Sarandan Albania

Albania is situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Over 70% of the country is mountainous, but we were visiting the coastal region where most of the 3 million people live. Albania has some very unique history. It is populated primarily (95%) by the descendants of the Illyrians from the 8th century BC. The land has been ruled by other countries for most of its existence: the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans, until it became independent in 1912 after the first Balkan war. But a year later, during the second Balkan war they lost half their land to the surrounding countries of Greece, Macedonia, and Yugoslavia. After World War I, the European powers suggested that the country be again absorbed by its neighbors, but President Wilson preserved its independence. Italy annexed the country in 1939. Communist guerrillas under Enver Hoxha seized power in 1944.

One of the Albanian bunkers

Enver ruled as a dictator for 41 years. During this time, he totally isolated the country from the rest of the world. He convinced the people that they lived in a paradise and that foreign powers were threatening to tear up the country. The state spent almost all the country's money on the military. They built over 750,000 bunkers to defend the country from invasion - three times as many bunkers as there were apartments. People were not allowed to travel out of the country or even to swim on the seashore (since it is only a mile swim to Corfu). While the rest of the world recovered from World War II, Albania went on with no new apartments, roads, or industries. They did provide free health care and education (having almost 100% literacy), but food was in short supply. Our guides family of 8 people lived in a two bedroom apartment. You continued to live in your parents apartment, until you had two children, then you could have your own place. In 1992, after a general strike and demonstrations, the first free elections were held. Since then Albania has one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. Many of the people emigrated to other countries to work and send money back to feed the construction boom. As we entered the port of Saranda, almost all the building have been built in the last 20 years. Much of the town is under construction still.

Petra singing at Butrint Theatre

We toured the UNESCO site of Butrint, occupied since prehistoric times as a Greek colony, a Roman city, a Byzantine bishopric then was occupied by the Venetians. The site was deserted in the middle ages. The Italians started to excavate the site in the 1930s. They removed so much material that the former island became a peninsula. Much of the site was built in the 6th Century BC using large stones. The Roman building were easy to pick out because they used smaller bricks. For example, the theater was originally built by the Greeks, but additional rooms, several baths and a marketplace were added by the Romans. The town had 10,000 people during these times. During the Byzantine period, a Baptistery and the great Cathedral were built in the 6th century. The mosaics are still here, but most of them have been covered with sand to protect them from the elements. The Ottomans turned the cathedral into a fortress when they occupied the country.



6th Century AD Great Bascilica

In the afternoon, we walked the promenade along the seashore. We were treated to the local ice cream, mixed with a machine from the communist era. 18 single scoop cones for $5. Albania is famous for its Cognac, 10 euros for 700 ml of cognac.

Talk on the former Yugoslavia

The Balkan peninsula is primarily defined as the Balkan mountains and Danube river down south to Greece and the European portion of Turkey. The kingdom of Yugoslavia was created after World War I as the south Slavic nation. It was formed of six republics. Various powers occupied the republics during World War II. Tito reunited the area as Yugoslavia after World War II as a communist country.

• Slovenia had its own language, use the Latin alphabet and were largely Catholic for most of it's history, it has been part of the Hapsburg or Austrian-Hungarian empire.
• Croatia has its own language, uses the Latin alphabet, and is Catholic.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (named after the Turk that ruled it) has always had a mixture of different ethnicities from the other republics. The northern part has been ethnically cleaned of everyone except Serbs. They speak Serbian, use the Cyrillic alphabet, and are Orthodox religion. The southern part has a mix of Bosnians and Croatians. Here they speak Bosnian, use the Latin alphabet, and are Moslem religion.
• Montenegro share the Bosnian language, are Montenegrin Orthodox and use both alphabets.
• The Serbian republic during Tito's era was subdivided into Serbia, Kosovo (largely populated by Albanians) and Vojvodina (largely populated by Romanians). Serbia spoke Serbian, use the Cyrillic alphabet, and are Orthodox. Tito wrote in the constitution that these areas could become independent if they so desired, Kosovo took advantage of this, since its population was Moslem..
• The final republic was Macedonia, they speak Bosnian, use the Cyrillic alphabet and are Orthodox.

Tito united these very different areas, and even in their independence people are nostalgic for the feeling of brotherhood they had under Tito. Unfortunately, a few days ago, Bosnia and Serbia have had their worst flooding in 120 years. Three months of rain fell in 3 days causing the Sava river to flood as high as 10 to 15 feet above the homes. This may have the effect of reuniting the peoples of Yugoslavia to help each other with humanitarian aid.