. These are the two cultures the Albanians aspire to - Yugoslavian influence is next to nil. You can, however, get a bus to Kosovo from here, as well as Tetovo. Tirana is still the logistical heart of the Albanian population, no matter which political entity they matter to live within. The centre of town is the large square, where you can see the main sights surrounding it - a nice old mosque (very small though), a clock tower, the anthropological museum with its large outdoor mosaic, and a big statue. there was also a small amusement park in the middle of the square, with a ferris wheel.








Tirana is, in some ways, reminiscent of the classical communist capital rotting from the core. However, it can be said that there are a few things to like about the city: at least the muddy, potholed streets are tree-lined in some parts. And the striking backdrop of the Carpathian mountains eases the eyesore of the billboards and apartment buildings.






It is really a pall on the European community that a city like this exists. There are plenty of foreigners in town, but very few are tourists - some missionaries, diplomats, and aid workers; but tourists are scarce. At least they are here. Outside the pyramid structure that is the theatre I listened to a British fellow make a speech to a group of Albanians arriving for a play, and he went on about how the people of Britain wish to help the Albanians and provide them with support. It baffles me that this sort of rhetoric would still be spouted in Europe, no less, at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The rift between west and east on this continent is fascinating.

Compared to even Bucharest, Tirana is miles behind - most of the billboards advertise only cigarettes and soda pop. Public transport is mostly private buses.





Albanians seem laid back, though - I would not go as far to say that they are passive , but they're easy to get along with. Which may explain why they have always been dumped on, and walked all over, if their neighbours are far more aggressive.
And their flag - it's blood red, with a black two-headed bird on it. Is this a strange tribute to the result of decades of communist engineered pollution?

I am staying at a private residence, which is the cheapest option in the city, which in fact is not really cheap at all - USD35 each night. It is clean and cozy, though, but still - accomodation in Tirana is by no means inexpensive. Perhaps this is to blame primarily on the fact that those who do come to the city looking for a place to stay in the short term are on those big foreign aid expense accounts. Although - I did see two Canadian guys with their big Euro-backpacks in the city on my first day there. That is a European backpacking route very untravelled - going from Italy, to Albania, to Greece. However, it is much more educational, as Albania represents the very bottom of European society, sadly.






To Northern Albania, to Shkodre



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