Tirane & Kruje, Albania
For those of you who have driven in Saudi Arabia or Naples, I say to you “kids stuff”. There don’t seem to be any rules at all when maneuvering in Tirane, a place where everyone expects to be cut off and nobody seems to mind.
The visit to the National Museum was short and fast, but interesting. Walking a mile (plus!) to the Juvenilja Restaurant in Tirane not only improved our appetite, but it presented us with the opportunity to experience the city first-hand. At the restaurant we were met by folk-dancers and musicians in full traditional costumes. It was explained that this music and dancing were over 1000 years old and came from Northern Albania. But I must tell you that I have a soft spot for food. They laid on such an assortment of real Albanian dishes for lunch! The red salami was hot enough to please any habanero pepper lover, while the light fluffy chocolate and cream desserts required second helpings.
After lunch it was off to the mountains to visit the Skanderbeg Museum (honoring Albania’s National Hero), the 17th century ethnographic museum,and the local bazaar. To be honest, I didn’t even know there were such things as dedicated “ethnographic museums”, but it turned out to be a hoot. The guide was a wonderful little guy who really knew how everything worked. You got a real sense of how life was in the 17th century: How and with what equipment they used to press olives, mash grain, bake bread, make iron tools, weave cloth, tan hides, build a sauna and live at home. All in all, great stuff.
For those of you who have driven in Saudi Arabia or Naples, I say to you “kids stuff”. There don’t seem to be any rules at all when maneuvering in Tirane, a place where everyone expects to be cut off and nobody seems to mind.
The visit to the National Museum was short and fast, but interesting. Walking a mile (plus!) to the Juvenilja Restaurant in Tirane not only improved our appetite, but it presented us with the opportunity to experience the city first-hand. At the restaurant we were met by folk-dancers and musicians in full traditional costumes. It was explained that this music and dancing were over 1000 years old and came from Northern Albania. But I must tell you that I have a soft spot for food. They laid on such an assortment of real Albanian dishes for lunch! The red salami was hot enough to please any habanero pepper lover, while the light fluffy chocolate and cream desserts required second helpings.
After lunch it was off to the mountains to visit the Skanderbeg Museum (honoring Albania’s National Hero), the 17th century ethnographic museum,and the local bazaar. To be honest, I didn’t even know there were such things as dedicated “ethnographic museums”, but it turned out to be a hoot. The guide was a wonderful little guy who really knew how everything worked. You got a real sense of how life was in the 17th century: How and with what equipment they used to press olives, mash grain, bake bread, make iron tools, weave cloth, tan hides, build a sauna and live at home. All in all, great stuff.
