Mountains and dramatic valleys greeted my plane as it landed in Tirana, the capital of Albania, on Oct. 22, 2023. I had traveled to Albania with my partner and his parents to watch his brother compete in the U23 World Wrestling Championship.<\/p>\n
Albania is a developing country located on the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula. While Albanian is the official language, almost everyone we encountered spoke at least some English.<\/p>\n
We spent a majority of our time in Albania in Tirana. We visited Skanderbeg Square, which boasts a statue of Gjergj Kastrioti, a military commander, feudal lord and Albanian national hero who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in 1444. The square holds a beautiful carousel and small park. Nearby is the Et\u2019hem Bey Mosque, the sole survivor of eight mosques built in Tirana during the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> centuries. Also located on the square is the Clock Tower of Tirana, National Museum of History and the Palace of Culture, which holds the National Theater of Opera and Ballet and the National Library.<\/p>\n If you visit Tirana, you must take the cable cars up Mount Dajti. The top of the mountain has a hotel, restaurant and conference center. There also is mini golf, rollerblading, paragliding, a playground. It also is the home of a colony of rabbits. Once you\u2019ve had your fun, you can return to the bottom of the mountain the same way you came.<\/p>\n The windows of the cable cars were sadly heavily vandalized so many of my photos did not turn out the way I wanted them to, so I would suggest putting away your phone and enjoying the moment.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need a car in Tirana, but we were glad to have it because it allowed us to travel to the coastal city of Durr\u00ebs. The waters of the Adriatic Sea were a bright teal blue and freezing cold. Durr\u00ebs has a number of bakeries with beautiful selections of baked goods, baklava and gelato. It\u2019s worth stopping for and trying something new.<\/p>\n Of course, we were there for the wrestling competition, which was held at Olympic Park. The competition didn\u2019t go our way, but watching the best Greco-Roman wrestlers in the world was a great way to spend a few days in Albania. We were surrounded by people from Ukraine, Switzerland, Azerbaijan \u2013 and a few families from the United States which helped to stave off homesickness.<\/p>\n