“Albania has spectacular mountains and challenging terrain, but the road system is good. I saw no potholes in the time I was there and, unlike Canberra and Australia, it’s developing a modern railway system.” Whimsy columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS has been to Albania.

I usually travel between Whimsys, and recently spent 10 days in Albania. No doubt you’ll be interested to hear about it.

Albanians are, of course, best known in Europe for dominating organised crime, but apparently Albanian criminals don’t engage in criminality in Albania, instead investing their ill-gotten gains in big villas, expensive cars and real estate. 

There is very little street crime of the kind that makes Barcelona, Rome and Paris a nightmare for tourists.

Historically, Albania has been controlled by various powers. It was part of the Roman Empire, then the Byzantine Empire after Rome’s division. From the 11th century, it was invaded by Normans, Venetians and Serbs. The Ottomans conquered Albania in the late 15th century, ruling for more than 400 years. 

After a brief period of independence in 1912, Albania was occupied by Italy, and then Germany during World War II. From 1944, it became a Communist state under dictator Enver Hoxha until 1985. Since 1991 Albania has been an independent republic.

The dictator Hoxha was paranoid about Albania’s security, isolating the country from much of the world. He built more than 600,000 two-man pillboxes throughout the country and nuclear bunkers in the capital Tirana. He used so much concrete that he bankrupted the economy.

There was severe repression under Hoxha’s rule. It’s estimated that up to 25,000 people were executed for political reasons. Around 50,000 to 100,000 people were arrested and imprisoned as perceived enemies of the state. Additionally, tens of thousands were sent to labour camps where many perished under the harsh conditions.

Being invaded so many times has however had its benefits. Albania is rich in archaeological sites, particular from the periods of Roman and Ottoman occupation. There are also lots of impressive public monuments to Albanian martyrs from different periods of Albanian history.

Albania has a population of about 2.8 million people. The total area of Albania is about 28,748 square kilometres – or around 12 times the size of the ACT.

Albania has spectacular mountains and challenging terrain, but the road system is good. I saw no potholes in the time I was there, and, unlike Canberra and Australia, it’s developing a modern railway system.

The food was interesting – offering such delicacies as grilled krap, koran casserole, fried intestines and dustpan of veal. That could, of course, be down to poor translation. Food prices are much the same as Australia. Albania produces several beers of which Korca and Elbar are the most common; both are good quality beers.

The hotels are mainly three-star, with one hotel I stayed at having the toilet and shower in one cubicle. This is a great Albanian innovation; without going into more detail, it proved to be an excellent time-saver in the morning.

The currency is the Lek. One Euro is worth 100 Lek and the Euro is interchangeable with the local currency. They’ve not heard of the Australian dollar.

Roadside rubbish is a big problem, and in fact rubbish is a problem in much of Albania. It could be said that the plastic bag is the wildflower of Albania.

There are stray dogs everywhere, but they generally seem well fed and I didn’t see anyone mistreating them. Dogs that have been neutered have a plastic tag in their ear.

At the moment, there are not many foreign tourists in Albania, but that will change with the ongoing development of better access to UNESCO heritage sites. People in Albania are still naively tourist-friendly. So, if you’re interested in going, probably best to do it before it’s discovered by the Western hordes.

On a cautionary note, Albania has a Mediterranean climate and is best avoided in the summer when daytime temperatures are 35-40 degrees.

I’ll close with a travel-related anecdote.

Mike was away from home negotiating a deal with another company. The CEO of the other company invited him to play a few games at the local tennis club. After playing, Mike took a wrong turn into the lady’s changing room. He only realised his error when a group of women came in while he was in the shower. The only way out was past the ladies.

Looking round he only had a small towel that was barely adequate to protect his dignity. But then he thought one of the ladies might be a friend of his host. Choosing instead to hide his identity, he wrapped the towel around his head and made a run for the men’s changing room.

The first woman said, “He’s not my husband.”

The second said, “No, he’s not.”

The third said, “He isn’t even a member of the club.”

Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist