ALBANIA 16

Folk dancers in Skanderbeg Square, Tirana, Albania

A monument to the partisans who helped liberate Tirana in 1944

Inside the Efrem Bey Mosque in the heart of Tirana, Albania

Northern Albanian mountains

Northern Albanian mountains; road from Shkodër

Northern Albanian mountains near Bogë

The hotel that stands on the square in GJIROKASTER (Albania)was named after Andon Çajupi (1866-1930), a poet and playwright. He was born in Sheper in the Zagori Mountains north-east of Gjirokastër. The hotel was the one where I stayed in 1984. It has been modernised, but has kept 1 room, a lounge, from the Hoxha period in its original state. This was decorated with carved wood panelling and a number of well-preserved frescoes, which at first sight looked almost pre-Raphaelite. The exquisitely painted scenes depicted aspects of modern (i.e. pre-1990) life. Some of the rustic landscapes contained electric pylons and oil derricks. In one domestic scene there was a modern briefcase in the foreground and in the background washing lines with laundry hanging on them.

The hotel that stands on the square in GJIROKASTER (Albania) was named after Andon Çajupi (1866-1930), a poet and playwright. He was born in Sheper in the Zagori Mountains north-east of Gjirokastër. The hotel was the one where I stayed in 1984. It has been modernised, but has kept 1 room, a lounge, from the Hoxha period in its original state. This was decorated with carved wood panelling and a number of well-preserved frescoes, which at first sight looked almost pre-Raphaelite. The exquisitely painted scenes depicted aspects of modern (i.e. pre-1990) life. Some of the rustic landscapes contained electric pylons and oil derricks. In one domestic scene there was a modern briefcase in the foreground and in the background washing lines with laundry hanging on them.

The hotel that stands on the square in GJIROKASTER (Albania) was named after Andon Çajupi (1866-1930), a poet and playwright. He was born in Sheper in the Zagori Mountains north-east of Gjirokastër. The hotel was the one where I stayed in 1984. It has been modernised, but has kept 1 room, a lounge, from the Hoxha period in its original state. This was decorated with carved wood panelling and a number of well-preserved frescoes, which at first sight looked almost pre-Raphaelite. The exquisitely painted scenes depicted aspects of modern (i.e. pre-1990) life. Some of the rustic landscapes contained electric pylons and oil derricks. In one domestic scene there was a modern briefcase in the foreground and in the background washing lines with laundry hanging on them.