Tirana became a non-touristy city that we loved very much during the time we spent there. The history of the country and its confrontation with this history has truly created a very different atmosphere. Being between Turkey and Italy in terms of both geographical location and culture has created a distinct synthesis. To enjoy this city, it is important to have a superficial knowledge of the Enver Hoxha era. In summary, the country tries to become independent after separating from the Ottoman Empire, but a few years later it is occupied during World War I. Then, while trying to become independent again, it is occupied by Italy with the start of World War II, subsequently occupied by Nazi Germany, and with the withdrawal of Nazi forces, Enver Hoxha takes power. Every event makes you miss the previous one. During the Enver Hoxha era, the country was governed in an ultra-closed manner. The political narrative shifts to the “enemies within” mode. The ruling party manages all trade and appointments in the country. The first two museums I will mention create a striking confrontation with this period.
The first of these is Shtëpia me Gjethe, the House of Leaves. This is a building that started its life as a maternity clinic. During the Nazi occupation, it was converted into the Gestapo headquarters and later continued to be used as the headquarters of the Albanian secret service called Sigurimi. Equipment used for surveillance is located here. In the museum, you encounter a very striking narrative about how sealed letters were opened and closed as if they had never been opened, and how people were secretly recorded with audio and video.
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| House of Leaves |
The national history museum further deepens the atmosphere of the House of Leaves. Alongside exhibitions that reflect the country’s history from a broader perspective, there are exhibitions that delve deeper into the Enver Hoxha era. For example, the section with the clothes of people who were killed by border guards while trying to flee the country is truly very impressive. The fact that they strikingly presented the events created by the inward closure of a country governed by the “enemies within” narrative in this way is an invaluable approach.
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| National History Museum |
The city is filled with bunkers built by Enver Hoxha. The fear that they would be attacked by an atomic bomb became an obsession for him, and he had bunkers built all over the city. One of the largest of these is in the city center and connects government buildings to each other. Now it has been turned into a museum under the name Bunk’art. Exhibitions regarding the interrogation processes of suspects have been created in this bunker, and when combined with the claustrophobic structure of the bunker, it has created a very impressive environment.
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| The exit of Bunk’art |
The original central bank of the country, designed by an Italian architect, was enlarged by building a new structure around it, and the first built structure in the middle was converted into a museum. This place operates by appointment and guided tours are conducted, and these guided tours are completely free. Since we have to leave everything, including our mobile phones, in the lockers at the entrance, you don’t have the chance to take photos inside. However, since our guide took a photo of us and emailed it to us, we have one photo related to the museum. Here, it contains very interesting elements regarding the history of the country’s currency, where and how it is produced today, the internal structure of the central bank, historical teller windows, and the goals of switching to the Eurozone. Even though we went without an appointment, because there was no one else, we were able to start the guided tour immediately. Apparently, it doesn’t attract much attention from tourists or is not well known, but it is quite an important place.
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| Old Central Bank Money Museum |
There are a few lakes around the city, and around one of them is the Tirana Lake Park. There are pleasant walking paths, unobtrusive cafes, and occasionally musicians playing their instruments here. It is an ideal area not as a tourist activity but precisely to relax.
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| Tirana Lake Park |
“Bar Restorant Shkalla e Tujanit”. This is the only place in this post that cannot be reached by walking from the center, but the food, drinks, presentations, and the view of the environment create a very beautiful atmosphere.
The bar we liked the most in the center was “Noor Coffee & Fine Food”. It is a bar converted from an old house, where the cocktail quality is very high, the prices are very affordable, and the atmosphere is again very relaxing.
Mulliri is a chain we frequently see in the Balkans. It’s a chain we first saw in Tirana and took a break at whenever we saw it and wanted to rest. They have started opening branches in Turkey now, and interestingly, their first branch opened in Afyon. It’s a place where the coffee is not very extraordinary but we absolutely love their cold sandwiches.
One of the things we couldn’t understand in Albania is that prices in cafes like Mulliri are so affordable that if you were to buy ingredients from a market and try to make something yourself, the cost would be almost the same as buying it from the cafe. We thought this must be a situation related to the prevalence of the informal economy and the low cost of labor. It became a city that we liked very much in a cultural sense.