[May 2024] Continuing with the walking tour of Tirana, Albania.
Near the Prime Minister’s residence, there was a statue of Ismail Qemali, the first prime minister who is said to have built modern Albania.
He is a politician from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.
There is a large statue in his hometown of Vlore but the one in Tirana is smaller.
According to our guide, Giorgio, “When there was a growing momentum to build a statue of him in Tirana, they didn’t have the money, so they brought out the one that had been left in the warehouse and put it here.”
The face of this statue looked very similar to Giorgio.
I wondered whether I should say that, but for some reason I decided not to.
No matter how you look at it, he was not a handsome man.
We had been walking along a large single road, and when I checked the map, I realised that it was Deshmoret e Kombit Boulevard.
At the end of the road was the university.
The building next to it was apparently the place where a large meeting to decide the five-year plan was held during the communist era, but now it is the venue for a fair.
By chance, a plastic surgery event was being held at the time.
Apparently, many foreigners come to Albania for plastic surgery.
They also specialize in hair transplants.
I listened carefully to what the guide said about it, just to get some reference.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we also went to the new Christian cathedral.
I heard that it was built in the image of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
I liked the mosaics made of lapis lazuli and other materials in the background, but it was too modern and I did not feel it was dignified.
And that was the end of our trip to Albania.
Everyone gave our guide, Giorgio, a tip of €20 each.
One of our tour companions was used to this and had prepared an envelope.
There were 12 people on the tour, so we left a tip of €240.
At first, I had a rather negative impression of this guide, but he gradually became better and better towards the end, and I began to wonder if the price was appropriate.
However, I heard that a teacher’s salary in this country is around €600 a month, so I guess this is reasonable.
After we disbanded, we had dinner at a steakhouse with some of our tour companions, which was the final event of the trip.
