August 3, 2013
In the land of King Zog.
If you had tried to visit Albania from 1944 to 1990, even in the unlikely event you had wanted to, you couldn’t, because the country was the European equivalent of North Korea. Its ruler, Enver Hoxha, who led the Communist resistance to the Italian invaders in World War II, who ruled until his death in 1985, was a communist along the lines of Kim Il Sung of North Korea. Calling Stalin too mild, he favored the Chinese brand of Mao Tsetung, and after Mao’s death in 1976, pretty much closed the country off from all foreign contact. There are gun emplacements and turrets along the coast today, remnants of the efforts to keep others out and Albanians in. Albania had become a country only in 1912, and became a Kingdom when Ahmed Zogu tired of being president, and declared himself King Zog in 1925. 14 years later, Mussolini invaded Albania, and Zog joined the ranks of unemployed royalty.
Although Albania has applied for membership in the European Union, and has been opened to the rest of the world since 1991, the effects of that long period of isolation were readily apparent in our stop at Sarande, one of the major ports on the Adriatic. Though only a few miles from Greece, the one lane highway (with billboards promising EU support in building more) ran through a city that alternated half-built new buildings (many of them owned by Norwegians we were told) with buildings torn down (the government destroyed a number of buildings that it said were illegally built). When I went for a walk this afternoon, the two pictures I took were of a soccer stadium—and a cow on the street eating garbage—ala New Delhi. It is, however, both less developed and less expensive than most of the other countries we’ve visited, which should be (the last part anyway) attractive to the many tourists who flock here during the summer for the great beaches. Still, as one of our fellow travelers mused, “I wonder what the company got paid to stop here.”
The major attraction (beside the beaches) is the town of Butrint, “wounded cow,” that encapsulates the history of the area. It is a world class archeological site. It was originally settled by the Greeks (Corfu island, is a few miles away), and the remains included a theater which could seat 2500 people (the town was estimated at 20,000), a temple of Aeschylus , the healing god; then the Romans arrived, and built an aqueduct to ensure water to the island (among other things); the Byzantines then ruled the area until 1204 (that 4th crusade!), with the most striking remains—the largest Orthodox baptistery aside from Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (with a deep well in the center; the Orthodox practice full immersion), with a wonderful floor mosaic (kept covered to preserve it); and a basilica with a partial mosaic that hints at the size and scope of the church; there’s also a Venetian fort and tower, since the Venetians “inherited” many Byzantine areas after the 4th crusade sacked the city and ruled it for 60 years; and finally, the Turkish pasha who ruled the area built a magnificent house now used as the visitor center/gift shop/restaurant for Butrint. The Turks made one major lasting addition to Albania—it is the most heavily Moslem country I think in Europe, at least by percentage—70% of the 3.6 million people are Muslim in Albania.
The wars against Turkey went on for nearly 400 years, with one local hero (Skanderberg, I think was his name) having defeated the Turks 25 times in 25 years, but the country, as I said, became independent only in 1912.
Seven hours after arrival, we sailed out of Albania, and are now in Corfu, the northernmost island of Greece.