We go for our first real walk in Tirana today. Our destinations are a pyramid and a SPAR Market (to buy items more suitable for Debbie’s breakfast).
The sidewalks have rough spots, tippy flag stones and protruding sections that are waiting for an unsuspecting tourist to trip on. I have my eye on the ground constantly watching for these lurking beasts. Many sidewalks are narrow so we walk in single file. Other folks out this morning, walk s..l..o..w, so we scoot around them, although I am not walking fast, too busy looking down.
Tirana is filled with small parks. As there are many apartment blocks here, the children need places to play, so the parks fill that need. The buildings, both residential and commercial are a mix of modern and what looks to be communist era, there are no mid century buildings. It makes sense since Albania ceased to be communist in 1992.
We wander past a large mosque and then climb The Pyramid of Tirana. A steep climb up gives us some height to view Tirana. The pyramid was originally museum and mausoleum for Hoxha, who ruled Albania in an oppressive communist regime for four decades. After communism collapsed, the pyramid fell into disrepair until 2021 when it was refurbished and re imagined.
Our next mission is the SPAR Market, a Dutch company that we discovered on our bike trip through the Netherlands. We have a printed map off Google and some written notes to help us find it. Yeah, yeah, paper, not digital. We are learning that not everyone here speaks English. As we are sitting on a wall along the sidewalk, we are trying to guess which passersby would speak English. Not so obvious!
We finally locate the store, and realize the P.B. is cheaper at the store near our hotel. Between the pyramid and the SPAR, we walk through an area called Biloki, an upscale area full of shops, restaurants and bars. There are not so many people here as near our hotel. Perhaps a lack of tourists. We notice there are always locals sitting in the cafes drinking coffee and chatting. A morning ritual?
Our first day in the heat is taking a toll (on Debbie) so we head back to the hotel to cool off and rest our feet (Debbie’s). We did pretty good for day one. We have scoped out a couple of restaurants for supper, so we will explore the local cuisine tonight.