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| The Sports Unviersity in Tirana hosted the 2012 Paraolympic games in Albania. |
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| Peace Corps supported the games by volunteering at the events and cheering for the competitors. It was a blast. |
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| Copyright laws are not effectively enforced in Albania, so entrepreneurs frequently capitalize on name brands, often adding an Albanian twist. This is Albanian Fried Chicken and it is delicious. |
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| Kolonat is a "reinterpretation" of guess what franchise. |
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| Soviet-era statue in Pogradec |
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| Pogradec is a beautiful small city on Lake Ohrid. It sits on the lake and is surrounded by mountains. Just across the water is Macedonia. |
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| We like to walk to a less crowded part of the beach in Pogradec. |
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| The water in the lake is cyrstal clear. |
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| Alex taking a swim |
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| We met some friends for a drink one afternoon at this breezy bar in Durrës. |
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| Skanderbeg Square in Tirana |
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| more of Skanderbeg Square |
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| Albania is a big fan of ole George. I think he was the first US President ever to visit the country. |
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| This is the location where we usually rent a paddle boat in Durrës. The sign means for sale/rent in Albanian. |
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| I saw this on my way to work. This sheep was tied up outside the butcher shop waiting to be dispatched. When I returned in the afternoon, there was only one leg left hanging from a hook inside. |
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| Durrës has hosted an international film festival for the past few years. The festival is free and open to the public and many people were in attendance. Kim and I saw a well-made but odd Romanian film. |
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| construction near my house |
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| There were six live chickens tied to this motorbike. The owner was having a coffee at a nearby cafe. Today I saw a man walk by carrying a young goat tied at the feet. Both were on main streets in Durrës. |
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| Albania goes 5D! |
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| lambs! |
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| Durrës is home to some of the oldest Roman ruins in Albania. Unfortunately some are not very well preserved, like these columns that serve as goal posts for young boys playing football. |
I love picture updates!
ReplyDeleteAs usual, great photos. The water looks so inviting! I've heard often over the past several years that children growing up in urban/suburban areas of the USA don't have a clue that hamburger comes from cattle...or what a stalk of corn looks like, etc. With the chickens, goats, sheep in central Durres (and other cities), I doubt that's the case with Albanian children! Are you having many days of clear skies (such beautiful blue in so many of your photos)? Is there dry/wet seasons? Last question, what was your favorite sport in the (para)olympics?
ReplyDeleteLoooove the photos! The captions are even better. Wafers for big people has to be my favorite.
ReplyDeleteAlso, shit jet? seriously?
ReplyDeleteAlso also, excuse my ignorance, but what is 5D???
ReplyDeleteGood morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Albania? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Albania in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez