.
After getting changed we headed to the vast Skanderbeg Square in the center of Tirana. Just as we were arriving there, for a strange moment, a dark storm seemed to be about to hit us. It went dark and high winds whipped in, stinging the backs of our legs with dust. But no sooner had it started when it had stopped again. Bizarre.
We had a couple of beers at a Cafe next to the opera theatre and, after an envious look at another fresh food market - you know, one of the main things we don't have in Perth, we headed for a lovely Albanian restaurant I'd discovered last time I was here... Restorant Tymi.
Unfortunately it was choc-a-bloc inside with a queue outside and no chance of reserving a table. So we traipsed around looking for other options and ended up with a nice salad for Leb and a quite disappointing simple kebab thing for me.
We managed to find a working ATM, so we had plenty of Lek to spend before going back to our arty room for a nice relaxing evening.
Remembering Enva Hoxha in Our First Full Day in Tirana (Wednesday, 21st August)
I wanted to rebook Art Hotel as I remebered its amazing breakfasts and wall to wall artwork. I had a hunch Leb might be impressed. She was not disappointed!
After filling up we headed off back into the center of Tirana. We passed by a central mosque, a reminder than a big slice of the European populations are muslims.
Our theme for many of our stops was history and remembering how lucky we are to live in the historically unprecidented bubble of freedom and democracy we do. So, first stop was the BunkerArt museum, a tribute to the victims of the Communist era under the despotic Enva Hoxha. The museum is located, strangley, in an underground bunker. Apparently Enva Hoxha was paranoid about being attacked.
After the grim, somewhat clostrophobic atmosphere in the BunkerArt museum, we needed to be out in the open and so stopped for a quick drink by Skandebeg Square.
Next, we headed for the restaurant that was choc-a-bloc the day before. I noticed that it was pretty much next door to a barber shop ans, needing a hair cut, Leb and me decided to try a walk in. We had never seen anything like it. I'll leave to Leb to describe in the video below, but suffice to say after waiting for 45 minutes we decided to cut our losses and head straight to the restaurant.
It has a very odd quirky ambience but the food is traditional Albianian cuisine: rich comfort food. I struggled to remember the actual dish I had the last time I was there but when I remembered I wasn't disappointed.
After another good feed, we had a bit of a walk, twice crossing over the rather underwhelming river Lana that flows through the Albianian capital. See, I had to try to visit the FK Titana stadium (the Selman Stërmasi stadium).
 |
| Sneaked a Peek |
On the way back to our hotel, we passed the eerie old residence of Enva Hoxha, and then, the very impressive Orthodox Cathedral of Resurrection.
