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For foreigners and not only/ A tourism guide to Albania

2025-03-31 12:36:00, Trending CNA

Empty beaches, mountains, and intriguing historical monuments make Albania a hotspot for intrepid tourists.

Just visit it before the Kushners!

With a long Mediterranean coastline and a magnificent mountainous interior, Albania is destined to attract intrepid travelers.

A word of advice, visit it before Jared Kushner's company completes its $1.4 billion hotel on Sazan Island, a 111-hectare island off the coast of the Albanian Riviera.

The region was settled by the Illyrians around 1200 BC and became a Roman colony before being annexed by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. Albania gained independence in 1912.

After World War I, Ahmet Zog took office and crowned himself as King Zog in 1928.

Under the leadership of King Zog, Italy became an influential foreign power in Albania, and Mussolini finally annexed it in 1939.

From 1944 to 1985, during the harsh dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, Albania's only ally was China.

Hoxha, who became a communist autocrat, who built dozens of bunkers.

Albania was the only country in Europe with a Muslim majority.

Later, this nation the size of Vermont with 2.7 million inhabitants went through a period of transition.

For foreigners and not only/ A tourism guide to Albania

35 years later, its tourist infrastructure offers pleasant holidays.

Albania is not a luxury destination, and that's a virtue. The lack of Starbucks, McDonald's, and other ubiquitous international brands offers a psychological relief to the Balkan country.

For foreigners and not only/ A tourism guide to Albania

A walk around 'Skënderbej' Square, the wide stone-paved square in the heart of Tirana, the capital of Albania, will sometimes make you feel like you're in a scene from a Marx Brothers film.

The Ottoman-era Clock Tower with four windows and a series of neo-Renaissance ministry buildings echo the fascist architecture of Mussolini's Italy.

At dusk, the minaret of the Et'hem Bey mosque pierces the "pink mist" over this new city of about half a million inhabitants.

For foreigners and not only/ A tourism guide to Albania

Skanderbeg Square, in the center of Tirana, above, the magnificent mosaic on the facade of the National History Museum, a new Albanian Orthodox church seemingly adds a golden cross to the horizon.

Then, at the northern end of the square, the National History Museum is decorated with a giant polychrome mosaic of Albanians in traditional clothing holding the red and black flag, and with rifles in their hands.

Otherwise, Tirana lacks the monuments, palaces, and vain imperial promenades of other Western European capitals.

The Gjirokastra Castle has existed in one form or another since before the 12th century.

For a visit to this fortress, plan two or three days in Tirana and then rent a car to spend a night or two in Gjirokastër, a beautiful hilltop town that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, with cobblestone streets, Ottoman-style stone houses, and one of the largest castles in the Balkans.

For foreigners and not only/ A tourism guide to Albania

Finish enjoying the beauty of Albania's magnificent beaches by staying a few nights in Ksamil and a day trip to the archaeological ruins of Butrint National Park, where four ancient cities from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Venetian periods were built one on top of the other.

Don't leave without trying the traditional dishes of this country. Try the beef brain with sauerkraut; salad with dates, pumpkin and sun-dried tomatoes; and one of the Albanian pasta dishes, perhaps petka with duck and porcini.

In Ksamil, avoid crowded resorts.

It is also noted that there is no shortage of applications that help locals understand tourists, although it seems a bit difficult.

This is the article that airmail news has dedicated to Albania, describing some of the country's hottest and most touristic spots. /CNA