(6) The Beauty of Albania

18 - 21 October 2012, Albania

On the ferryboat at the Komani river

My stay in Albania was brief and limited to its very northern part. Nonetheless I realised that Albania is a unique place. A land of hyper friendly, energetic and roaring people facing problems of a third world country. A culture that seems the result of blending other ones, such as Ottoman, Balcanic, Italian and, recently, American.

Albania is one of the most intriguing countries I visited. A country where beauty melds with misery and where genuineness is everywhere.

This impression was clear already the first day in the country but it was strengthened by the experience of the following ones.

The day after my entrance into the country I woke up in Shkoder willing to reach the Koman river and the Valbona national park. Worried for my safety, I was not sure that hitching in Albania was a good idea.

In the late morning a crowded local bus brought me to Vau I Dejes - which is on the way to Koman. From there I started walking alongside the road leading to this village. While walking I was showing my thumb to the passing cars, aware that walking the remaining 25 kilometers was not possible in one afternoon.

Soon a car stopped and its driver approached me speaking Italian, without knowing my nationality. Bizarre, I thought! He was an Italian priest working with local communities on those mountains. During the travel he explained about the difficult situation in this area, where one of the biggest problems is that most of the children do not go to school.

The road we were driving on was winding up and down the mountain next to a canyon with a river at the bottom that granted me a jaw-dropping scenario. He left me some kilometers before destination. No car was passing by and I could walk in the middle of the road. I did not know where I was going to spend the night but I trusted my fate. 

Accommodation in Komani Village
on the floor of a restaurant

Later I realised that in a country like Albania you can do that. People - especially in the countryside - have a big heart and help if they can. I had the feeling that Albanians are less scared than most of people in Western-Europe simply because they are poor and therefore have nothing to lose. People are used to help each other just because peer support is sometimes the only resource available.

My faith in fate was eventually awarded. In Koman village I entered a restaurant to get some food. There I met a man who lived in Piemonte and therefore speaks the local dialect of my region. He arranged me a place to sleep on the floor of the restaurant and gave me some advices about Albania. One of the main ones he gave was to do not mess up with Albanian women. Allegedly, I could easily get into troubles with men if I gave a longer look at one of 'their' women - wives, sisters, daughters. Fortunately, finding a woman in Albania was not the purpose of my travel.

Komani River at Koman Village

The following morning a ferry navigating along the Komani lake brought me up to the town of Fierze. On the ferry I enjoyed its conformation. A large green-water river divided the mountain range into two imposing entities of rock covered with scattered native green vegetation.

The result was a canyon of uncontaminated beauty. If the same scenario was in any European country, it would be completely over-crowed by tourists. There, in the middle of Albania, fortunately untouched by mass tourism, I enjoyed the sight only with locals and so I felt privileged.
 

Komani River at Fierze

From Fierze I walked and hitchhiked through Bajram Curri to the village of Dragobi in the Valbona national park.

In this mountain village I met a man who escaped Italy because of problems with Italian justice. He offered me to sleep in the infirmary of the local hospital that was closed. He gave me the key and a bottle of tap water and left. In this building there was neither running water nor electricity or heating. I needed food but seemingly there was no shop in the village and I could only see a closed bar.

It was five in the afternoon and in the midst of the mountains it was breezy, cold and quickly getting dark. A beautiful mountain stream was running in front of the hospital. Although we were inside a national park the stream at the village was so full of garbage that it seemed to be running on an open dump. The village was almost deserted. I did not feel good. I felt fever and I was tired by the night before on the floor. I had no other option than to wait in the infirmary for my host to return. Fortunately, after a while the bar opened and I could buy some biscuits.

I plunged myself into the sleeping bag and did not know if the man was actually going to return. After a couple of hours he came with a tray of warm food for me. In my weak condition where the only thing I could desire was something warm to eat the sight of the warm meal made me feel moved. And of course I felt extremely thankful to this stranger, a man who at home I would probably have not trusted and assisted, because of my fears and prejudices. I felt also thankful - I reflected later - to all the local people encountered who welcomed me with a moving ardor.

Mountains at Valbona National Park

In bad conditions following the cold night, the coming morning I reached the highest village of the national park where I took a room with heating, running water, electricity and breakfast for ten euros. I passed the day by resting in my warm room, walking around the village and enjoyed the sight of the unspoiled nature around me.

I met an American woman living there. She runs a restaurant and tries to promote eco-tourism and to raise awareness among local people for respecting the environment (more information about her project). She explained to me that northern Albania is a particular complex reality: in fact it used to be the poorest part of the poorest country in Europe. She explicated that rough dumps are the result of behaviour of local authorities that do not collect rubbish and hence leave local people no other option than create this kind of dump.

The following day two guys of about my same age brought me to Kosovo from where I started my way up to Sarajevo.

I left with in my head one word that sums up my feeling for the country - genuineness - and one sentence that best concludes my experience there:

If you are one of those persons who can see beauty beyond problems, prejudices and your own fears, then Albania is a must for you.