For the first time yet we got to ride in the JUMBO (is that a club) bus, and thank the greek gods for this because each and everyone of the teachers that put fear into our veins and generally creep us out, joined us for the border crossing. Its a short drive up to the crossing into the former communist, isolated, teenage snatching country known infamously as Albania. Winding through the jungle, over many hills we made it, got some passport stamps and were in. It was another hour drive to Gjirokaster, a city located in southern Albania in the historical region of Northern Epirus. This was one of the main reasons for the tension between Greece and Albania over the century, or at least I think it is.. not really sure because between the foam flying from our relations teacher and the rumble of syllables broken apart from heavy accents its hard to know. Immediately after crossing the border it was apparent that we were in the former communist land. Bunkers, built in fear of the "enemy" littered the landscape, but lets be real who would really give two goats what Albania was doing. Out professor thought we were so inthralled by these bunkers that he decided to point each one out to us, every last 400,000 of them. The main reason for visiting this city was to visit the university located in downtown Gjirokaster which would be were we would get the chance to interview students for an ethnography paper we were supposed to have started, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The countryside looked a lot like Greece, with rolling hills and deep valleys, plagued with un-arable land. We arrived at the University around 11am. There was large festivals going on when we were there and every single student from kindergarden through high school was lining the streets. Having seen few foreigners, especially americans, we got quite a few head swivels.
The students we interviewed all were studying English literature at the school and spoke relatively decent english, or at least enough for what we needed. I had about three questions mentally made up for a topic I had done no research for, so the interviews went really splendid. All the students were very nice and enthusiastic about what life was like back in America and quite interested in our lives. After a couple of hours here we headed up to the fortress atop the hill left over from WWII. From here one can experience extraordinary views of the city that falls below and the rolling hills. It was originally built in the 13th century but used during Ottoman occupation. There atop survives an american war bomber from WWII that was evidently shot down and now serves as a trophy from the great war.
On the way down from the fort, Linnie stopped and purchased "something"(can't remember the name, and when typing small green fruit tart into google its only popping up with tart recipes and isn't taking into account I was talking about the taste...). Anyways it was a fruit that she had read about in a previous students blog. We each bought about a pound for around 300 Lekes or like two euro, cheap. They were quite good. The bus came and picked us up again and we said goodbye to our new Albanian friends, all of whom went home and Facebook friend requested us, all of whom's confirmations are still pending. We headed out to the waterfront along one of the more winding roads I've been on, and in a huge tour bus with cliffs to one side and about three inches from the hill on the other, passing other buses would have been quite comical if I wasn't fearing for my life. This fear was not shared with Linnie. Passed out, mouth open sprawled arose the seats, she knew little of the 100 foot drop off outside my window seat. Being the only one still up on this leg of the journey and clearly reading my book with headphones in and blaring I must have looked like I wanted to talk and hear more about the bunkers, because this is what happened. Not once, twice or even three times but nine times my Albanian-Greek relations professor came back and interrupted my reading to tell me another story about the land of Albania, and yes I did count.
After finally just pretending to be asleep, then actually falling asleep, we drive in Sarande, the gorgeous coastal town known as the "Albanian Riviera". Here we got some delicious family style dinner, and again I over ate. Seems to be a reoccurring theme when we eat in family style, feeling the sudden pulse racing need to horde all food quickly as possible. We walked around for a couple hours and then headed back to Ioannina. At the border each one of us has to get off the bus, and being Americans we actually got to skip the line, celeb status, but mostly because its really hard to leave Albania still because Greece in part of the EU, at least for now, and once into an EU county you are able to freely pass through the other EU countries without documentation. This should have been an easy border crossing, but Toby, one of the boy on the program who sometimes head is in the clouds, forgot or didn't receive, but most likely forgot, to get an Albanian stamp when we came over that morning. So this meant that we had to wait around for a little while while they figured out what to do because he didn't have the stamp. Seem pretty stupid, well it was because the border patrol officers for both Albania and Greece could have turned around and high-fived they were so close but still found this perplexing and unimaginable. All in all we all were pleasantly surprised by the experience we had in Albania. Beautiful landscapes, welcoming people and efficient border police!
For the first time yet we got to ride in the JUMBO (is that a club) bus, and thank the greek gods for this because each and everyone of the teachers that put fear into our veins and generally creep us out, joined us for the border crossing. Its a short drive up to the crossing into the former communist, isolated, teenage snatching country known infamously as Albania. Winding through the jungle, over many hills we made it, got some passport stamps and were in. It was another hour drive to Gjirokaster, a city located in southern Albania in the historical region of Northern Epirus. This was one of the main reasons for the tension between Greece and Albania over the century, or at least I think it is.. not really sure because between the foam flying from our relations teacher and the rumble of syllables broken apart from heavy accents its hard to know. Immediately after crossing the border it was apparent that we were in the former communist land. Bunkers, built in fear of the "enemy" littered the landscape, but lets be real who would really give two goats what Albania was doing. Out professor thought we were so inthralled by these bunkers that he decided to point each one out to us, every last 400,000 of them. The main reason for visiting this city was to visit the university located in downtown Gjirokaster which would be were we would get the chance to interview students for an ethnography paper we were supposed to have started, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The countryside looked a lot like Greece, with rolling hills and deep valleys, plagued with un-arable land. We arrived at the University around 11am. There was large festivals going on when we were there and every single student from kindergarden through high school was lining the streets. Having seen few foreigners, especially americans, we got quite a few head swivels.
The students we interviewed all were studying English literature at the school and spoke relatively decent english, or at least enough for what we needed. I had about three questions mentally made up for a topic I had done no research for, so the interviews went really splendid. All the students were very nice and enthusiastic about what life was like back in America and quite interested in our lives. After a couple of hours here we headed up to the fortress atop the hill left over from WWII. From here one can experience extraordinary views of the city that falls below and the rolling hills. It was originally built in the 13th century but used during Ottoman occupation. There atop survives an american war bomber from WWII that was evidently shot down and now serves as a trophy from the great war.
After finally just pretending to be asleep, then actually falling asleep, we drive in Sarande, the gorgeous coastal town known as the "Albanian Riviera". Here we got some delicious family style dinner, and again I over ate. Seems to be a reoccurring theme when we eat in family style, feeling the sudden pulse racing need to horde all food quickly as possible. We walked around for a couple hours and then headed back to Ioannina. At the border each one of us has to get off the bus, and being Americans we actually got to skip the line, celeb status, but mostly because its really hard to leave Albania still because Greece in part of the EU, at least for now, and once into an EU county you are able to freely pass through the other EU countries without documentation. This should have been an easy border crossing, but Toby, one of the boy on the program who sometimes head is in the clouds, forgot or didn't receive, but most likely forgot, to get an Albanian stamp when we came over that morning. So this meant that we had to wait around for a little while while they figured out what to do because he didn't have the stamp. Seem pretty stupid, well it was because the border patrol officers for both Albania and Greece could have turned around and high-fived they were so close but still found this perplexing and unimaginable. All in all we all were pleasantly surprised by the experience we had in Albania. Beautiful landscapes, welcoming people and efficient border police!
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