Now that I’m nearly OUT of the country I can start posting my thoughts about it. That way the people mentioned in the blog entries can’t try to come find me… clever no? The alarm clock consisted of what I call the Tirana Symphony – honking horns, squeaking brakes and revving engines.
It really is the soundtrack to the city and you’ll hear it once Picasa gets sorted and I can upload the photos and videos.
Since we had cruised around Tirana on foot in the evening it was time to do it again during the day and snap the photos that couldn’t be done then. So an early-ish start meant a quick coffee next to the National Gallery and then a dive inside to take in the sites.
It’s not a large collection and it only spans about the last 200 years, strange for a country that’s been around for thousands no? Well it could have something to do with all the wars that have gone on and the communism that was here for some time. The highlight of the collection was the socialist realism, which of course we weren’t supposed to take any photos of but did anyway. 
Overall the modern art on the top floor can be pretty much skipped when/if you go because honestly, I didn’t find it thought provoking or compelling in any way. But the stuff from Socialist period was great. Overall I guess it was worth the price of admission (200 Lek or $2).
After that it was a leisurely walk through the center to finally arrive at the National Museum. At first I thought that it was the most sparsely populated and poorly lit I had seen but the upper floors really turned out to be worth a good look and the lighting was infinitely better than certain parts earlier. Basically it takes you all the way through Albanian history from the neolithic to the present…if you follow the path properly that is. That path will walk the path of Illyrians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, Austrio-Hungarians, Fascists, Nazis, Communists and finally the free people of Albania. Basically, just keep to the left wall and you’ll be alright there. With the finishing touch the WWII to Socialist period it’s worth far more than what they charge for admission (200 Lek or about $2).
Having fulfilled the culture quota it was time to chase down some food. Unfortunately it was indeed a chase as Efendi, the Turkish restaurant, didn’t exist. We ended up at ERA and the prices on the menu put me off my appetite while my companion had something that looked like cevapi in tomato sauce with cheese. The place is sort of strange. They charge more than most other places around for example 500ml of beer was 260 Lek (about average) while a 30cm pizza was 3-8 Euro for the ERA style and up to 10 Euro for an Italian style pizza. Even the tourist haven Ohrid had better prices as we ordered a full 60cm pizza for about 8-10 Euro.
Now I’m not getting down on the city or the country. There are places like this ERA Pizzeria wherever you go. But what I didn’t really get was that they charged so much…then in a pure touch of class they spread a paper table cloth over the actual cloth one, just so we don’t make a mess and they then have to wash it… High class indeed! Plus there was a large amount of English speakers in the area who really seemed to have sucked the flavor and uniqueness out of the place. In place there’s a false front western town in some areas (not all!) and it means you’re going to have to dig more and more as time goes on to find those truly Albanian Nights.
My walk showed me that a good 15-20% of the city is purely a bazaar of one sort or another. Entire neighborhoods are dedicated to the selling of goods from booths, boxes on the sidewalk, the back of cars and more. The only thing is that a whole line of say 10 people will all have exactly the same items and the same prices…it just didn’t make any sense to me.
The evening was far cooler. My companion’s friends – Brisilda and Naron (aka Ronnie) came by to pick us up and take us out to Petrella which is a castle that overlooks the valley Tirana is in. Great views, nice photos and a good chat later (as well as a beer from Korce) and we were heading back down the hill making our way for a beer garden restaurant. This place wholly redeemed Tirana in my eyes as it was a sort of locals only type place. People generally went there to drink beer but they also served food and so we drank Albanian beer, ate two types of Albanian sausages, some fries and chatted further. After a few hours it was time to pay up and I was starting to cringe until the whole bill came to a whopping $25 roughly. Not bad for 10 big beers, 1 small a fat stack of meat and fries and a joghurt-like sauce
That was about it. The next day was a day trip day so we had to get a little rest…which I did.