Which side should I start the „Europe“ section from?!
I spontaneously decided: with Albania. Yes, with The Republic Of Scopia (Shqipëria), Because the country is located in Southern Europe, in the southwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
My trip to Albania was also spontaneously organized. It was a hot August in 2015. I had just married my daughter and needed a break. I called some friends, but no one wanted to come with me to the shipowners. They decided that I was too bold and that I was taking a risk. Since no one wanted to come, I could go alone. I started looking for which company to travel with because it definitely wasn’t for a woman alone, and I came across Lili Duschkova and the company „Alisa Tours"“.
It turned out word for word that my very close friend would be our guide – Sofia Nikolova. Here is a company and a reason to be together, something that hadn’t happened since our student years…
Sofia is an experienced tour guide and her professionalism contributed to a wonderful experience and to resolving the unexpected unpleasantries that happened to us.
The program’s description read: picturesque Albania – „The Land of Eagles“, and Macedonia – „The Land of Commits“! I won’t dwell on the second part.
On the way to Albania – through Macedonia
We left early in the morning from the cathedral parking lot „St. Alexander Nevsky“. I was seated as a VIP behind the driver, in a single seat, and the owner left her bag next to me. She said a few words and we set off. I looked at the seat: an envelope bulging with a substantial sum of money… I got up, stopped the bus and called Lili Duskova to pick up the envelope… It would have been a bonus holiday for me with a bonus too!…
The road is not long – 536 km, but the highway only goes so far. The rest of the time it is a high-mountain road with two lanes, sharp curves and climbs. We took the Sofia – Ohrid – Duras or Durus (spelled both ways) route for one day.
Of course, along the way we stopped at the cult place „The “Stranja Meticians". Imagine a huge mozzarella cheese freshly made, with a piece of homemade cheese and a hint of real cow’s milk. And on top of that – jazz music and basically speaking Turkish?!
From here on out, the villages are changing drastically – beautiful houses with columns; apparently, they’re fashionable here; at least 3–4 new mosques and a waving Albanian flag; and we’re in North Macedonia… I saw many veiled women. I’m in shock.
We pass Ohrid and in front of us, with all its beauty, lies the lake. It truly is one of the most beautiful and deepest in Europe. (The Ohrid Lake is the deepest on the Balkan Peninsula, with a maximum depth of about 289 meters.) It is surrounded by mountains and is divided between North Macedonia and Albania…
Sofia very expeditiously and expertly guides us across the border. We have no problems at all. And here the surprises begin.
Albania – the country of contrasts
From my preliminary research, I expect contradictions and surprises.
Immediately after the border we stop and „admire“ the bunkers. The entire hill is dotted with them. During the long rule of the Enver Hoxha Albania was turned into a huge defensive system. At his orders, hundreds of thousands of bunkers (according to official estimates – over 170,000) were built throughout the country. The reason is the regime’s constant fear of an attack from outside – from world imperialism and external enemies. The idea was for the population to be able to hide and defend themselves. Now the bunkers are being destroyed and the armor is sold for scrap. But apparently there are so many of them that they will last at least another 100 years.
Next is a contrast – I expected a lot of construction of mosques, veiled women and fierce Islamism… It turned out that Albanians are extremely tolerant towards religions and that religious affiliation is not a determining factor for their national self-awareness. During the communist regime, religion was banned, and in 1967 Albania was declared an atheist state. Today there are Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholics and people who do not identify themselves as religious in the country. There are many mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians.
Albanians are very strongly ethnically and primarily racially divided. For example, the vendetta here is much more terrible than in the Italian mafia. In general, there are so many interesting things about an absolutely unknown country…
Yes, it comes to bloodshed that wipes out the entire family. If one family kills someone from the other – because according to the old customary law the law is „an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth“ – not only the men are selected, but even the girls may die. There are children who have been locked up in their homes for years because they face certain death outside.
We were told that Enver Hoxha dealt very harshly with this problem of the vendettas – according to the tour guide’s account, he introduced harsh measures against the two warring families, going as far as imposing death sentences. The story we heard was that representatives of the two families were buried alive. I cannot confirm the specific details of the story, but it is a fact that during Hoxha’s rule, the blood feud was strongly suppressed. After the regime fell, some of the old customs were revived… Sadly.
So that „Communism in Albanian“ He brought more positive than negative moments in the development of the Albanian consciousness.
As soon as you enter, the car model strikes you – here only „Mercedes“ is recognized. It doesn’t matter how old they are; the important thing is that they are „Mercho“. And the number of car washes! That they have water is obvious – wherever you look, there’s water gushing out. It’s a mountainous region, but I’ve never seen such a cult of maintaining your car clean anywhere else. From the border and throughout Albania, there are probably car washes „every kilometer“. They usually consist of a single hose, often out of nowhere. The customer stops and a young man appears from nowhere to wash their car.
The roads, especially the paved ones, are from the last 5–8 years. But they are being actively built, and well, with high-quality and thick enough asphalt. Look, in terms of driving culture they are far behind. Apparently, they started driving cars recently. And pedestrians give a lot of „frida“ – constantly. They are not disciplined: they cross as they please and wherever they can. And they probably stay in place… In Tirana there are pedestrian paths and overpasses, but they are not recognized. They cross in the middle of four-lane highways… And the tragic results are there. During my week-long stay, I saw two cases.
A peculiar world, isolated for a long time… But unfortunately, they are quickly accepting the bad things. For example: terrible pollution, reckless construction, overbuilding and soon there will be nothing left of their pristine nature and the pristine beach. The houses are new, like huts. The first floor is uninhabited because they didn’t like being near the ground. After all, they are eagles… Upstairs – beautiful, with bright colors, plastered, with PVC windows, a beautiful yard. And outside the property – full of trash…
Most Albanians, especially the young ones, work in Italy. But they put their money back home and return.
Durus – first impressions of the Albanian Riviera
So, after so much information and colorful impressions, we reach Durus. Our destination is the coastal strip, where we stay at the Elba hotel.
And here the fun part begins. Everyone is at this hotel, but the only two of us who end up in the same situation are Sofia and I. We are both in two rooms that are not cleaned, and they offer us two apartments in the opposite block. It turns out the apartments are appalling: after a bath the bathroom flooded in my room, and at Sofi’s the toilet didn’t work… Sorry, mistake, the air conditioner was running and flooded the entire apartment…
We had a nightmare night overall, but we decided that from tomorrow on we would be in the „nice“ hotel…
In the morning it turned out that our fellow travelers were in a panic at the Elba Hotel – who doesn’t have a network, another tap has broken, a third has no shower, etc., etc. As the manager and owner spoke some kind of language, they suddenly forgot everything. They called a boy who supposedly spoke Bulgarian. It turned out that he only spoke Bulgarian…
So, since it was Saturday and the partners of „Alisa Tours“ were untraceable... But Sofia managed it. In the end, we slept one more night in this nightmare and the next day they took us to the other part of the coastal strip, to a brand new, just opened four- or five-star hotel. In Albania, there is no European hotel classification system like ours – they just put the stars wherever they like. Four-five stars is my assessment.
It had internet and everything you could want. A gorgeous private beach and wonderful pools… That was how we were already ready for a vacation and Albanian adventures. Positive!
Their Riviera is uniquely beautiful. The sea is shallow, at least 100 meters deep. It’s full of hotels; they’re trying to build on our land. For now they’re doing well. As for sewage, they’ll soon be like the Black Sea if they don’t take drastic sanitary measures. And here it is Adriatic Sea
You know about the recent attempts to annex a certain island by a great world power and about the unity of the people against this expropriation…
Remember what happened during the turbulent summer of 2026?
Island Sazan (Sazan), One of Albania's natural treasures has become the center of international investment interest. Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, plans to build a luxury tourist complex on the island through his investment company. The idea sparked violent protests in the country. Thousands of Albanians took to the streets demanding to protect their natural environment and prevent this beautiful corner from becoming another luxury resort.
…………….
The greedy piece is the country.
The sequel follows „The Cities in the Land of the Eagles„
See more for the author Maria Radeva here
