Durres, Albania
Tirana and Kruja, Albania Sunday, April 27, 2022
Happy
Easter again! The Orthodox churches
celebrate Easter later than others because they follow a different
calendar. In the city of Tirana you will
see Easter eggs on the light poles—like we decorate light poles for
Christmas—with “Happy Easter” in Albanian.
The tour organizers on our ship had warned us that Albania is new to the tourist industry and to be aware that guides may have accents that may be difficult to understand. Our guide, though, was an English teacher and had masterful skills and vocabulary. Because we had a bit of a commute to our first site, he came around to the seats collecting questions he would answer once he got back on the bus mic. (Now I have at least four pages of notes, most of which I will not be sharing, but which will join other pieces of info and stories that didn’t make the blog.)
Our
first stop was to a hilltop overlooking Tirana, the capital city of Albania, at
the National Martyr’s Cemetery—a history of occupation all on the same
promenade. First, Mother Albania towers
over everything, holding a laurel and a star.
She is from the 1970s (during communism) and the slogan underneath
reads, loosely translated, “Glory to the Eternal Martyrs of the Fatherland.”
The gravesites are from those who were killed in WWII. Overlooking the city in
the valley, we looked to the right at the mountain range we will approach later
with altitudes of 1630 ft. (70% of
Albania is hills or mountains.) Visiting a national cemetery was an unusual way
to be introduced to a country Which
cemetery would the USA use to introduce itself?
Then I was reminded of the first look at Jerusalem, overlooking a vast
cemetery. Hmm.
Albania wears its scars from its
many occupations throughout its long history.
Most recently, the scars come from communism from which the country was
liberated in 1989. Our guide spoke
openly about the edge of starvation he and others experienced during this
oppressive time, “we had an empty Coca Cola can and we put it in the most
important place in our home, dreaming of having a full can.” He also shared the sad results of oppression,
isolation, nationalism, fabricated threats from America, auto-censorship, and
hero worship. Communism wiped out
religion and independent thinking and even ownership of pets. So now, he said, when asked what a person’s
religion is, most say, “Albania.” Curiously,
Albania still does not have a MacDonalds…probably leftover thoughts of
rejecting any Western influences. It
does have KFC.
We loaded back on the bus and
headed down from the hilltop cemetery to the capital city below. It was obvious from the traffic and from the
strolling families that it was Sunday and a holiday. Part of the main street was cordoned off with
police casually guarding as it was being reserved only for bicycle
traffic. We grinned at the helium
balloon sellers and then laughed when we saw that all balloons had Elsa and
Frozen on them. We squeezed into the
hoards at the Orthodox church, feeling a bit guilty when the locals were
holding long pencil-thin candles lit at the altar and they were trying to take
those lit candles through the crowds to set in sand holders outside the
church. A coffee stop was next—both
buses in the same place, good thing it was a casino (!) and we were treated to
any kind of coffee and then a double scoop of dark chocolate ice cream with
chocolate bits to crunch. Oh my, and it
was only 10:30 in the morning!
As we drove through the capital for the 35 km
to our city in the mountains, we went past a brand new mosque that was huge and
not yet open. Less than a block away was
St. Paul Catholic Cathedral with a bronze statue of Mother Teresa nearby. Albanians are proud to claim that St. Paul
traveled there…being referenced as “Illyricum.”
(Romans 15:19) Huh. Didn’t know that.
Kruja (KROO ya) proved to be another
eye-opening, ancient walled fortress on a hill that has been turned into a
historical museum honoring the country’s national hero. Kruja is 35 km from Tirana, but we needed to
share a narrow highway with slow traffic going to the airport.
Before going to the museum, both
buses had a local police escort into town with lights flashing. Learned that was to help clear the very
narrow town roads for the wide and long tourist buses. We unloaded into a restaurant already
prepared to seat us all with water on the tables, then they served local wine,
homemade bread, veg. soup, and a main course of beef and vegies, then dessert
of fresh fruit and cinnamon-y rice pudding.
All the while we were eating, we were treated to four female teenagers
dancing in native costumes to music and singing by boisterous men. It was a blast! I hoped to shop for a part of
the women’s costume to add to my supply at home.
The national hero, Scanderbeg, born
1405, died 1468. For 22 years, he
repulsed 13 Turkish (Ottoman Empire) invasions from Kruja. The statue of him on a horse was built in
1968 and replaced the statue of Stalin.
The murals on the museum wall were painted in 1981 and depict the
communist influence of that time by placing “Mother Albania” in the center
wearing clothing with pagan symbols. While in the museum, at least two wedding
parties came in to honor the hero and have photos taken with a costumed flag-carrying
giant and other costumed characters.
Then we had 25 minutes to shop in
the cobble street-lined bazaar and bargain for goodies. I went in search of a part of the costume,
bargained, ran away, went to another, then had success!!! Not sure that’s the
language Jerry would use…
Fun new stoplights that we haven't seen
Bob and I were both intrigued by your cemetery observation, and the mosaic. Stoplight, too. Cool
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