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On one of the bumpy landrover journeys back from site, driving between the villages of Xarra and Vrina, we saw an old woman on the road spinning wool - an absolutely fascinating sight, it really makes you feel that you're in another time.Sadly I didn't get a photo, but this picture shows you a similar character to the lady I saw.
Gestures are an important part of conversation in Albania. There is the famous confusion over head gestures for yes and no (see my other tip for more detail), but certain other gestures are worth a mention too. To place the flat of the hand on the chest is to say 'thank you' (see my Sarande tip).To stroke the shoulder lightly means 'good luck'.
Much of Albanian cuisine is typical of the Balkans and indeed the Mediterranean, with heavy influence from Greek, Italian and Turkish cooking in the south of the country. Seafood is very common in the coastal areas, such as around Saranda.The daily diet seems to almost always include cheese, bread and vegetables. Meat (particularly lamb), aubergines, peppers, olives and tomatoes are frequently part of local dishes, and feta cheese is ubiquitous.One particular speciality, apparently originating in Turkey and no doubt spread by the Ottoman empire, is 'byrek', made of layers of phyllo pastry, generally filled with cheese (most commonly feta), meat (most commonly ground beef), or vegetables (most commonly spinach). For breakfast, we were always provided with bread, feta, jam or honey, and tea. For lunch, there was more bread and feta, with tomatoes, cucumber, olives, eggs, and usually...
One of the nicest customs I saw in Albania was the evening promenade. Everyone in the town puts on nice clothes and goes to the town square, or main street, strolling along visiting with everyone they see. This lasts from early evening until dark.
To say NO, albanians move the head as we move to say YES; to say YES, they move the head as we move to say NO.Before leaving Albania, I stopped for a while at the train station in Durr?s. A very poor man asked me if I?d like a glace. I said No moving my head, but he understood YES in Albanian. I was very shamed when he came to me to offer a glace. Unfortunately I only had the money to pay for the exit visa (I think 10 USD), and I gave nothing to the man.
While I was working at the site of Diaporit, we occasionally had to drive the long way around, through the villages of Vrina and Xarra and past Lake Bufit. On one of those occasions, winding through the foothills, we passed a flock of sheep and goats herded by a couple of very picturesque shepherds; an elderly man and a youth riding ponies with no saddles, but fleecy saddle blankets instead. About an hour later, working hard on site, we heard the clonking of the sheep bells, and around the hill the flock came - the shepherds were curious and wanted to see what we were up to!Why didn't I have my camera that day?! Well, sadly I didn't get a photo, but I found this one that shows what I mean.
It used to be the case that in Albania, a nod of the head meant 'no' and shaking one's head meant 'yes', and this custom still prevails in more rural areas, particularly with the older generations. However, younger people have adapted to the western practice of nodding for yes and shaking your head for no, which means that if you are only going on head gestures, things can get a bit confusing as you never know which one means which! Best to ask them to say 'po' (yes) or 'jo' (no).One elderly Albanian man we were working with at Butrint asked a friend of mine through gestures for some of her tobacco. She also offered him a cigarette paper, and he shook his head, so she started to put it away, but then he started reaching for it, so she offered it again... after this was repeated a few times, we finally caught on that he was using the older method!
I'm not sure if feminism has reached Albania or not. The women seem to do a lot of the heavy labour, while the men sit around a lot. We saw one fairly elderly woman, a widow by her dress, using a mattock to dig a small trench, while a man of about the same age looked on, occasionally gesturing as if directing her.
New and half-finished buildings are ubiquitous in Southern Albania - the owners do as much as they can, and then often go abroad to work in order to make enough money to come back and do the next bit. And wherever you see a less than complete house, you'll also see a doll hanging somewhere. It might be small, it might be life-size, but it'll be there. These often elaborately dressed dolls (dordolece) are said to be used to protect the house until its completion against the 'syri i keq', the evil eye.
The Albanian currency is the lek - 100 leke is currently worth about 1 US Dollar, 0.82 Euro and 56p (UK). Some prices may still be shown in old leke, which is 10 times the current price, so be careful when buying. Apparently, the currency changed in 1969. More than thirty-five years later, people still haven't switched over to "new leke."There are coins for 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 leke, and notes for 100, 200, 500, and 1000. Some of the notes are very beautiful indeed, but you're not supposed to take them out of the country, so be careful if you try.
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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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