....And just a short hour and a half flight away from Albania is Milan. The clean, sprawling airport was a sharp contrast to Tirana's dirty and cluttered terminal. Shiny floors, massive baggage carousels, ATMs, information booths, and clean futuristic looking trains heading downtown with brand new soft plastic chairs and computerized ticket dispensers. I hopped aboard.







Milan is immediately likeable; it's clean, beautiful, and filled with magnificent European attractions: an amazing cathedral, an old castle, cobblestone streets, and I often caught the scent of flowers from the gardens - instead of the stench of garbage that I smelled all over Albania. These kinds of sights, and infrastructure, is something the Albanians can only dream of.





Milan reminded me of Paris; it also overwhelmed me. So close to its good neighbour Albania, and yet so far apart. The flight was nearly empty, flying at about 30% capacity. And it only goes a few times a week from here to Tirana.
Is Albania the slum of Europe? It seems to make little difference to speculate - the money flows from centre to west in Europe. The Balkans have been left to their own devices, except in emergencies, such as when they create a refugee problem that threatens the resources of west European countries. And besides - would aid efforts work in Albania? Why bother doing it if none of the rich countries seem to care?







I missed the last train back to the airport, so I wandered around some more, in the evening. Seeing a city in the dead of night is a unique experience; it is like looking in a museum. And often there are discoveries to be made, little areas of interest to uncover privately, without fear of some local yelling at you. The drawback is that I'm tired, and need to be on my toes early to get that first train back to the airport. Time for a nap on this parkbench? Why is it that I'm always sleeping on park benches when I'm in the major cities of western Europe?








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* A full account of my visit to this country is available in my yet to be published book, Means To An Exit. If you are an agent or publisher and would like to receive an outline and manuscript, please Contact Me.