Tirana, Albania - Days 1 - 3 - 21st June 2026
- Brett Sedgwick
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
Pershendetje from the Albanian capital, Tirana,
The drive to Tirana was pretty cruisy except for the last 6 kms that took 60 minutes due to crazy traffic, crazy heat, and a crazy roundabout.
We arrived at a hotel called Julton Events, where we had arranged to leave Delph, while we hid from the heat in an air-conditioned apartment in the city.
We met Toni and his wife, and then they drove us the 4 km into town - which took an hour again.
Tirana is a city on the up, but the infrastructure hasn’t been upgraded, as we found out. More on that and the government's involvement later.
Anyway, we got dropped off in the leafy heart of the city, met our host and a few minutes later, we were relaxing in a wee, A/C room - that was about 4 times as big as Delphi!
We were smack bang in the middle of town. The main street was good, and it reminded us a bit of Sydney for some reason. A great restaurant called “Opa” was downstairs, and after gyros (complete with chips) we were off to the pub to watch the Socceroos. Unfortunately, it was a crap game, and the Seppo’s got us 2 - 0… The beer was OK, though, but as is the custom in this part of the world, the durries were punishing.
A great sleep in and restful morning were on the cards the next day, before we did some food shopping, caught up on some blog work and explored a few streets around us.
That evening - after the heat had subsided a bit - we went to something that we had promised ourselves was taboo after 2015 - a cultural night.
Jen-Jen convinced me to go as she said it only lasted an hour and they sold beer.
Rightio then.
Well, we rocked up to Albanian Night, they put us in traditional dress, we grabbed a drink and a seat and settled into a theatre that was done like a traditional living room with 100 other people to watch the show.
The show detailed a wedding, a death and a funeral, and due to the dance, the music and crowd interaction, was pretty entertaining. Check out the gallery below,
The next day we met at the main square - Skandover Square - for a walking tour of the city. Our guide was a great young bloke, and the tour - whilst hot of course - went for two hours and detailed the history of the city and country.
Religion is pretty big in Albania. Roughly 60% are Muslim, 20% Orthodox, 10% Catholic, and 10% other. The thing is, though, people in the same families can marry into other families and change religion, and there is respect for all. Muslims can drink booze if they choose, and women can choose not to wear traditional coverings. It’s all fairly congenial, and religious leaders visit each other, and all festivals and customs are celebrated - which makes for lots of public holidays!
The rest of the tour was about national hero Skandover and how he helped defeat the Ottoman Empire, Communism, nuclear bunkers - 110 in the city - Democracy, Corruption - Mafia and Government and political protests.
There was a huge protest happening at the moment, and 100,000 people marched the streets of Tirana to tell the corrupt government NOT to give Trump’s son-in-law an island that is also a national park, so that he can create a playground for billionaires… The protests were peaceful, but there will be change in Albania soon, I think. The PM is in his 80s, and when he dies, they might affect change and even join the EU - but obviously I don’t know the ins and outs of the case. Check out my video of the protests as they walked past the pub as I was watching another World Cup game. (vid)
That pretty much sums up the first few days. Very eventful, but lots of time spent chilling in the A/C too.
Ciao.
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