Tirana

Leaving Berat on Monday, we were off to Tirane, the capital of Albania.  It was a 2 hour drive, however we sidetracked slightly to visit the beach area 30 miles West of Tirane. These sandy beaches are the new playground for Europeans and a seeming unending construction of new condos.  

We drove the final 30 miles from the beach to our hotel. It was the Brilant Anika Hotel, located close to all the historic items yet on a narrow dead end street. It promised free parking and the hotel parking attendant parked us in the middle of an alley and said it would be OK.  

That afternoon we took a three hour walking communist tour. It's hard to explain the oppression the Albanian people were under for 41 years until they became an independent nation in 1991. It also is amazing the bitterness they have toward the leaders of that era and also how quickly (35 years) they have embraced capitalism and have flourished. At this point they have applied to become a part of the EU. 

Albanian communism was the most closed and repressive. They were the North Korea of their day. No travel in or out of the country even to Russia or other communist countries around them.  All religion was outlawed and thousands died or were put into camps. In the end the leader was so paranoid about outside infiltration that he had 150,000 bunkers build throughout the country. Almost all still exist since they were build of concrete and designed to withstand atomic warfare.

We enjoyed our quiet hotel but were awakened by the Moslem call to prayer at 6 am since the largest mosque was only 1 block away.  On Tuesday we walked and enjoyed the old bazaar, and other historic sights. 

Today we left our quiet hotel and drove to the airport. We are in a Best Western "Ark" Hotel a 3 minute walk to the front entrance of the airport. We dropped off our Avis rentacar and are ready to get on our airplane at 6 am tomorrow.  

The total flight is 20 hours with a stop in Frankfurt and Houston before the scheduled arrival in Phoenix at 5:30 pm on Thursday. 

Berat

 Berat is a tourist town, but it was fun after being alone at our last stop. As we drove into the town we saw our hotel right at the center so that was nice after so many nights trying to figure out where to go. It was cute too; right on the hillside overlooking the valley. It was nice to stay two nights.

Once again there was a lot of walking up and down so my legs ache once again. Up the hill to the castle and then when we thought we were at the top, up some more. Then back down to our room. We ate at the restaurant in our hotel so no more walking that night; meatballs in a tomato sauce.

The next day we walked down, and I mean down to the city. It was larger with more restaurants and shops.  But when it came time to go home, we go a taxi up to the top; smart move.

This city is known as the city with 1000 windows as you will be able to see from the pictures. I googled, why? and they just said because of all the while homes on the hillside with 1000 windows overlooking the valley.

It was Sunday and we are able to walk by the Evangelical church as they were disbursing and was able to talk to the pastor. They have a congregation of about 100 people.

Elbasan

 Today was mostly a driving day; and once again it was on winding road through the mountains. We arrived at our "Resort" called the Panorama Resort Hotel at the top of the mountain. It's a beautiful place, but once again, since it is the off season, we were the only guests. The host was so nice and we got settled in our room and had a wonderful meal. Total cost for the room and steak meal was just over $100. 

Tomorrow we head to another historical town of Berat and plan to spend two nights there. Then on to Tirana for the next few night before we fly home on October 1. 

More about Communism: After WWII Albania became the only isolationist communist country. For 41 years they were cut off from the rest of the world in every aspect. Freedom of speech, religion, and critical speech of the government was met with death. It was brutal. After the soviet union fell, Albania also became an independent country, but it has struggled and is now trying to become a part of the EU. In fact, the reason most of the hotels are booked this week is because there is an EU conference. Who knows, maybe we will see some famous people.

Ohrid - the Jewel in Macedonia's Crown

 After the exciting experience of finding the Macedonian Ruby in Prilep, we headed to our Ohrid. Another adventure awaited us as we followed the GPS up and around tiny streets and up the hill. It was a little scary and I was tired of driving and anxious to get to our place. Once again, walking on cobblestone streets with ruins all around I wondered was ahead of us. But then, once again, a cute Villa nestled on the hillside awaited us.

The Villa Varosh did not disappoint. In fact, with its 9 rooms it would be a wonderful place for the family to meet: so cute. I could relax here for a few days just enjoying the sights and sounds of the city

One of the things that Ohrid is known for is the Ohrid Pearl. It is not a pearl made in a shell by a pearl made from a shell. Below is an explanation of how it is made.

https://chatgpt.com/share/6ab6199d-f7c8-83e9-af7e-bda807c0eea3

Many of our meals were prepared in these clay pots and served hot from the oven. The food was so delicious so I bought a small pot to try it at home.

There is so much more to say about this city, but words just can't express it. We took a sunset boat tour around the lake and enjoyed walking up to the Monastery. We walked the streets until my legs ached.

Now I need a few days to regroup. Headed to the shore of Albania.

Macedonian Ruby

 Today was another treasure hunt. 

We left Sofia, early, as we had a long drive. It's interesting that, here in Bulgaria and Macedonia, we have to go through border security leaving and entering both countries and have had my fingers prints taken twice. When we entered back into Macedonia it was through a back road entrance and they had some trouble understanding why are car was registered in Macedonia and yet we were coming from Bulgaria. But all went well.

Our first stop was Prilep - home of the famous Macedonian Ruby. GBT Chat recommended Eva Filigrees. so we headed there. On our way we passed a purse store and I picked up a really cute purse for only $28. There were so many cute purses at such a good price that I wanted to buy the whole store. But I resisted and only bought one.

Then off to Eva's. She couldn't speak any English, but since Deko had told us all about them and where to buy them, we just looked at what was available and bought one for each of the girls, myself and a stone for Rich's shelf. She was surprised, I think. But we had to pay cash so off to the bank. We met a young lady who directed us. Most of the young people speak english and are very helpful and friendly.

Then off to lunch. Again, another delicious meal. They eat lots of meat here and we both had pork. I might just want to stay here for the food.

Then off to our next destination: Panorama Hotel and Spa in Krushevo. Our GPS got us to the town through winding roads up and down. And then up, up, up, not even knowing if we were on a real road and then we popped out on top. The hotel looked deserted and we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. But we found the entrance and an elevator and once the door opened - WOW. Very nice and elegant. Hard to believe this is only costing $67 per night. We were the only ones there but since have seen one other person. It will be interesting what the dining room looks like tonight. Apparently this is very busy in the summer, fall and winter, but this is the off season.

Do we really want to bring Communism to America?

Today, we relaxed at our hotel until noon as we knew we had a long walking tour in the evening. We took a taxi to downtown and first on our agenda was to find a coffee shop; and we did. Caffe Americo is what I usually order in Europe, but it is still very strong. We had a muffin and breakfast sandwich with fresh squeezed orange juice too. Then headed on our mission to find a Bulgarian Rose oil Store. We found 2 stores and bought from a mother - daughter off main street store. 

We had several hours to kill so we revisited some streets and found the bagel store we had visited yesterday. Then we walked the main shopping street until  3 p.m. we because we were tired and we stopped for a Gelato.

At 4 p.m. we met our Communist Walking Tour guide. He started by explaining that Bulgaria wasn't initially under Russian Communism, but the Socialist system Carl Marx talked about in the Communist Manifesto in the 19th century. At that time most of the people were farming, but after machinery came on the scene, there wasn't enough work for everyone and they started moving to the city and they were working 7 days a weeks but were still poor. So even though there was enough resources to go around, most of it went to the elite. In the Communist Manifesto, Carl Marx promoted that they start unions, they would become political and gradually they would bring in this system: private property would be abolished, everything would belong to the state, money would disappear and everyone would be happy.

In practice, things turned out different. Communism was first tried on a large scale in Russia in 1917 with the revolution. At that time Russia didn't have a working class to bring about this system and after the revolution the working class was substituted with the communist party. This system was copied in other countries like Bulgaria with a goal of achievement by1980, then 2000 and finally it collapsed or radically reformed.

Communist rejected religion so they tried to destroy it by saying religion is the "opium of the people." But they did it subtly with police around the church during services, writing down names to intimidate them. Many priest would be forced to become part of the secret police. And they also built building around the churches so people didn't see them.

In the early 1900's there was communist party, but it didn't have much traction and always unsuccessful.  But WW II changed things. The country didn't want to participate, but in 1944 the Nazi's were going to cross the border and they had to make a choice to either become their friend and join them or their enemy and be occupied. They decided to join them and many people started to oppose that decision. But the communist party that had been so insignificant began to cozy up to the Russians and they sent an army into Bulgaria and they were celebrated as liberators and there was a Koupe and took over the government. 

The first agenda was to deal with the opposition. Historians say 10,000-30,000 were killed in the first three months. Then they established the peoples court where the oppositions were given a choice to convert or go to the labor camps. Then they had a "vote" and the communist party was the only legal party.

The communist were really against the capitalist system. The state would collect all the revenue and were supposed to dole it out equally. But without any incentive the workers didn't want to work and they began to loose money. In 1980 the system collapsed.

The communist party enlisted informants to spy on your friends. Some believed in the party but others were forced. For example our guides mother was told she needed to become an informant or she couldn't finish university . Thankfully, her father was an ambassador and she was able to decline. So people were very careful with what they said, even in a joke. Today the files are in the state archives, but many got destroyed. 

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

Some may say all Roses are the same, but in Bulgaria, they would say that is not so. Not all roses have a strong scent and not all roses produce oils.

For centuries, the Rose Valley has been a rose-growing area of great importance. The rose oil produced from the special variety Rosa Damascene was used for women's beauty products and perfumes. today, the rose is one of the symbols of Bulgaria and attracts visitors from all over the world, especially from Japan where the rose is also culturally important.

Today we are on a mission to find this famous rose store called The Bulgarian Rose. She explained how special this rose was and why it only grows in Bulgaria. I wish I would have recorded her as it was so interesting.

Needless to say, we bought some rose products to bring home.

Bulgaria:Our first impressions is WOW

Bulgaria became a on independent country in 1908, so it was an established country before they were a part of the Communist Block. So when the Soviet Union broke up in 1989 they were already an established country and had their first multi party elections in 1990. 

Most people would say that by walking through the center city you have the visual history of Bulgaria. Alexander Nevski cathedral reminds you of centuries of Ottoman rule until Russia drove them out. A significant number of statues and building remind you of the communist rule as part of the soviet socialist republic. The Modern buildings and current lifestyle, that are sitting next to communist era buildings, remind of the transformation into a modern European Union country. Today we go on a communist tour that will explain what it was like during that era. I'm sure, after this tour, I will have a lot more information on this subject.

As we walked downtown, we noticed there was a Green and Electric Car Expo going on. The cars were beautiful. Many young families were there enjoying the activities and as allows the food was delicious.