Colleen’s Adventures

June 2, 2024

Arrived in Tirana last evening after a 1 hr 15 minute flight from Athens. Hmmm, capital city to capital city in 75 minutes – nice! Met a pre-arranged driver at the arrivals gate who drove me to my apartment that will be home for the next 5 weeks.

First impressions? A city of contrasts. A 5 minute drive from the modern international airport cows and sheep graze next to farmers fields filled with fresh cut hay. Beautiful mountains dominate the east side, running in a NW to SE direction, with a dense city in the valley and creeping up the sides. Old, rundown, communist era apartments a stone’s throw from a modern, architecturally unique high-rise. There goes a Mercedes sedan boppin’ down the street, passing by a person digging through the dumpsters on the street for plastic bottles or other items. Totally automated immigration control (sorry, no stamp for your passport!) and 100mps internet download speed, but you can’t drink the water.

And that’s just the first 12 hours….