Tirana, Albania

Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Suljeman Bargjini, a local ruler, although the area has been inhabited since long before the town was founded. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920. The city is surrounded on almost all sides by hills, with Dajti Mountain on the East and a valley that leads to the Adriatic in the distance, the Triana river also runs through the city, and is visible in many parts of the city. During WW2 Tirana was a fascist stronghold, that Benito Mussolini visited from time to time. A puppet government was established there with a puppet leader King Zog, at the reins. Tirana stayed in fascist control until is was liberated on 17 November 1944 after a intense battle between Communists and Nazi forces. The Nazis didn't hold for long and eventually withdrew and the communists seized power. The city experienced a incredible decline in architecture, as well as living standards as massive socialist-styled apartment complexes, and factories were constructed, while Skanderbeg Square was redesigned with a number of buildings being demolished. Tirana's Old Bazaar and the Orthodox Cathedral were burned to the ground for the creation of the Soviet-styled Palace of Culture. The Italian-built municipal building was destroyed and the National History Museum was constructed instead, while the structure housing the Parliament of Albania during the monarchy was turned into a children's theater. It seems as you have read and will read in the future, that when one regime enters, it destroys all reminders of the former regime, to replace it with a facade of their own. Of course, there were revolts against the standards of living and other issues throughout this time in Tirana's history, mostly by university students. Overtime, with the fall of the USSR, communism fell in Tirana. The most recent problem now is the chaotic development of the city. Everywhere you look the is construction. Multi-story complexes are going up and there is no utility backbone in the city. Many illegal homes are going up and the roads are not in great shape. Tirana is a colorful place, with a bustling nightlife, but no charm. Its a place with some kinks that still need to be worked out.

So I arrived in Tirana and immediately saw the mess that it is. I liked it though. It was a fast paced city with movement everywhere. I walked around the square and took the sights, the mosque and clocktower, the opera house, the national history museum. A big statue in the center of a former Albania war hero, horseback. On my way to the hostel I heard screaming. I look over and see a woman screaming and almost throwing herself into the road. She is screaming at every passing car. She obviously had a mental illness. Everyone avoided her as they walked by and she ignored everyone...except those cars. The hostel was nice I stayed there for several days and met a guy working their an American. That was nice, because it was good to talk to someone in English for a change. We went out and drank throughout the whole time there. I went to Mt. Dajti to get a view of the city. It was a nice trip up to the mountain. Great views and plenty places to hike around. On the way out I ran into the prime minister of Albania. Have a secret service guy show me his gun, because I wanted a picture of the pm. It was cool all the same. After a couple of days I left for Berat. I was waiting on a new card to come in mail. I am still waiting to get back to that card and out of Albania. I am ready to see a new place. I love it here. I would recommend it to anybody, but its time for a change of scenery. Next stop was Berat.

Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje is the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Skopje, with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic center. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi. Some people still call it by this name today. The area in and around Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; the remains Neolithic settlements were discovered inside Kale Fortress (Skopje Fortress.) The night before the start of the 1st century AD, Scupi was seized by the Romans and converted to a military camp. Later in 395 AD, The Roman Empire was divided into two halves, east and west, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople (Istanbul). From 1282 the town was part of the Serbian realm and its capital city since 1346. In 1392 the city was conquered by the Ottoman, it would stay that way for over 500 years. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912 the city was conquered by the Serbs during the Balkan Wars and after the First World War and stayed that until the creation of what was to be called Yugoslavia. In the Second World War the city was conquered by the Bulgarian Army. This is one of the reasons Macedonia and Bulgaria don't get along to this day. In 1944 it became the capital city of all the reincarnations of Macedonia. The city developed rapidly after World War II, until the major earthquake of 1963, which destroyed 80% of Skopje. Skopje is approximately halfway between Belgrade and Athens. The Vardar River, passes through the city then flows south passing the border into Greece. Today, Skopje is spreading is growing leaps and bounds. The government has created the "Skopje 2014" project. With the help of the EU the city is changing its image of a bland capital into something different plans have been to erect several statues, fountains, bridges, and museums at a cost of about €500 million. When I arrived at the central bus station in Skopje, I saw was a unorganized, bland, and unimpressive city. I could see the VERO center, which was a major eyesore. I wandered to my hostel, which was in "Old Town" and was quite nice. Old town was a really nice part of the city, small streets, old houses, and Macedonian flags waving in the cold wind. I woke up the next morning and wandered around the city. I went to Macedonia square and saw the gigantic statue of Alexander the Great. There was a huge video screen next to the statue. It was playing a movie, that was fragmented often with car commercials. After seeing this I went to the Kale Fortress, it was a long walk to find it closed. I heard later from many people that this is a common issue as of late. Afterwards, I went to the National Holocaust Museum, which was very interesting and well designed. It was in Cyrillic and English, which was nice, even the movie playing in the rooms was in English. I discovered that the Bulgarians during WW2, entered Macedonia and made all the Jews write down their addresses, names, and bring a picture. This was a way of cataloging never seen, in WW2. Its the only one of its kind. The people in some of the pictures are smiling, some are not. The museum has many of these pictures. This is another reason Macedonians dislike Bulgarians. After the Bulgarians, the Ustaša arrived and reeked have on the people of this country. The amount of hate it took to kill so many people, I will never understand.

From there I traveled around the city and stumbled upon the National Art Gallery. It was not very impressive. First it was expensive. Second, all the paintings suffered from water damage. Third, there was so little, maybe 30 pieces total. I did find one or two that I liked a lot. After this, I went back to the hostel and planned my next move...Albania.