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When albanians get married, the married couple tends to drive through town in a decorated car while they hunk the horn constantly.They will have some freinds following in their cars and they will make as much noise as possible too.I have seen that in a few countries, but what struck me in Albania is that there is always a car driving next to them with a guy who is video filming it all.Usually he is hanging out of the sun roof.
I did not spend much time in Albania but i have good experience about something and that is - people. Didnt find single person which i would call impolite. Everyone was willing to help. Since i am flag collector i wanted a flag of Albania for me. I asked one man in his store where can i buy myself Albanian flag and he left his store and all things in it and went to search with me. When we found it he was as happy as me! Really great experience. Same was with anyone else!Basically everyone i talked to spoke (bad) english, but hey, thats more than nothing isn't it? :-)
In Albania peacefully exist four religious Muslim Sunni, Bektashy ,Greek Orthodox Christians on south,and Catholics on north country,we sought in Albania towns mosques and churches one near another, that is only European country ,were no one Jew was murdered or sent to Germans death camps,since local people gave them shelter in mountain villages, and hided them in another safe places.
I will not give here a class of Albanian, which I would be unable to do anyway! All guidebooks give basic sentences useful when you visit the country. However, visitors must know that Albanian is a language with declinations. Moreover, in most languages the definite and indefinite form of words are given by an article: in English, “the” for definite and “a” for indefinite. In Albanian it is also a declination that identifies definite and indefinite. Visitors would not pay attention if that did not apply also to place names. Thus the name of each place can be written in two different ways. I will give in the following respectively the definite and the indefinite form for a dozen Albanian cities. When speaking in a foreign language, Albanians use the definite form. Guide books do not always follow this rule!Berati/Berat, Berat in EnglishButrinti/Butrint, Buthrot in Greek, Butrint in...
The Indo-European group of languages is usually divided into 9 sub-groups. One puts together the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, etc…) that derivate from Latin. Another one, the Germanic languages (German, English, Dutch, Scandinavian languages, etc…). Another again the Balto-Slavic sub group of languages divided itself between the Baltic sub-sub group (Latvian, Lithuanian, etc…) and the Slavic sub-sub group (Russian, /…/, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, etc…). Modern Greek derivates from Ancient Greek and is the only language of its sub group.Albanian (shqip in Albanian) belongs to the Thrace (or Daco-Thrace) subgroup and derivates from the ancient Illyrian. The only other living language of the Thrace group is Armenian, though not closely related. No other language derivates from the ancient Illyrian.Albanian has burrowed a lot of words to its neighbors...
When communicating with elderly Albanians, keep in mind that traditionally the shaking of one's head from side to side indicates an answer of "yes," while the shaking of one's head up and down indicates an answer of "no." This is completely opposite from the mannerisms of most other countries, including the USA, and can be quite confusing! This does not as much apply with Albanians in the younger generations, as they have grown accustom to western mannerisms in recent years.
We saw lots of partially-built houses. All were patriotically flying the Albanian flag. They also had a doll (or even a teddy bear) attached to the roof. We were told this was to ward off the evil eye.
Driving on Albanian roads will be a kind of adventure. The driving habits are not really what they are in other parts of Europe. Although its forbidden to drink and drive the police is not checking intensively on that. Plenty of small memorials are reminding the traveller of road fatlities.
In Tirana you will see little kids coming round with boxes selling all kinds of stuff from cigarettes, phone cards, roasted nuts rolled in a newspaper cone etc... There are loads of them and they are all running trying to get there before the other one, then the bar staff come out and chase them off!!! If they keep coming up to you you just need to tell them to go away if you don't want anything.
When i first arrived when people were asking if i wanted something and i didnt i would be shaking my head, then i could see them getting it (a drink for example) then my husband would be saying to them no no she doesnt want one so :if you want to say Yes shake your headif you want to say No nod your headalthough it is mainly the older generation who think like this.or you could just sayPo - YesJo - No
Sheraton Tirana Hotel and Towers Tirana
4 Reviews and 70 Opinions Having spent approximately 5 months in the Sheraton-Tirana, I know the "ins" and the "outs" of the...
Hotel Berati Berat
3 Opinions
Grand Hotel Europa Shkoder
11 Opinions
Reviews and photos of Albania attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Albania sightseeing.
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Q: Hello all I'm planning to visit Albania in 2012 and i need every bit of advice going. There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of...
A: I have been to Albania several times over the years and i would say you should try and make a visit to Berat aswell as Girokaster. These places are very scenic places...
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