//Day 54 /04-05-22 /Tirana

A comfortable hotel room and bed is does not necessarily mean a long sleep. I was awake at 6.00. Couldn’t sleep any longer. 

My next objective would be to cycle via Skopje to Kosovo and return via Montenegro to the coast. The Kosovo and Montenegro weather forecast is predicting a lot of rain the next period. I also learned that climbing above 1100 meters with the weight I carry along, even with the help of Black Horse is challenging. Kosovo and Montenegro would be 400 K of cycling in the mountains with climbs to 1700 meter. The combination rain, climbing an the weight I’m carrying along does not make ingredients for  pleasure or success. So after some consideration I descided to change my route. The new plan is to continue following the coast through Montenegro, Bosnië, Croatia and Slovenia. Have a brief passing through the north of Italy, cross Austria,Germany and Belgium and end in Gent……from Tirana to Gent this is around 2800 K. 500 K more then my original plan. But I’m moving faster than planned, so I will be home in time…

After laying out my new route it was time to visit the Tirana. The sun was shining and temperatures would reach 24 in the afternoon. Tirana was founded in the 17th century and currently going through a modernisation with the build of some landmark towers and renovated city center. It’s a lively place full with bars and restaurants, new shopping malls. It also has a lot of parks intensively used by the locals. In the city center you find a Mosque and a big church. 

I visited an interesting exhibition covering the terror and repression inflicted by Enver Hoxha’s lead communist regime. The exhibition is situated in an underground bunker under the Ministry of internal affairs build under communist rule. Albania is famous for the volume of bunkers build under Hoxha’s regime a total of 173.371 were constructed between the 60’s and 80’s to be precise.

The regime was notorious for their spying and repressing their own population by the Sigurmi secret police making sure that nobody fled the country. More then 5000 people who tried to cross the border have been killed.  The regions around the borders were depopulated and guarded by dogs trained to detect and kill people. The country was in principle a big prison, with forced labour camps in operation until 1991. Since 2014 Albania has been an official candidate for accession to the EU. Since 2020 negotiations are ongoing…. I also visited the National Museum of history where I learned that the communist regime era was not the only period of violence but has a long history of war and terror, inflicted by both external and internal causes. The Museum of national history could use a redo but was interesting enough that I spend 2 hours in it. It also had a hall dedicated to one of the most known Albania’s : Mother Theresa. The good lady who lived by the principle that suffering was a gift of God….but not for her as she used the money she received to live a good life. She was also a strong opponent against anti-conception and abortion. 

After my musea visits I chilled at my hotelroom as I’m still struggling a little bit with a cold and sour throat which were cause by cycling to much in the rain I think. I was doubting to stay an additional night in Tirana but that decision was taken for me.  The bikeshop called me that Black Horse would not be ready today which suited me fine. 

The rest of the day I chilled. In the evening I got something to eat and watched some Netflix. Tomorrow I will visit the National Art Museum and the House of Leaves, once the HQ of the secret police which now houses a museum on how the communists spied on their population…..

Lessons learned :

• Albania became independent in 1912.
• You can do a fairly big laundry in the sink of a hotelroom.

Song of today : Astma Asmaton - Maria Farantouri and Mikis Theodorakis