This is certainly noticeable and it’s the dome of a petrol station. Perhaps a curious example of Albania’s love for bold, slightly eccentric architecture and it makes it stand out against the otherwise ordinary backdrop of roads and trees. I did wonder whether it was fulfilling some higher cosmic purpose, but it’s just sheltering fuel pumps. It’s part practical, part playful and entirely memorable. I liked it……
This was something of an intriguing artwork to walk past and it’s Kafka by Lumturi Blloshmi (1944-2020), created in 2009. She was an Albanian artist who was stuck working for a while under the suppression of the communist regime, but later on in her career she focused on artworks that related to the human skull. This artwork is made out of resin with hundreds of the cigarette ends which are attached to it, trying to emphasise the transience of life and the dangers of pollution. Unfortunately, she died on Covid in 2020 and she had been deaf since the age of five, so she had to contest against political repression, the limitations of the art world being mostly male and a lack of hearing. She sounds like really something of a fascinating character. There’s more information about her life at https://secondaryarchive.org/artists/lumturi-blloshmi/.
Hidden away in the once-exclusive Blloku district of Tirana where the political elite once lived is Vila 31, the former home of the dictator Enver Hoxha (1908-1985) sits there looking quite unassuming. Constructed between 1972 and 1973, it was designed to be modern yet suitably imposing, the kind of place where a dictator could pretend to be modest while secretly enjoying the perks of power. There was a private cinema, a basement swimming pool and even a secret tunnel to an underground bunker as nothing screams ‘I trust the people’ quite like a hidden escape route under your own living room. Although a lot of this he blamed on foreigners, whilst Albania suffered financially, Hoxha told his population that the west as so jealous of Albania’s wealth that they might invade at any time to share in the prosperity. This ridiculous lie is perhaps why Hoxha didn’t let any Albanian travel outside of the country, it all has rather North Korea vibes to it.
This entire neighbourhood was once sealed off from ordinary Albanians and only the party elite could live here, and mere mortals weren’t even allowed to walk through it. Hoxha and his family lived surrounded by books, some of them on subjects he happily banned everyone else from reading. He also spent vast sums of the country’s money on importing fashionable European interiors, whilst bankrupting the country and mocking foreign design.
When Hoxha died in 1985 and the regime collapsed a few years later, the villa became a strange sort of relic. It wasn’t demolished, because no one quite knew what to do with it, but it also wasn’t turned into a museum or shrine. For years it sat there behind drawn curtains, an awkward reminder of the past while the rest of the neighbourhood filled with lively cafes and bars. Indeed, opposite the property is a KFC, the first in Albania, which I felt the need to pop into in order to cool down. The photos are evidence of just how bloody hot it was in Tirana when I was there….
And as for now, it’s been reborn as an artist residency. The marble floors and gloomy halls that once hosted political plotting now welcome painters, writers and filmmakers. Instead of propaganda speeches, there are poetry readings and instead of whispered paranoia, there are film screenings. So a house that was once a symbol of control and isolation has become a space for creativity and free expression. A former dictator’s stronghold now full of people doing exactly what he spent decades suppressing, Hoxha would absolutely hate it and we can all drink craft beer to that thought.
This is what the Pyramid of Tirana looked like in 1996 and it had been opened in 1988 as the Enver Hoxha Museum, the inept communist leader of Albania who trashed the country’s economy and banned the entire population from travelling overseas. The now disgraced Hoxha was widely detested and as soon as communism fell the museum closed, despite it being the most expensive building constructed in the country. During the 1999 Kosovo War, it was used as a base by NATO and it was also used as a conference centre.
There was a great deal of confusion about what to do with the structure, with some people wanting it to be demolished, but there were many others who wanted it repurposed. So, in 2023, that’s what they did, they repurposed it and put steps up so that people could walk up it. This was a little bit of a throwback to the past when local kids used to climb up it and then slide down, which wasn’t quite what the authorities wanted.
Here it is today, with the interior being a little under-used, although there are cafes and some charitable institutions use the facilities.
The views from the top.
It was probably a little too hot to be climbing all these steps if I’m being honest. Climbing the steps seems popular with locals and visitors, with Tirana being increasingly visited by tourists. All this freedom would have horrified Enver Hoxha, who was perhaps rather fortunate to have died from natural causes before communism collapsed, as otherwise he would have joined his wife, Nexhmije Hoxha, in prison. The only museum to Hoxha in the city today is that which tells the story of his totalitarian rule where people lived in fear.
The craft beer scene seems to be growing in Tirana and this is one of the best reviewed taprooms in the city. I checked before ordering and was pleased that they accepted cards so that I wouldn’t miss out on any beers.
It’s a quirky and informal environment, with an outside terrace as well but there was smoking going on out there and I’m an indoors kind of person anyway.
It was all clean and comfortable, with table service available although I ordered at the bar so I could see what beers there were.
The beer selection, although a few weren’t available.
I asked if they could do me a flight of beers and I’m pleased to note that they could. He did offer me the choice of what I wanted, but I was in a reckless mood and opted for the cherry porter and let the server pick the other four. That’s about as much adventure as I need for one evening.
All the beers were brewed by the Pan’s Microbrewery and from left to right:
(i) Siringha – as lagers go this was very agreeable, light, floral and fluffy.
(ii) Vagabondi – a light and gentle IPA.
(iii) Midas Kiss – a balanced and gentle wheat beer, with some orange and more floral notes.
(iv) Cherry Porter – there’s cherry flavour in it but this was a little less balanced and was a bit clumpy, although it was still pleasant.
(v) Goat Head – full flavoured and citrusy IPA, rounded and rich.
They had brought some free nuts over to the table, but I thought I’d have the crispy chicken as well to add to the decadence of the whole arrangement. The chicken was tender and those chips were light and fluffy.
This was a really rather lovely venue and I can see why the online reviews are so positive. The service was friendly, the surroundings were comfortable and the food was of a decent quality. They didn’t have their usual full line-up of beers, but there was still plenty of choice and the server was engaging and knowledgeable about the options. The beers were all very drinkable, there was a balance to most of them and the lager and IPA were gentle and quite floral. The meal and five beers came to around £14, which is expensive for the city, but I think decent value for what is effectively an on-trend craft beer operation in the middle of a capital city.
After I declined around fifteen offers of taxis walking through the airport terminal, I found the clearly signed airport buses operated by Luna at the rear of the taxi area and these operate every hour to the city centre. They cost €4 which seems reasonable and they take cards and cash, although more on that in a moment. I realised that my hotel was around an hour walk from the city centre, but by good fortune there was a bus stop on the route which was located very near to my hotel. I asked twice about stopping here and the ticket person confirmed both times that it would stop there, although I think he thought that I was an idiot for double checking this. Fair point though. I then discovered that my PayPal card didn’t work, so I used the remaining coins that I had to pay the €4 fare, which I deliberately had kept just in case of a situation like this. That is now my emergency supply used up, as I spent the rest on an emergency Fanta in the extreme heat of Faro the other day.
Anyway, a driver got on and the bus trundled along and I knew – just knew – that when we got near my stop, it was going to sail straight past. There technically aren’t any stops en route, but they will stop on request but there’s no bell and they’re not stopping unless they need to. As we approached the stop, which is near the city’s coach station, another passenger started to make some noises about stopping but as it was in Albanian I had no idea what was being said. I decided to ask the lady next to me, who I had already established was Albanian and spoke English, if she knew whether the bus was stopping. She didn’t, but she had some conversation with the driver and she said that my stop was further away.
The bus then stopped for the other two passengers who wanted to get out and I was delighted to see the Mercure hotel only a thirty second walk away, but the driver tried to stop me getting off saying that it wasn’t my stop. I confirmed that it was and he said that it wasn’t the city centre. I did think that was fairly obvious, but I decided to force the issue as otherwise I would be walking for an hour to get back to where I was. The driver kept telling me that it wasn’t the city centre, but I got off quickly before I was bundled back in. Fortunately, I was at the hotel within one minute…. I was going to take a photo of the bus for this blog post, but I thought that I’d rush away quickly.
I’ve purchased my return ticket online for tomorrow, so hopefully nothing will go wrong. I will add that the team members were doing their best and I appreciated the driver not wanting me to be stranded near the coach station on the outskirts, even though that’s where I wanted to be stranded. I was fortunate that two other passengers wanted to get out at the stop, otherwise I might have had quite a walk back.
A great start to my first visit to Albania is something that I hadn’t realised, it’s a country where PayPal has decided that it doesn’t want to operate. This means that my PayPal Business Debit card which gives free overseas transactions just doesn’t work, something I realised quickly when the card didn’t work on the airport bus (fortunately, I had euros) and at the hotel. It’s also my only physical card, but at least I have my phone to make contactless card payments from two back-up cards which was helpful to say the least at the hotel.
The train from St. Pancras to Luton Airport was just £4, which I consider a bargain. That damaged chair has been like that for months, not that it’s something I have spent a great deal of time contemplating and it has become something of a familiar friend now.
The usual Thameslink train, no tables or power outlets, but they just about always have lots of seats available and the services are usually reliable.
My usual order at Big Smoke at Luton Airport, this time they didn’t accidentally overcharge me. The beer is the Electric Eye from Big Smoke themselves, a punchy citrus beer.
A pint of Menabrea and a Limoncello at Nolito. The lager was generic, clean and dull, the Limoncello not the most decadent. But the environment was comfortable and thanks to Priority Pass for funding this visit.
And then ready to board and they had a helpful staff member checking the larger bags for size, but he was letting quite a lot off that were just a little too big in an attempt to be helpful. One lady had a suitcase that would fit a hippo in and he said it was ridiculously large, but the lady said that she was Albanian and wouldn’t be paying. After some discussions and translations from other passengers, it was agreed that she had a bag within her bag, so she just had to leave the larger bag at the gate.
We all then get the boarding passes scanned and go to a different part of the room, which is barriered off from the previous part, but it’s possible to pass things over. And, back to our lady with the bag, she started to get another passenger who still hadn’t checked-in to have a look through her now discarded bag to see if there was anything she had missed. The team member was now annoyed, it gave the impression that she thought she could get the bag back over the gated area when he wasn’t looking. He went to hide the bag.
It’s the aircraft on the right, which is G-WUKV, an Airbus A321 which took me back from Kaunas a couple of weeks ago.
The boarding starts.
The seating Gods had given me a middle seat which felt sub-optimal, but I’d had a good run of being given aisle or window seats. So, I was surprised and delighted to discover that the seat they had given me was actually an emergency exit row seat.
The crew member quickly discovered that the woman in the window seat couldn’t speak English, so I was swapped with her as I obviously look good in an emergency. And I speak English, so she could explain my responsibilities. The rest of the flight was bloody awful. I’ve never experienced such noise from kids on an aircraft, I was fortunate my headphones meant I could ignore most of that. I had a kid behind kicking the seat, but his father gave me some Pringles, so I tolerated that as I’m easy to bribe. The crew struggled to keep passengers from standing up the second we landed and there was no shortage of eye rolling from the crew about the situation. The crew were impeccable, they had a lot to deal with on this flight and I was thinking about writing to the Pope to see if a couple could be made saints.
I was only mildly traumatised by the time we landed in Tirana. Border control couldn’t have been any faster, it involved going through an e-gate without seeing any border agents and my passport didn’t need stamping.
It wasn’t the most quiet and relaxed airport terminal I’d been through. The flight cost £8.99 which is impressive, but this was not the most relaxing of experiences to say the least.
Although I know a good deal of Edith Cavell’s story because of her links with Norfolk and her burial at Norwich Cathedral, I hadn’t realised that she had trained at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. She had applied in 1896 to be a nurse practitioner at the hospital at the age of 30 and she trained under the leadership of the hospital’s matron Eva Luckes. This was Whitechapel in its gritty Victorian prime, all soot-stained streets, overcrowded housing, and the lingering reputation of Jack the Ripper’s handiwork still hanging in the air. It wasn’t exactly the sort of place you moved to for its charm and craft beer options. She was known for being conscientious, which in nursing terms usually means ‘worked twice as hard for half the recognition.’ Her superiors noticed, and so did her patients. She remained at the hospital until 1901 when Luckes nominated Cavell for the position of night superintendent at St. Pancras Infirmary.
The plaque on the building, which is now used by the London Borough Council of Tower Hamlets and I won’t go on about the integrity of its mayor, Lutfur Rahman, and I will instead let Wikipedia do that. It’s perhaps hard to find a greater contrast of the morals of public service than Edith Cavell and Lutfur Rahman, but this isn’t a political blog and so I will limit myself.
This is the second time that I’ve stayed at this Accor operated hotel, located halfway between the airport and the Old Town of Faro. This was ideal for me as it put within walking distance of the airport, but I suppose it’s also handy if you’re the sort of person who can’t decide whether you want to be near planes or actual civilisation.
Check-in took nearly fifteen minutes because of two guests in front faffing about with their reservation, it felt like that they were negotiating some UN peace agreement.
My welcome drink of Sagres, a generic tasting beer which did meet the key requirement of being refreshing, although the brewery haven’t burdened themselves with what I consider a key requirement of it actually tasting of anything. The staff member, with commendable honesty, told me it was “only available in small” which somehow felt both welcoming and not. I wasn’t exactly planning a major session at the bar with my free drink, but it does feel like the sort of policy that saves the hotel about £10 a year while just very mildly irritating everyone.
The standard Ibis set-up with a desk, which is how I like it.
There was a welcome gift of pasteis de nata and bottled water and it’s hard not to feel welcomed when someone provides me with free custard tarts.
The view from the window over the sun scorched land.
The view from the side window of the corridor and the hotel’s main draw (although not to me) is the swimming pool.
All told, I rather liked this hotel and there were no noise issues, although I had my favourite room location of the top floor far away from the lift. The team members were friendly, the room was clean and I liked the custard tarts.
