Kruja, ancient Albanian capital city

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Kruja, a town not so far from Tirana. It has a castle from Middle Age period and a Museum on the national Albanian hero, George Kastriot Scanderbeg. In the 15th century, he was able to stop the Ottomans for few decades, unifying different princedoms under his leadership. His statue on a horse is found in the main square of Tirana. In Rome, in Albania square, there is another one too. It is recognizable for his typical helmet: on the top there is a sculpture of a wild goat head (i think chamois-camoscio) with 2 horns. It comes from Greek mithology, simbolizing goddess Artemis.
From the pictures you can see an old tower and the newly renovated castle. Then there is a nice bazaar, with some souvenir shops. You can find traditional handicraft, such as carpets, woolen shoes and hats, carved olive tree wooden baskets, traditional man and woman costumes, etc.
In the last picture you can see the seaside: Kruja is 600 meters above sea level and we were lucky to have a clear sky and have a far glimpse of the sea.

Online petitions

Se avete 5 minuti, tre petizioni da firmare su internet che mi sono arrivate oggi:

Medici senza Frontiere per convincere Novartis a ritirare la denuncia al governo indiano su un caso di violazione di brevetti di farmaci.
http://www.msf.org/petition_india/italy.html

Per dimostrare la contrarieta' all'allargamento della base americana a Vicenza.
http://www.altravicenza.it/

Per un tunisino residente in Italia da 10 anni, sposato con una italiana e con 3 figli, espulso senza diritto di difesa e ora detenuto in Tunisia.
http://www.centrodelleculture.org/petizioni/foued

And I add another one about Darfur, Sudan, to stop the forgotten genocide.
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5175

Mount Dajti & bunkers

Yesterday I had the chance to go out from Tirana and climb (by car, thanks to Beppe!) the mountain on the back, Mount Dajti, that is also a protected area. I couldn't see a lot because we arrived already in the afternoon, but it was enough to breath some clean and fresh air!
Here I could see for the first time with my own eyes the famous bunkers disseminated in Albania during the communist regime. To know more about them follow this link http://ourmanintirana.blogspot.com/2005/12/albanias-wmd.html
We were about 1200 meters above sea level, and I found very strange there were no snow!!

wild urbanization&pollution

As soon as you arrive in Tirana, you can notice the common problems every city in the world is facing: traffic jams, air pollution, noise, waste disposal, fast urbanization.
I think in Tirana all these are very hot issues.
In addition, the whole Albania is dramatically experiencing electric power cuts for several hours per day. In the city centre it can be 4 hours, but in the periphery or in other towns and villages the situation is even worse (12 hours or more!). I should also mention that most of the heating system is electric, as well as the cookers, so you can imagine which sorts of problems there can be in winter...
Around 90% of electricity comes from hydropower and this year was not raining a lot, so now the Government declared will import electricity from Italy or Greece. We will see...

For whom is interested and can read Italian, there is a very good article at this link about the connection between politics and house builders (palazzinari) and the air pollution. In fact, Tirana was declared one of the most polluted city in Europe and even in the world.
I hope it's not true, but when I see all the works in progress for the construction of new buildings and the moltitude of old cars circulating in the streets, I have to take it seriously...

http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/article/articleview/5876/1/41/

My new flat!

After one week of searching for a flat, me and my flatmate Andrea have chosen a place to live.
Here you can see it as soon as we entered... I believe we will improve it a bit by the time!
It is located in the centre, Bllok as called in Tirana. We are at the 12th floor, so we have a good view over the city. I wouldn't say is a marvellous view, but we cannot change the urbanistic. However we have a big terrace and I am sure in Spring and Summer it will be fully appreciated.

Welcome - Benvenuto

Ciao!
This blog will tell you what is happening to me in Tirana and somewhere around in Albania and in the Balkans. I will be here till the end of December 2007, working for UNDP.
I arrived on 6th January and there are already many things to tell... I hope to have the time to do it!


Ciao!
Questo blog vi raccontera' quello che mi sta capitando a Tirana e dintorni, in Albania e nei Balcani. Saro' qui fino alla fine di dicembre 2007, lavorando per l'UNDP.
Sono arrivato il 6 gennaio e avrei gia' molte cose da raccontare... spero di avere il tempo per farlo!