We had our first visitors from the States last week. What fun time we had showing Sam and Mary Molly around Albania. They arrived late on Friday evening (11:30pm) and Criss had arranged with Aldo, a friend from the internet café, to pick them up. Of course the plane was a bit late, so Aldo and Criss had a coffee and were talking computers when Sam and Mary Molly arrived. They did not complain about not being greeted when they came out of security and having to face the taxi drivers alone, but you could see the relief in their faces when we walked up. Actually, they spotted Criss before Criss saw them.

Our apartment is a 2-bedroom apartment, but we have never been able to use the second bedroom as it was used for the storage of clothes for the landlord’s boutique and for extra furniture to be put in the beach house. After many missed dates for moving stuff out of the room (October, December, April), the beach house was opened in May and the move began. Carol spent 2 days straightening and arranging clothes so all the landlord had to do was move them. Finally, on the Monday before Sam and Mary Molly were to come, we got the last of the stuff out of the room, but the surprises did not stop.

Throughout the discussions, there was to be a bed in the room, but on Monday no bed was available and instead we were told we could borrow an inflatable mattress. It arrived on Tuesday, but was a single, so we started our mad search for a mattress. Criss had just removed a virus from a computer of a guy he works with and so he able to get some help in finding the mattress, which required a trip to Tirane. On Thursday, all plans were finished which is quite early for Albania, the land of everything at the last minute.

The first day was spent in Durres, visiting the Museum, amphithreatre, and a few other sites around town. After a brief rest in the heat of the afternoon, we headed out for dinner and a walk on the boardwalk. Dinner was traditional meal of lamb and veal with grilled vegetables and French fries. Then we headed down to the boardwalk where we sampled “Petulla te gjyshi” which best translates to “Grandpa’s doughnuts”.

Sunday was a trip to Kruja, the home for the national museum of Skanderbeg, Hero of Albania. Kruja is set just above Fushe-Kruja, which the locals have renamed to Bush-Kruja since the Presidents visit. The village is small but inside the castle are the Skanderbeg museum and the Ethnographic museum and several restaurants.

As you approach the castle, there is a gauntlet of vendors selling traditional items and tourist trinkets. While waking these short 2 blocks, any unchecked glance or expression of interest is an open invitation for discussion and will require a minimum of 30 minutes to extract yourself from the situation. We have found a bypass to this street and enter by a longer, but less threatening approach. As you enter the castle, there is a fee and Carol, speaking good Albanian tells the ticket man, we need 4 tickets for foreigners, in case he had any doubts. He is thrilled that she speaks Albanian and gives her a free pass, the rest of us have to pay, but only the Albanian price.

Inside the castle, the Ethnographic museum was the first stop. The museum has all the household equipment from the 1700s and the guide does a great job telling how each piece was used and reminding us after each item, that these are not used today, just in the old days.

A break for lunch at the pizzeria that overlooks the valley which contains Tirane. From the strategic position on this mountain, Skanderbeg could see the castle in Shkoder to the north, the ports of Lashe and Durres in the northwest and west, and a point to the south that monitored movements along the southern routes. We were fortunate in that the prevailing breeze had cleared much of the smog and some the building of Tirane could be seen on this visit. One serious problem of this area is the gravel businesses burns tires to power the gravel crushers. With the dust of the mining and crushing plus the smoke from the burning tires, the air is polluted.

The highlight of the Skanderbeg museum must be the library room that has a map showing where all the cities that have published books about Skanderbeg. Since we could not offer anything more memorable, Sam and Mary Molly politely declined the opportunity to visit National museum of Skanderbeg. Instead, we wandered around the castle, making our way back to the old Turkish baths and a Bektashi tekke or place of worship. The guide at the tekke spoke no English but was insistent on showing us around. Once he realized Carol understood enough to translate a bit, we were committed to the full tour, which included candy and a rest. While Sam and Mary Molly did not get much out of the lecture, they did experience the friendliness and genuine warmth of the people here and they got to experience one of our days. Unfortunately, the guide was so interested in talking about the desire for peace and harmony and the evils of fundamentalism, that he did not tell us much about this sect of the Islamic faith.

Of course, traveling in Albania by furgon is always an experience and the return trip home was long. We took the first leg down to Fushe-Kruja from Kruja without a problem. But in Fushe-Kruja we had to wait almost 45 minutes to get enough riders to start the journey back to Durrës. Once underway, the furgons pickup and drop-off travelers as needed. At one point, a family got on with the mother holding one child and sitting next to Carol while an older woman who started with us from Fushe-Kruja just picked up the other child and put him in her lap while dad climbed in the rear. The mother was talking to Carol and reached over and handed her some fruit from the Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas). When Carol took it and asked what it was, the woman started laughing and apologized as she thought Carol was Albanian.

Once home, we washed the fruit and tried them. We are glad we did not try them on the furgon, they are so tart, and Criss is not convinced they are not poisonous.