Tirana Exposed

 

Green is the name of the game in Tirana.  There are trees everywhere.  One of the things l always liked about Atlanta’s skyline is that it is heavily dotted with wild trees.  Tirana is even better with that.  The buildings are kinda worn down and built all atop each other, but the vibrant bursts of green brings it all together.

My first night in town, I had a yummy pizza at a place right across the street from my building.  I ordered a strawberry basil drink and watched my waiter go out the front door and pick the herb from the little box just outside.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

After a good night’s sleep, I headed out to the grocery store I’d scoped out in the basement of the mall (love that about European malls).  I was a bit early and the doors weren’t open yet, so I began to wander around. 

The city, again bustling with people, reminds me of so many other places.  The red rooftops of Portugal, the mosque of Türkiye, and, oddly enough, the tree lined streets of D.C.  I haven’t been to that city in decades and yet I sensed a bit of it in Tirana.

Speaking of trees, I passed this gorgeous café on my wanderings. 

I did a circle, retracing my steps to get back to the grocery store and had to stop again to just stare at it.  While I was standing there, gawking like a goober, some random guy sitting at the café drinking his coffee beckoned me in.  I hadn’t planned on eating breakfast out but … okay!

This is the Millenium Garden Café and it is all about the vibes.  The bar is in the middle of the outdoor space with chairs all around and living green things everywhere.  It’s like dining in a treehouse.  So cool!

I was eating my Royal Breakfast

when something fell on my chest.  I assumed it was a leaf … until it stung me.  Only as I brushed the object away did I realize that it was a bee.

Huh?  I’ve never been stung by a bee in my life.  Why did this one decide to sting me?  I didn’t even see it before the pain so it couldn’t have been anything I did.

I took the stinger out and noticed the bee flopping around on the ground.  That just made me paranoid that something else might attack me.  Bugs do love me after all.  As the area on my chest began to swell, I checked my face for any other signs of reactions, taking deep breaths to make sure my air passage wasn’t closing up.

I finished my meal, picked up my groceries, and got back to the apartment.  By then the redness had disappeared, but the welt remained and would occasionally itch. That sucked, but at least now I know I’m not allergic to bees.

This body has never been runway ready (and never will be), but it is strong.  I am always grateful for that.

*****

The country’s currency is the Albanian Lek with a current exchange rate of 86.8 Lek/1 USD.  English is widely spoken which is awesome.  As I mentioned when I visited Montenegro, I still have too much Portuguese and Turkish in my brain to process any other language.

Fun fact:  the Albanian word for hello is pershendetje.  There are some accents on the word that I can’t do with this keyboard. 

Yeah, no.  Sorry, Albanians.  There are Turkish words that are easier to say than that.  Now that’s saying something.    

Something I’ve noticed while walking around the city.  I’ll go out on a limb and say that Albania is a very pale nation.  Despite that, not one person stares at me like they’ve never seen a black person before.  They’re too busy minding their own business.  Hell, I stare more at the rare black person that I see. 

There are places in the U.S. that would have me getting strange looks for “not belonging there” despite being born in the country along with my parents and grandparents.  This speaks more to the bone-deep racism of my home country than to the progressiveness of the Albanians.

This place is almost a little too convenient. Cafe culture is big here as it is across Europe and there are multiple shops within feet of the apartment.  Along with all the random trees, there are several parks and playgrounds amidst the traffic and mountains as well as one huge park about a mile from my place.  The building below is the arena that is surrounded by restaurants and shops that are open even if there's no event going on. 

The university is nearby as is the American Embassy. I sought out this building because I'm running out of pages in my passport.  I thought the only fix was to return to the states, something I absolutely dread.  Turns out, the embassy should be able to handle it.  I initially thought that I'd at least have to get a cab to get to the place, but nope.  It's about a 10-minute walk from the apartment.  Unbelievable.

(I haven't gotten the passport situation settled yet as I have to make an appointment first.  That should be interesting.) 

Coming back from brunch one day (an Albanian breakfast which was pretty tasty),

I went on the search for a bookstore.  It was in yet another mall that was even closer to the apartment than the one I visited before.  It’s mostly empty, though, which makes me think that it’s an older mall and the other is the big draw.  But this is the one with a bookstore that has a decent English section.  It also has a supermarket on the first floor.

Books in hand, I was heading back to the apartment and noticed that a pharmacy was open.  On a Sunday.  Not only did the pharmacist speak English, but she carried my pills.  They weren’t as cheap as in Türkiye (still the winner in the drug Olympics) but they’re close.

Are you kidding me with this?  Is it just me or is this place kind of awesome? 

It’s very impressive considering where the country was just a few years ago.  This video on the country's history came out just as I arrived in Albania.  It was eye-opening.