Albania is fascinating for a number of reasons, one of them being the architecture of public buildings. Mount Dajti will appear as the top attraction on most tourism searches for Albania. This morning I met Cimi at his house to go to the mountain together. He offered for us to go on his motor-scooter and after hearing about the alternative route and its three bus connections, I agreed. My first time on a motorbike of any kind was about two months ago in Tunisia, today’s experience was similar. I tried to focus mostly on relaxing my muscles while holding onto the wrought steel handles behind my seat. I had every confidence in Cimi’s abilities, even when he started digging into his back pocket to answer his cell phone while we were in motion. I am almost positive he saw that teal colored bus we cut off.
Today was the first time that either Cimi or myself had ridden the cable-car up to the top of Mount Dajte. We both enjoyed the views immensely. The hotel at the cable-car’s terminus is called Belvedere Hotel. This structure might just as easily appear on the cover of a Robert Heinlein space travel adventure book as adorn the peak of one of Albania’s great national treasures. It is futuristic in a Soviet sort of way. Another noteworthy man-made feature of the mountain are the numerous military bunkers which pop out to the eye in seemingly random places on hill crests and along winding roads.
“Bunker Enverim,” is what Cimi calls these things; defensive structures composed of rebar reinforced concrete which were built under the order of Enver Hoxha. Every person I have spoken with about the late dictator offers some manner of thanks to God for Enver Hoxha’s death. The bunkers are reminders of a time when Albanians had little or no food. According to Wikepedia, some 750,000 of these bunkers were built.
Saturday turned out to be a good day to visit the mountain. Most Albanians set Sunday aside to visit family attractions. Cimi and I only encountered a handful of people over the course of our three hours touring the sites. We stopped in at a lavish mountaintop lodge for coffee and were the only patrons there. I found the solitude to be refreshing.
Won’t you come and enjoy the air here?
albaniacalling 