Our other tourist destination is the capital of Albania - Tirana.
The suburb of Tirana is lined with new buildings, but as we walked closer to the center, architecture told us that it was a typical communist city. That's right. Tirana was originally an insignificant small town with a small population. However, it had a good geographical location approximately in the center of Albania, and in 1920 it was declared the capital of Albania. The former capital of Durres was an easy target for a possible naval attack. There was also a strong influence of nearby Italy in Durres, which the Albanians wanted to limit. Enver Hodža completed the city, gradually moved to all government institutions, ministries and Tirana became a full-fledged capital. By bus we cross the main, Skanderbegovo square and at the end of a long straight four-lane, we get off. On Skanderbeg Square and on this street there are ministries, the Presidential Palace, the Government Office, the National Museum, in short, everything is important together.
(Statue of Ismail Qemal, one of the founders of an independent Albanian state)
(Skanderbeg Square)
And of course what have we found here? Albanian mushrooms have grown up in a tiny park among the trees! So they call the bunkers that were built by the Albanian dictator Enever Hodža. One of the bunkers was not covered, so we took advantage of it immediately, walked in, and felt for a few minutes the feelings of a soldier guarding government buildings across the gunfire.
In addition to this rarity, the park was also home to the Berlin Wall. I would say that it can only be seen in Berlin, but part of it was also brought to Albania as a gift from Germany and a symbol of the end of the socialist regime.
The beginnings of Tirana date back to 1614. Since it was rebuilt into a socialist city and gained its importance only in the twentieth century, there are not many monuments in it. The exception is the Albanian National Museum, which hides the most valuable historical treasures of Albania from the past to the present.
We went straight to the Et'hem Bey Mosque. It is one of the few mosques in Albania that has retained its original interior decoration. My fiancée was given a cloth at the entrance to cover her legs and we walked in on the ornate red carpet. The interior was decorated with various ornaments, mostly red and green. After the fall of the Communist regime, 10,000 people gathered before it to reopen it without the permission of the authorities. The police did not intervene. This action was a milestone in the rebirth of religious freedom in Albania.
The most beautiful view of the whole square is from the Clock Tower, which is a symbol of the city. We did not miss this view, we climbed the spiral stairs and did not regret it because the view was amazing.
There are not many sights in Tirana, but there is at least one interesting thing. He has a pyramid. It is not a pyramid, as we know it from Egypt, but rather a mixture of glass, iron and pyramid-shaped concrete, but the purpose was to do the same. On the design of the architect, whose work we could already see in Kruja, a mausoleum was built here, in which her father and the Albanian dictator Enver Hodža were to rest for eternity. But this never happened and they buried it elsewhere, so it served as a museum. Now, however, dilapidated and from what I have read it are planning to demolish it.
Everywhere in the text I mention Enver Hodža. It is time for me to write who he was. Enver Hodža was the leader of the Albanian Communist partisans in World War II. Later he became chairman of the Communist Party, and after the end of World War II, he came to power in Albania. Dictator Enver Hodja was chairman of the party and headed the country until his death in 1985.
The tour of the capital ends and we slowly return along the highway to Durres. We look forward to the next trip.
Place: Albania 🇦🇱
Tirana
Camera: Samsung wb350
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