What is Albania?

In many ways, Albania is a land of contrasts, and you’ve probably heard at least something about it – something that has made you at least a little interested in this small country that has opened up to the rest of the world. You may have thought that it might be interesting to visit there on a holiday sometime. But the traditional European holiday destinations have won out and you’ve got yourself tickets to Spain, Greece or Turkey, perhaps Croatia.

This time, Albania has had to wait its turn. And I’m not at all surprised by your choice – there aren’t even any direct flights from Finland to Albania yet. It takes effort to find flights to Albania and there is not even one international airport. Rinas Airport, named after the most famous Albanian, Mother Teresa.

Reliable information about Albania is not easy to find. The headlines are mostly about the Albanian drug mafia or the period of seclusion. Someone you know may remember how Albanian society collapsed in the 90s as a result of the pyramid scam. It will come as quite a surprise to many that pop star Dua Lipa is from Albania. Headlines in recent months have been about the shipment of Italian migrants to Durres, where a huge reception centre has been set up to process asylum applications, or that a Muslim Vatican is being set up in Albania, which would completely revolutionise the image of Islam and Muslim states as we know them today. Among other things, women would be allowed to dress as they wish and alcohol would be allowed. The latest big news is the discovery of the world’s largest underground lake in Albania near the Greek border. I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Albania until 2019, and that was a coincidence too.

For years I had dreamed that when I retired I would have a place where I could escape the Finnish mud and sit by the sea and listen to the waves. To this end, I leafed through travel guides and searched the internet frantically for places that would be accessible and within my reach.

For a while there, I thought Italy was the place where I’d be enjoying a glass of red wine in a cocktail hat and a razor in my cheek in a café in an idyllic rural village, listening to the rooster crowing in the backyard of the house next door. But my dreams were not fulfilled in Italy, but in neighbouring Albania, with a population of more than 3 million and angling for EU membership.

I found some interesting and beautiful pictures of this mountainous country, but that’s all I could find very easily. It felt like looking for hay in a needle barn. Information was found here and there and most of it was old and no longer accurate.

But finally, in December 2019, I dared to take a leap into the unknown. As the plane landed at the airport, I tried to peer out the circular window, but all I saw were a few lights in the darkness. It didn’t look like the capital of any country. I did not know at the time that Mother Teresa Airport was not exactly in Tirana, but several kilometres away.

As I stepped off the plane at around 10pm, I could feel the damp and slightly cool air on my face. All around me, I heard talking that I thought was almost unlike anything I had heard before. I came to a country I knew almost nothing about. I was sure that this was the beginning of an adventure, and I wasn’t wrong. Almost anything could happen… On the motorway you might meet a farmer riding a donkey crosswise and driving watermelons. Anything can happen on the motorway, which is why it is recommended that inexperienced tourists do not ride in rental cars after dark.

I had met a couple of Finns on Facebook groups in Albania, whom I bumped into on my flight. They had already bought their holiday home in Albania. Not knowing the nature of Albanian traffic, I had bravely booked a rental car at the airport in advance and felt safe in luring new acquaintances who were used to Albanian traffic into my car. After a good half hour drive we arrived in Dürres, where I spent my first night in Albania.

After an exciting drive, I tasted sleep and woke up rested to a sunny day and saw the gorgeous turquoise sea for the first time. From Dürres I continued my journey towards Vlorë. I had hired the cheapest car I could find and after driving ten kilometres, the bolts on the bottom plate of the engine partially came loose and I had to stop. Before long, a car with Albanian registration pulled up behind my car and a carload of Albanians got out and asked: ‘What’s the problem?’ I pointed under the car and they got the same supplies and temporarily repaired the bottom plate. I thanked them and was able to continue my journey.

Shortly before Vlorë, the landscape changed and the mountains started to appear in shades of blue in front of me. As I drove along Vlorë’s kilometres of palm-lined coastal boulevard, I sighed to myself in ecstasy. I had no idea then what was to come, what landscapes and adventures my first trip to Albania would offer. The very next day, the Albanian Riviera convinced me that this was not the last time I would come here.