Riding in our coaches down the new four-lane highway from the ancient Illyrian port of Epidammus (Durres) was like being in a time machine, rocketing back and forth not between centuries: Mercedes Benz and Toyota dealerships interspersed with farmers fields and with ripe corn and chickens; new polka motif apartment buildings beside crumbling Stalinist housing blocks; lots selling firewood besides modern gas stations! This is Albania at its best–a country that has leapt into the 21st century with both feet and a great deal of enthusiasm.
After a short driving tour around the center of Tirana, the capital city, we stopped in Skenderbeg Square to visit a small 19th century mosque. Sadly this was one of the last remaining historic buildings left in the core of the city, the rest were destroyed during the Communist era to erase traces of the decadent, backward Ottoman centuries and make room for more progressive and functional government buildings. Every square inch of the interior of this beautiful mosque was decorated with lively and delicate floral frescos–one can only imagine what was lost when the other buildings of the old medieval town was leveled.
We headed north and east from Tirana and up into the foothills to Kruje, the home of Skenderbeg–the national hero of Albania. He was a 15th century Bey (knight) who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. At the top of the town, seemingly clinging to the edge of a cliff is the old walled castle that was once home to the warrior knight. We toured the museum dedicated to Skenderbeg and also had the opportunity to visit a delightful ethnographic museum housed in the home of a former Pasha. The lower rooms of the Pasha’s house were full of all manner of farming implements, a pottery wheel, an olive mill and press, and raki still. The upper rooms were laid out as they would have been during the 18th and 19th centuries with and extraordinary collection of antique furniture, clothing and family treasures.
A new restaurant within the castle hosted our group for lunch–and what a feast of Albanian meses and roast lamb, local beer, and wine this was! The meal was followed by a performance of lively folk music and dancing by a local troupe of entertainers. After lunch we strolled down and through the old medieval market to look through the small shops selling kilm carpets and antiques. All too soon it seemed we were being summoned to board the buses to head back to our home away from home–the Sea Cloud.
