Welcome to Albania. Or should I say Shqipëri?
What’s that?
Dont get scared, you probably won’t understand the language, but it’s not so far from English, or Spanish…or…
You can expect an interesting mix in this post. That’s right - Albania is in the Balcans:
Well, by looking at that gallery, you can already tell this has some cool history.
Exploring Tirana
From Tirana Airport to the center, you can take a taxi for ~30 eur, or a bus (Luna buses are ~4eur per person and shuttle from the airport parking).
But, that’s not all
You can see how the modern is mixed with Albanian traditions across the country (and Tirana’s center)
Bunkers in Tirana
Bunkart at ~9eur per person (and totally worth it)
Recent Albanian Story
Trust me, BRO
There are signatures of the trust me bro times everywhere.
The plan. And what’s good for you.
Like you can see in this Yugoslavian car.
A car, literally, from a country that does not exists anymore (maybe the one The Simpsons mentioned?).
I found an interesting spot behind the first line of houses. A bunker? Not this time. It was a machine gun spot, pointing to the beach.
Quite interesting that i have seen such places in Spain (Almeria) - but those were built by the nationalist party.
Different recipe, same result?
Or is it just the same recipe?
The grab my drink bro recipe , ill show you how to do the thing (your live is a prisoner thought, hope you enjoy it)
Had the people building this know about the opportunity cost, would have they spent time building it?
This contrast with a story from a friend’s coworker in Switzerland - She joined as an engineer to a company to design diesel injectors and she quited inmediately when she found it that they will be ensembled into tanks.
Does it makes sense what we are about to do?
From school we are taught that whatever is asked, you have to answer - Converging Logic
Yet in real life, we have to be the creators of the questions and if presented with one to ask: is that even a problem? Do i want to provide an action to that?
Thats definitely not the path that the people who built and operated these kind of facilities made.
Wouldnt the world be a better place if we started to challenge what others tell us we have an urge to resolve?
Food in Albania
Fortunately, it’s not only darkness.
Bledi, the Ottos Caffe owner, was very kind and invited us for this fantastic breakfast
You can also find such delicious cake in Turkey.
This drink is called Salep, apparently like in Iran…
Another example of how great ideas are spreaded in distant places of the world.
Bad ones? We are just forced to use them.
In fact, the food is a great example of cross collaboration.
Its passed and improved on every generation.
You use it if you like it, you can tweak it and make something ever better.
Or just different.
More recommendations? The Kos Fshatce ice cream I tried in Tirana was fantastic.