We rolled out of bed pretty well rested. The shower in our hotel was interesting: super hot water for a while, then cold, then back to hot. It was an unpredictable dance but at least there was plenty of space to dodge scalding water when necessary.
We pushed the “-1” button on the elevator to arrive at the basement breakfast floor. The room reminded me of a place where I imagine AA meetings would be held – no windows, and there was an industrial chemical smell. But there was a big espresso machine in the corner, and we made a beeline for that right away-
…only to be rebuffed by the hotel staff, who steered us to the other side of the room where they had a big hot pot of Americano coffee. Around it was a breakfast buffet, and the message we got was: this is for you. The breakfast buffet was pretty good – I liked how they cooked some salty cheese chunks into the scrambled eggs – and there were plenty of breads, yogurts and jams, and fruits, cheeses and cold cuts.
After we sat down to our breakfast and coffee, an Italian couple entered the breakfast room, and the staff right away started brewing them espressos.
What the fuck?
Kuniko did a little research on the signs on the walls, and apparently the Italians were members of a medical tourism group, who had some kind of special agreement with the hotel. They got the espressos and they had some croissants and rolls, but that was it for them. I still was bummed out we didn’t get a proper cappuccino.
After breakfast we went up to the room to get organized and then we went out to do some more sightseeing of the city. We started by searching out the “Pyramid”, a special structure in the center of the city offering 360 degree views. It was a little hard to find – the structure of the pyramid was integrated into a shopping center, and the direction from which we approached made the shape unclear. Later we circled around and then we could see (and climb) the pyramid. Kuniko is not a big fan of steps (especially going down) but she did a good job getting to the top and back. And the views were quite nice, including a few mosques – we’ve seen a lot this trip.
Next we walked back to the north towards the big square. We crossed a bridge that had life-size figures that reminded me of the Talos Principle characters – a little spooky. Tirana was full of art exhibits, not only in museums but on street corners as well. We continued on to check out BunkArt2 – a museum/modern art exhibit built in an underground bunker. The purpose of the museum was to call attention to the lengths the authoritarian government had gone to keep tabs on the citizens. The bunker was used to move soldiers and politicians between key buildings in the city, and to spy on citizens to root out any sort of dissent or resistance to the government in power.
It was a pretty heavy topic, and I was impressed with the creativity with which they tackled it. One room showed various illusions – ways to make people question what they see with their own eyes and introduce self-doubt. One example was an illusion that looked like a perfect star, but upon further examination you started to find flaws in its structure – the exhibit compared it to a perfect Communist, but looking deeper always finds flaws.
It was pretty hot in the tunnels down there, but it was worth the visit. We emerged from the other end of the tunnel into the heat, and then walked a short distance to the square. Sticking to the shade we went over to take a selfie in front of the “I heart Tirana” sign, then ran back into the shade. There were quite a few tour groups also in the shade – I can’t imagine leading a tour group through this kind of heat in the summer.
By this time we were pretty hot so we decided to go visit a shaded cafe on the street that we passed near our hotel. We took a table at the edge of the area, as far away from smokers as we could manage. The staff came by and just from looking at us predicted what we would order – a cold beer and a glass of white wine. She was right! As we sipped our drinks people walked by on the street. Some would glance at our drinks – we were enjoying alcohol on a workday at 10 am – but I didn’t feel like we were breaking any major moral codes.
One little girl came to us and begged for money, and when we refused to give her some she gave Kuniko the side-eye as she walked away. Near us a little kid sitting with their family managed to knock a glass of the table, shattering it into pieces. The family moved to another table so that staff could come and sweep it up. Finally I took my bill in to pay it off, but the bill said only one coffee – they staff had apparently given us the wrong tag, so we corrected the issue and paid.
We stopped on the street to buy a keychain, and then went on to another area past our hotel that felt a little older. There was a large city bazaar there, under a modern structure with open sides to let the breeze come through. They were selling lots of items, including fresh tobacco(!) clumps, but most of the stuff looked like junk to us.
By this point the heat was getting oppressive. We decided to walk the five minutes back to our hotel and avoid it. We were pleasantly surprised to find the room already had been cleaned, so we waited until we were hungry enough for lunch. The first place we had picked from Google Maps, and it looked really good. Unfortunately due to a lot of construction in the area it proved hard to find. When we did find the restaurant it looked abandoned. We went downstairs and found a cleaning lady, who then went to search for a restaurant staff member. She wanted us to wait, but looking around at the empty tables we decided to duck out and find somewhere else.
We ended up not far away from the bazaar, at a place called Kings Pil, a beer place. We sat outside under the misters and shade, but we could still feel the heat through the awning. Besides cold beer and white wine we also had kofte in sauce, and a dish of stuffed eggplants (really good!).
While we ate a large group of young people went into the restaurant for lunch. Outside one of their friends asked us if the food was good. It was, and we told him so, but what would he do if we said it wasn’t? Abandon his friends inside? For us it was fun to watch the various people walk by – Tirana had a wide variety of people, tattooed, wild fashions, grizzled old people. Lots of interesting things to see.
At this point the heat was just too much (38 degrees C), and so we followed siesta protocol and went back to the room for a nap, with the AC blowing hard. I fell asleep with the TV on – most of the channels were unavailable with the cryptic message “No Camera Mod” showing. The hotel WiFi was also dropping constantly – apparently we were on the top floor and just out of range of their WiFi router.
Once things cooled down we went back out for the evening. We started at a big shopping mall nearby, hoping to visit the supermarket in the basement and see what an Albanian supermarket was like. Unfortunately it turned out to be an Italian shopping mall, and an Italian supermarket with only Italian product. It seemed wildly expensive as well – who shops here?
We decided to go back to what we know and visited the same wine bar that we had visited the previous day. The same staff helped us, we enjoyed more sparkling wine, and then moved on to try two of the winery’s white wines. The staff was happy that we were interested, and he enjoyed explaining – it felt like we were in a tasting room. At the table in front of the wine bar two guys came in and ordered cold beers, which seemed an odd thing to get at a wine bar.
As we were paying the bill the staff asked us if we like red wine, and he said that if we stop by tomorrow he’d introduce a great red wine that the winery makes. We said that love red wine but we leave Albania tomorrow morning. So the staff said, “Just a moment..”, and came back and poured us a big glass of red wine (on the house) for us to try. He poured more than a taste – it was a generous glass. We thanked him and he went back inside while we enjoyed the wine – it was really good. Afterwards we struggled with how to repay his generosity… a big tip? Do they tip here? A hug? But in the end he was busy inside for so long that we thought our thanks would probably be enough.
Down the street we found another restaurant that looked interesting and we had dinner at “Dehun”. It was a newer place, and we ate “patell xhan pikant” (spicy eggplant), “pllaqi me suxhuk” (beans and sausage with tomato), and “tigania” (sautéed beef). We washed it down with two glasses of merlot. Everything was good, the plates were smaller, sort of like a tapas style. Across the street was the restaurant we had visited the night before, and we waved at our waiter who seemed to remember us.
After dinner we took a walk across town to visit an outdoor library that had an interesting structure – and the area around it was full of modern and quirky architecture. Especially near the city stadium there were big squares and stylish restaurants – Indonesian, Japanese and Malaysian. It felt like a rapidly developing area.
Once more we hit the Tirana Castle street to grab some cocktails before heading back. The place gave us some free shots while we waited – vodka, Bailey’s, strawberry liqueur and Kahlua. The cocktails were a little disappointing – my daiquiri was OK, but Kuniko’s margarita was tangy and not so balanced.
Around us things were livening up and there was more of a nightlife vibe happening. We walked towards the big square and took more pictures, including the big apartment building that was designed to look like a human silhouette. The square was much more comfortable in the cooler weather – it was a good night to be in Tirana.
On our way back we passed a trash truck collecting bins. The bin was actually attached to a deep pit, and the whole thing could be lifted out by the garbage truck. I watched as the process happened – there was a huge capacity under that single bin that was all underground. The truck operator saw me gaping and we waved to each other.
Near the hotel we stopped at a minimart to buy some water and banana kefir. Back out on the street I commented on the contrast of watching a woman in an ultra-mini skirt and high heels walking past Muslim women completely covered up. Apparently this contrast is perfectly normal here.
It was a fun day in Tirana, but we have to hit the road tomorrow and do a travel day. It should be our last big ambitious travel day of the trip.
