Tirana - Albania - Skanderbeg Square and Around
Tirana is the capital of Albania. The main international airport is there and so that's where we began our trip.
Before leaving home I'd read in many places that you should only stay a day but I was glad we'd decided to spend two. In fact we could have done with another day to go to the cable car, visit BunkArt 1 and to visit the park.
Tirana is a city of contrasts, as is the whole country, in fact. It's very walkable and we spent our first day ambling around and getting our bearings.
A good illustration of the contrasts can be seen in the four views from the balcony of the apartment we stayed in.
The view to the right:
I love the mountain in the background and the jumble of telephone wires better seen in this shot.
The forward view shows a modern house amongst the high rises. It has a date of 1934 above the door so I can only assume it has been modernised since then. 🤔
The view to the left, shows part of the modern house. I'm guessing these flats were built in the communist era.
The heart of Tirana is Skanderbeg Square, named after the Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu. It's fully pedestrianised with a total area of about 40,000 square metres and so has a wonderfully spacious feel. We crossed it many times to get to other parts of the city and enjoyed people watching over a coffee and cake at the Opera House.
This view is looking across the Square towards the Opera House which gives an idea of the scale of the place. In the north east corner is the Skanderbeg Building designed like a marble bust. It's 85 metres tall and houses, office and retail space as well as functional homes.
We didn't actually notice it was a person until our second day because we entered the square from behind it.
There are a number of fun buildings in the area but this one was my favourite.
Here it is peeping through some other buildings. Note the communist bunker in the bottom left of the picture.
And here it is at night viewed from the other side of the square.
In the corner to the right of the Opera House there was a new temporary feature being installed. It wasn't finished before we left so have no idea what it is. It's a bit of a shame as it obscured the view of the Et'hem Bey Mosque and it's pretty frescoes.
The Mosque is well worth a visit. It's quite tiny but has a lovely interior. A nice place to get out of the hustle and bustle and enjoy the peace. Click the link to view my snap of my four best photos of the interior.
On the opposite side of Skanderbeg Square is the National Historical Museum which I was looking forward to visiting. It would be interesting to see all of Albania's diverse history in one place. However, the Museum is closed and, if the article on euronews.al is correct, will be so for a further 3 years.
One of my favourite things about Tirana is the beautiful scent of the Tilia Platyphyllos trees. I think that's what they are but I'm not actually sure. If anyone knows for certain please let me know.
The heady scent really hit me when we got off the bus from the airport. I thought someone was burning incense but when I noticed the perfume all over the place I realised it was the trees. It smelt a bit like jasmine to me, something else that was growing in abundance, and it was gorgeous.
I loved our 2 days in Tirana and, if ever there are flights there from our local airport I will definitely be going back. Next time I'd also like to visit BunkArt 1 (this time we only went to BunkArt 2) and the park.
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That cake looks gorgeous!
Ha, ha, ha. All that beautiful architecture and culture and you notice the cake! 😂 It was very, very nice though! We had many good cakes during our time there.
It was a spectacular cake, though? 😂
It was indeed. And it cost less than £6 including 2 coffees!
My kind of cake!
These places really suffered under communism. I hope life has improved there. It's a country I've not been to yet.
It's definitely worth a visit. It has a very rich history, food is great and it's stunningly beautiful in places. Better go sooner rather than later though as there's already been massive development on the South West coast and the North is going the same way.
That cake looks delicious
It was!
Whoever said one only needs a day in Tirana obviously only does the touristic bits and doesn't venture out of the city centre, glad you did two days and saw a lot more. I was there a few years back and had three days and still wanted more, it is a very photogenic city, even the back streets had welcoming charm and the people were so friendly and didn't mind having a lens pushed into their face! The museum was open when I was there, took me all of 30 minutes to whizz through LOL
We spent most of June in Albania and glad we did. I'm sure you'd see a big difference if it's been a few years since you've been there. We had quite a few adventures. Some a bit hairy. 😁 But the variety, food and scenery were great. Glad we went now as I'm sure a few of the places we went to will either end up being turned into tourist attractions or will be blocked off for health and safety reasons. 😂
Yes Albania is different, and like you say currently not a touristic destination, guess that will all change
It’s great that you trusted your instinct to stay longer. Sometimes the best travel moments come when we slow down and just be in a place.🤗
I've always been a slow traveller. I'd explore a few places deeply than tick off a long list.
Slow travel lets you connect with the soul of a place.😍
Hello ! There you are! I've been wondering about you. :)
I enjoyed these photos. It's always fun to see how different places are, places I will never see with my own eyes.
Those telephone wires! OMGoodness ! What a wild maze of wires.
Hello. I'm not around these parts much these days. Nor doing much crafting.
We spent most of June in Albania and I thought I might blog about it but I only made it through 9 10ths of this post so decided to finish it yesterday. Shame really as it was a very interesting trip. 😂
It looks like you're still creating which is good to see.
Albania isn't a place I'd thought of going before, everytime someone mentions Albania, it reminds me of gang activity 😄
Then I saw a program a couple of months ago, there are some very beautiful areas, can't remember which part of the country it was, but that changed my mind. Just have to find out where it was now
Yeah. My association was always with crime. That's done now I think. It has a really interesting history. The food is great and much of the scenery stunning. The beaches do look beautiful in the South West but we avoided the area as it's also very touristy, especiallty in summer. We were able to find an incredible beach in the North West but mostly the cost is full of umbrellas and sunbeds. Miles and miles of them.
Away from the coast there's tons to experience and the Alps are gorgeous. They are also getting busier and busier though so, I'd recommend going sooner rather than later.