Well, a little elf that used to live in Albania told me to make sure all of my shopping was done by Halloween. Out of fear of what would happen if I didn't listen, I did just that. Everything was here by early November, and the waiting began. The two big mistakes that my husband and I made were: not buying nice wrapping paper and bows early and not buying each other's gifts until Black Friday. Today is Christmas Day, and I am still waiting on my beautiful wrapping paper! It never did show up. My hubby and I got lucky that our gifts for each other finally came in (God Bless Amazon Prime). It's hard when you've spent nearly $90 on ridiculously pretty wrapping paper and then have to buy $.99 wrapping paper from the local dollar store. Such a bummer. Apparently, our diplomatic pouch (well, SEVEN pouches) got sent to Istanbul rather than Tirana. Since that's a whole different country, I'm not sure how that was possible to mess up seven times running, but it is what it is. Regardless, everything important came in or came with the grandparents when they got here! I must, MUST remember to order candy in October next year.
Mail and diplomatic pouches aside, Christmastime in Albania is so interesting. There are three main religions here: Catholic, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims. What is the most fascinating is that all of the religions live in harmony. Muslims and Christians marry, have each other to dinner, make friends with one another, etc. No one cares what religion anyone else is. Now, I am no expert; but from what I understand, much of this is due to the fact that Albania was under a Communist dictator for several decades. During that time, Albania was the only "Atheist" country in the world; and people were not allowed to worship at all. While many are true believers, believe me; it seems like many others are simply a certain religion because their family has always been that religion. For example, there are many people who call themselves Muslims but eat pork and drink alcohol. That said, there are many, many faithful Muslims who answer the call to prayer five times daily.
My in-laws came to visit for Christmas, and we could not have had more fun. It was an unbelievably Albanian experience. It started with the rental car. My husband and I have a 4 1/2- seater unlike anything most Albanians have ever seen. For security reasons, I won't go into what we drive; but just know that it's a "one of a kind." Anyway, there is no extra seating in our car; so my father-in-law decided to rent a car that we could all fit in together (all six of us). Since this is Europe--and Europe doesn't really "do" minivans--we ended up getting something between a van and a bus. In Albania, that type of vehicle is known as a "furgon." Essentially, a furgon is a type of bus system that takes people from town to town, province to province, etc., for a small fee (usually only $5-10 or less). These things are always chock full of people and usually flying around mountain roads. I kept wondering why so many people on the side of the road were flagging us down. At first, in my naivete, I thought there were simply a lot of hitchhikers out during the busy holiday season! After the third or fourth town of hard looks and waves, I realized what was going on.
My husband's parents, my father-in-law especially, absolutely loved the food. What a relief when they raved over all of our favorite things! We started at Prince Park, a place right near where we live, that serves seafood year-round. My goodness, how proud I was when everyone dug into my octopus and arugula salad!! I have to admit, I was happy to share such a wonderful meal with people I love and to have them love the meal as much as I do. I guess that's just a throwback to my Southern heritage or something. Anyway, the restaurant really outdid themselves for our guests: wonderful seafood risotto, mixed grilled seafood, stuffed peppers, and octopus.
The following day, we went to Kruja. I cannot say again how much I like Kruja/Kruje (depending on where it's used in a sentence). We were able to show the fam all of the little shops that we found so interesting when we first went. They're all full of ancient Byzantine coins, old typewriters, national costumes, and even old Communist regalia. Of course, the only thing my two boys were interested in were the old Communist army hats with the red stars on the front. Eventually, we gave in (though my father-in-law bought them) and let them have the hats. The boys were so excited and proud to have real "army" hats, and they couldn't give two rips about which side wore them. The old men we passed kept pointing and smiling at my boys and calling out, "Partisans." The good news is that we're pretty sure no one was offended by the hats in Kruja; however, we did end up removing the red starts when we moved to other cities. The boys still wear the hats everywhere and are so proud!!! Of course, we had good food in Kruje too (can you tell I'm becoming a foodie??), and we had lunch at the gorgeous Panorama Hotel restaurant. Our yummy lunch was followed by a brisk walk up to the Skanderbeg Castle and a delicious coffee at the restaurant next door to it. We came upon a little cat colony at the restaurant and were absolutely amazed at the fearlessness of some of the animals. They just pranced around the ledge of the mountain, teetering right on the edge and not afraid at all.
Kruje was followed by homemade Spicy Peanut Soup (recipe from @ShrinkingKitchen) and a trip to Berat, Albania, the following day.
The trip to Berat was nowhere near as heart-stopping as our trip to Corfu was, but it wasn't dull. What should take two hours took three and a half due to crazy traffic and roads. There were turkeys everywhere on the side of the road. I'm guessing that they were "at market" for Christmas or New Year's Eve dinners. There were hundreds of them all over. I think the most fun we had was listening to the boys counting bunkers as we drove down the road. For all those who don't know, Albania had a very...strange dictator who was scared of being invaded; so he had something like 100k bomb shelters/ bunkers built all around the country. Some towns have like 10; some towns have none. That part of history is fascinating and worth a read, FYI. Driving in to Berat was like driving back in time. The first part of the city was a visual history lesson of Communist times, with Soviet block-type apartment buildings and an abandoned factory that stretched on for blocks and blocks and blocks. My husband, who can always be relied upon for interesting tidbits of obscure knowledge, told us that Berat used to be the leader in Albanian textile making. Apparently, they had a towel-making deal with Cuba years and years ago. Another interesting tidbit is that most houses and buildings in Albania have some sort of teddy bear or stuffed animal hanging on them, which is thought to ward off evil. Further down the coast, we've also seen garlic hanging with them. My mother-in-law was in love with them and was constantly pointing them out and photographing them.
Before traveling to Berat, I knew that it was famous for its castle, but I had no idea what to expect. Well, past the old, Communist block buildings, lay the "Old City," which is where our hotel was. Apparently, "Berat" in English means "White City." We stayed at the White City Hotel, which seemed fitting. The place was really nice, with excellent service (I mean phenomenal) and WiFi. One cannot ask for more than that when traveling here! After a late, lazy lunch at what was actually a bar moonlighting as a restaurant, we started to climb the mountain road to the castle. See, the "Old City" of Berat is mostly built right into the mountain that extends under the castle. The houses and cobblestone streets have been there for centuries, with their massive wooden doors and brass knockers. To say the walk was "stunning" would almost be insulting. I cannot find a word to describe the wonders of architecture that we saw there. We knew we wanted to go up to the castle eventually, but we started winding around the white stone houses to see what we could see. So many of the paths have been worn slick from the tests of time and people. We meandered for a long while, and then we started what was to be a significant climb.
Of course, we didn't know that cars are actually allowed inside the castle walls; but we do tend to get ambitious. The road was, of course, steep and cobblestone; but the castle was worth it. Wow! We got up there and started looking around, and we were almost immediately approached by a gentleman who lives there within the castle walls. His name was Tony (or Toni), and he knew many of our American friends' names. Fortuitously, it turned out that he often gives tours of the castle and offered to give us one. Toni showed us things and told us things we never would have learned about on our own. His tour was as informative as it was extensive. We never would have known how old it is--mostly from the 13th A.D.; however, some of the ruins are older--or the fact that there are like 13 churches there. We never would have known that invading forces over the years didn't destroy the churches but did destroy the mosques (there were two and are now in ruins). The list goes on and on. For everything we saw and learned, even the walk back down the mountain (in the dark) was worth it.
I think the most fascinating part of Berat was the mountain we could see from our hotel. Try as we might, I don't think any of us were able to get a picture of it. See, the former Communist dictator was named Enver Hoxha. Well, his name (just the "Enver" part) had been written on the side of the mountain during his regime. After he died and Communism fell, the letters on the mountain were transposed; and "NEVER"--as in "never again"--was then written. It's still there today and is easily visible to all.
On par with the amazing hospitality that Albania is famous for, the hotel gave my boys Christmas gifts of massive chocolate eggs filled with a toy. They were a "special gift from the owner of the hotel." The fact that they were presented after the boys had breakfast made them even more perfect. We packed up and headed home for our first Christmas Eve in Tirana.
The trip home took an hour less because of a different road. Much of it was gravel and dirt, but we made it. Of course, our trip was followed by an orgy of Christmas greed and present opening and then topped off with a trip to our absolute favorite Albanian restaurant: Pine. We had about five courses of amazing seafood and good company. Santa came later and was extremely kind to all; and we spent Christmas Day eating gumbo and pizza. I can't remember a better Christmas.
Mail and diplomatic pouches aside, Christmastime in Albania is so interesting. There are three main religions here: Catholic, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims. What is the most fascinating is that all of the religions live in harmony. Muslims and Christians marry, have each other to dinner, make friends with one another, etc. No one cares what religion anyone else is. Now, I am no expert; but from what I understand, much of this is due to the fact that Albania was under a Communist dictator for several decades. During that time, Albania was the only "Atheist" country in the world; and people were not allowed to worship at all. While many are true believers, believe me; it seems like many others are simply a certain religion because their family has always been that religion. For example, there are many people who call themselves Muslims but eat pork and drink alcohol. That said, there are many, many faithful Muslims who answer the call to prayer five times daily.
My in-laws came to visit for Christmas, and we could not have had more fun. It was an unbelievably Albanian experience. It started with the rental car. My husband and I have a 4 1/2- seater unlike anything most Albanians have ever seen. For security reasons, I won't go into what we drive; but just know that it's a "one of a kind." Anyway, there is no extra seating in our car; so my father-in-law decided to rent a car that we could all fit in together (all six of us). Since this is Europe--and Europe doesn't really "do" minivans--we ended up getting something between a van and a bus. In Albania, that type of vehicle is known as a "furgon." Essentially, a furgon is a type of bus system that takes people from town to town, province to province, etc., for a small fee (usually only $5-10 or less). These things are always chock full of people and usually flying around mountain roads. I kept wondering why so many people on the side of the road were flagging us down. At first, in my naivete, I thought there were simply a lot of hitchhikers out during the busy holiday season! After the third or fourth town of hard looks and waves, I realized what was going on.
My husband's parents, my father-in-law especially, absolutely loved the food. What a relief when they raved over all of our favorite things! We started at Prince Park, a place right near where we live, that serves seafood year-round. My goodness, how proud I was when everyone dug into my octopus and arugula salad!! I have to admit, I was happy to share such a wonderful meal with people I love and to have them love the meal as much as I do. I guess that's just a throwback to my Southern heritage or something. Anyway, the restaurant really outdid themselves for our guests: wonderful seafood risotto, mixed grilled seafood, stuffed peppers, and octopus.
The following day, we went to Kruja. I cannot say again how much I like Kruja/Kruje (depending on where it's used in a sentence). We were able to show the fam all of the little shops that we found so interesting when we first went. They're all full of ancient Byzantine coins, old typewriters, national costumes, and even old Communist regalia. Of course, the only thing my two boys were interested in were the old Communist army hats with the red stars on the front. Eventually, we gave in (though my father-in-law bought them) and let them have the hats. The boys were so excited and proud to have real "army" hats, and they couldn't give two rips about which side wore them. The old men we passed kept pointing and smiling at my boys and calling out, "Partisans." The good news is that we're pretty sure no one was offended by the hats in Kruja; however, we did end up removing the red starts when we moved to other cities. The boys still wear the hats everywhere and are so proud!!! Of course, we had good food in Kruje too (can you tell I'm becoming a foodie??), and we had lunch at the gorgeous Panorama Hotel restaurant. Our yummy lunch was followed by a brisk walk up to the Skanderbeg Castle and a delicious coffee at the restaurant next door to it. We came upon a little cat colony at the restaurant and were absolutely amazed at the fearlessness of some of the animals. They just pranced around the ledge of the mountain, teetering right on the edge and not afraid at all.
Kruje was followed by homemade Spicy Peanut Soup (recipe from @ShrinkingKitchen) and a trip to Berat, Albania, the following day.
The trip to Berat was nowhere near as heart-stopping as our trip to Corfu was, but it wasn't dull. What should take two hours took three and a half due to crazy traffic and roads. There were turkeys everywhere on the side of the road. I'm guessing that they were "at market" for Christmas or New Year's Eve dinners. There were hundreds of them all over. I think the most fun we had was listening to the boys counting bunkers as we drove down the road. For all those who don't know, Albania had a very...strange dictator who was scared of being invaded; so he had something like 100k bomb shelters/ bunkers built all around the country. Some towns have like 10; some towns have none. That part of history is fascinating and worth a read, FYI. Driving in to Berat was like driving back in time. The first part of the city was a visual history lesson of Communist times, with Soviet block-type apartment buildings and an abandoned factory that stretched on for blocks and blocks and blocks. My husband, who can always be relied upon for interesting tidbits of obscure knowledge, told us that Berat used to be the leader in Albanian textile making. Apparently, they had a towel-making deal with Cuba years and years ago. Another interesting tidbit is that most houses and buildings in Albania have some sort of teddy bear or stuffed animal hanging on them, which is thought to ward off evil. Further down the coast, we've also seen garlic hanging with them. My mother-in-law was in love with them and was constantly pointing them out and photographing them.
Before traveling to Berat, I knew that it was famous for its castle, but I had no idea what to expect. Well, past the old, Communist block buildings, lay the "Old City," which is where our hotel was. Apparently, "Berat" in English means "White City." We stayed at the White City Hotel, which seemed fitting. The place was really nice, with excellent service (I mean phenomenal) and WiFi. One cannot ask for more than that when traveling here! After a late, lazy lunch at what was actually a bar moonlighting as a restaurant, we started to climb the mountain road to the castle. See, the "Old City" of Berat is mostly built right into the mountain that extends under the castle. The houses and cobblestone streets have been there for centuries, with their massive wooden doors and brass knockers. To say the walk was "stunning" would almost be insulting. I cannot find a word to describe the wonders of architecture that we saw there. We knew we wanted to go up to the castle eventually, but we started winding around the white stone houses to see what we could see. So many of the paths have been worn slick from the tests of time and people. We meandered for a long while, and then we started what was to be a significant climb.
Of course, we didn't know that cars are actually allowed inside the castle walls; but we do tend to get ambitious. The road was, of course, steep and cobblestone; but the castle was worth it. Wow! We got up there and started looking around, and we were almost immediately approached by a gentleman who lives there within the castle walls. His name was Tony (or Toni), and he knew many of our American friends' names. Fortuitously, it turned out that he often gives tours of the castle and offered to give us one. Toni showed us things and told us things we never would have learned about on our own. His tour was as informative as it was extensive. We never would have known how old it is--mostly from the 13th A.D.; however, some of the ruins are older--or the fact that there are like 13 churches there. We never would have known that invading forces over the years didn't destroy the churches but did destroy the mosques (there were two and are now in ruins). The list goes on and on. For everything we saw and learned, even the walk back down the mountain (in the dark) was worth it.
I think the most fascinating part of Berat was the mountain we could see from our hotel. Try as we might, I don't think any of us were able to get a picture of it. See, the former Communist dictator was named Enver Hoxha. Well, his name (just the "Enver" part) had been written on the side of the mountain during his regime. After he died and Communism fell, the letters on the mountain were transposed; and "NEVER"--as in "never again"--was then written. It's still there today and is easily visible to all.
On par with the amazing hospitality that Albania is famous for, the hotel gave my boys Christmas gifts of massive chocolate eggs filled with a toy. They were a "special gift from the owner of the hotel." The fact that they were presented after the boys had breakfast made them even more perfect. We packed up and headed home for our first Christmas Eve in Tirana.
The trip home took an hour less because of a different road. Much of it was gravel and dirt, but we made it. Of course, our trip was followed by an orgy of Christmas greed and present opening and then topped off with a trip to our absolute favorite Albanian restaurant: Pine. We had about five courses of amazing seafood and good company. Santa came later and was extremely kind to all; and we spent Christmas Day eating gumbo and pizza. I can't remember a better Christmas.
