Last Day in Albania
For our last day in Albania, we decided to just stay in Tirana. After two jampacked days traveling to Durres and to Kruja, we no longer wanted to board any bus nor sit inside one for hours. We didn't want to follow any tight schedules. We woke up when we wanted to in the morning and ate breakfast in our hotel room at a very lesiurely pace. We went back to Bloku, once the residential area for the country's elite and powerful. We strolled there at dusk one afternoon when the shops were closing and we wanted to see it at the time of day whe it was busy and bustling. I also shopped for a Louis Vuitton fake, a pouchette for men, which retails for over $1,000 in the US. The replica price, 25 euros! By dinner time, we said goodbye to the lady food servers we had become friends with at Nona's Restaurant inside Toptani Mall and who chatted with us while we ordered our lunches and dinners. That night, we went to the pizzeria. What we thought was going to be a small portion turned out to be ginormous. We couldn't finish the entire pizza. We also had the delicious ice cream cone for just 100 Lek or 1 euro! I can go on and on. Looking at the pictures in this blog make me so nostalgic about our vacation to Albania. I shall miss it.
Our hotel was behind this busy city block opposite Skanderbeg Square. I don't remember how many times we walked through here as we made our way to different points of the city. It was full of restaurants, cafes, bars, and convenience stores.
The monument dedicated to Skanderbeg, the father of the country
The "I Love Tirana" sign in front of the Opera Building. By the way, there was a bookstore by the entrance of the the Opera bldg. We went there twice in search of a coffee table book about Tirana. All we found was one about Skanderbeg Square which was big, thick, and heavy. We didn't buy any.
This is the tower which formed part of the Ethem Bey Mosque on the square.
The Independence Monument
Street Art
The pulpit from where the clergy gave their sermon
Here's what inside the Ethem Bey Mosque with its famous interior
The Ethem Bey Mosque in Skanderbeg Square
Inside the Bunk Art
Inside the Bunk Art
The main altar inside the Greek Orthodox Church also known as the Autocephalous Church of Albania
The Albanian University
Skanderbeg Square one afternoon
The Kapllan Pasha Tomb is a Muslim Türbe or tomb built in 1817 in the center of Tirana, Albania. It was declared a Cultural Monument of supreme importance back in 1948. Its 8 columns are made of carved stone, placed on an octagonal-shaped stone base, and capped with octagonal shape capitals. The former Ottoman ruler of Tirana was interned here in the 19th century, but his remains were later repatriated to Istanbul, Turkey.
Souleiman Pasha Square, Memorial of Sulejman Pasha Bargjini
It was not hard to notice the murals and art work that dotted the city of Tirana. They were simply everywhere, on walls, on utility boxes, on benches, everywhere.
This was the apartment building on which the bookcase mural was painted. Given that it was just a block away from our hotel, we saw it many times during our stay in Tirana.
I wonder who this guy is taking a picture of the pyramid of Tirana?
This is what the pyramid looked liked indoors.
Inside the Bunk Art Museum
