If you live in Berlin, chances are, you already had some culinary experiences with the albanian cuisine and for me travel like love always goes through the stomach to end up at my heart, so I wanted to visit the country of this unpretentious, but delicious little balcan country to get to know the real flavor. Second, I heard of the amazing alpine region and the very famous Theth to Valbona (or verse visa) hike and thought this could be a perfect alternative to the overcrowded (though still amazing) German or Austrian alps, which moreover can only be hiked during the summer months. Last, but not least I wanted to feel the history of a country that has been closed up for decades (and I am talking no international relations/alliances), where people told us that they tried bananas for the first time only less than 30 years ago and where actually more Albanians live outside the country than inside.
What you should know before you go:
Bunkers, bunkers and once again bunkers. Long term communist dictator Hoxha was so paranoid that someone could attack his country that he built… million bunkers, one bunker for three Albanians. So where ever you will go in the country, you will likely stumble on several bunkers on your way there, some bunkers like in Tirana are now actual museums and tell the interesting but shocking story of the Hoxhan Albania. Enver Hoxha ruled the country (in different postions) from 1941 until his death 1985.
Something very important about the Albanian culture (although not entirely limited to the Albanian territory) is the term “blood feud” and the Kanun. The Kanun is an ancient legislative code (a kind of common law), which regulates the killing of another human being as a sanction for a murder. The Kanun did set all kinds of regulations in order to improve the coexistance of the population. It had different chapters (Church, weddings, marriage, property, livestock, heritage and so on). The roles between men and women were set very clearly. The man is compared to the “head” and the woman is compared to a “tube”, mostly because she is responsible for carrying things, like kids (because apparently according to this logic, that’s all we do, when it comes to procreation). Everything is regulated, even the dog kept on a chain gets its place, as the protector of the house.
A very important concept is honor. Only one man can have honor, but in the field of reference is his entire family or clan. If the honor was defiled, revenge was taken to restore the man’s honor.
Although parallel law-like codified regulations (common law) existed and still exist in many different countries, the peculiar thing about the Kanun is, that the sanction can be applied to all male members of the perpetrator’s family. More specific, these sanctions can even be applied to the next generation of this family. A woman can’t play an active role in a blood feud. If she commits a murder, the family of the victim is allowed to kill one of her male family members. This practice lead to thousands of dead men until the second world war and resulted in a man shortage. Men used to hide themselves in towers, called kulla, which you can still see and visit in Northern Albania. Some families lived for decades in fear of the potential blood feud. Sometimes, the cause of the blood feud wasn’t known anymore, but it still had to be executed. Many different emperors tried to abolish the Kanun, but with little success. Only Enver Hoxha and his mission to abolish religion and to change the traditional life style turned into a success story. By 1990, the blood feud was not practiced anymore. However, as soon as the regime fell, the practice came back into place. According to calculations, more tha 10.000 boys and men have died due to this practice. Nowdays, families hide their male relatives (boys can’t go to school anymore) or make them leave the region or even the country.
Another thing you should definitely keep in mind is the season. We heard that during summer, the beautiful adriatic beaches are packed with all the Albanians inside and outside of the country. Many of the Albanian diaspora come and spend every summer at the adriadic coast and spend their money in their homeland, though very understandable and loyal, you might want to avoid the summer crowd. We were there in October, it was still a perfect (but definitely running towards the end) time to hike in the mountains and visit the charming cities, although if the beach holiday should play a mayor role in your trip, you should consider the months September and May, because you will find more stable weather conditions and all the facilities and restaurants/hotels in the beach destinations are still a 100% running.
Also, keep in mind that Albania is a country, where about 60% of the country consider themselves muslims. So if you have a weak sleep and don’t usually want to get up very early in the morning for your morning prayers, yoga etc., don’t choose an accommodation close to a mosque.
Last, but definitely not least. The Albanian level of English differs a lot (like everywhere I guess) throughout the country. In Tirana we had no problems communicating with younger Albanians, on the countryside, we also usually found someone who spoke English, especially in the hospitality business, but it was much harder and the level of English was sometimes very basic. So if you want to make sure you will be understood and vice-versa, get a data package at the airport (which isn’t expensive at all) and use Google translator or something similar.
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart" by Confucius 