Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Blog Roundup: Albania

Photo: foC

Ever since discovering that Albania, wedged between Italy, Greece and (former) Yugoslavia, existed, the country has fascinated me. As a teen at high school, I remember some UNICEF workers giving us a lecture, and I was very intrigued by the thought of an extremely poor country in the middle of Europe (at that time, I thought everywhere in Europe was as developed as the UK, Sweden or France - yeah I was a bit clueless at that age). I read some proper history books on the country and was fascinated with the idea of the world's most isolated state (prior to 1992) being right next door to Italy, and the fact that I had no idea it was even there (and quite possibley just because there was a king called Zog).

I've never been to Albania, even though I've been harping on about going for the last 7 years. I will go, one day, it's not that far away to be honest. But, for the time being, I'm quite content with the very interesting snapshots of life in Albania that the following blogs offer:

Inside Albania - A foreigner, who has lived in Tirana for 'long enough', shares his/her thoughts and experiences of living in the capital 'that never sleeps', and claims to still be 'regularly amazed' by life in Albania.

A Nevada Yankee in King Zog's Court - The blog of 'an American who accidentally stumbled into Albania and fell in love'.

Stepping Stones - Kim, an expat from Canada, shares some nice, homely tales of her life in Tirana, a far cry from her home city of Toronto. Kim also has some interesting photos of daily life in Tirana and other Albanian towns and villages.

Living in Shkoder, Albania - Kolin, a fellow Scotsman, abandoned his life in cold, dreary Scotland and settled in Shkoder, a town on the Montenegrin-Albanian border. Living with his Albanian wife and three children, Kolin shares his thoughts and observations about living in Albania.

So, if you're intrigued by this small Balkan country, I recommend that you grab a coffee and check out some of these blogs. Enjoy!

5 comments:

markowe said...

Yeah, I used to be fascinated by King Zog - I think Python used to make jokes about him on a regular basis, but the thing that made him stand out most in my mind was that he was a prodigious smoker - he may even have been in the Guiness Book of Records (maybe that detail came from my over-active childhood imagination) as the world's heaviest smoker - having smoked, it is said, between 150 and 200 cigarettes a day.

He died at the age of 65 - ho hum!

Pat said...

Gosh, I learned a lot today on your blog, at least about those who have blogs on Albania. I am defnitely going to check them all out.

Anonymous said...

Hi

Yes Albanaia it is a little wornderfull country that people do not know about but once they find out the acnient history it amazes them. Feel free to check my blog as I have plenty articles on Albania.

http://www.findalbanian.com/

Adam said...

@Mark

Well, 65 seems pretty good for smoking 150-200 cigarettes a day! That's a lot, he must have had the other one lit before the first one was out.

@Bibi

Glad you found the blogs interesting!

@Albanian

Thanks for posting the link to your blog. I'll check it out.

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