Edi Rama distributes The Guardian's script: A Holiday in the Land That Looks Like Paradise

With this article of English prestige, The Guardian, dedicated to tourism in Albania, I wish you a quiet Sunday”, writes the head of government.

The Guardian: A Holiday in the Land That Looks Like Paradise

“A newcomer to the site of the festival, Albania is drawing tourists of new ages, dancing on its beaches and exploring beyond the unknown shores for visitors”, writes The Guardian in the article dedicated to Kala Festival, but tourism in our country.

How seriously the Albanian Tourism Ministry was taking the Kala- the first international event of its kind in the country this seemed to be the moment we landed from the boat in Saranda, where we were hosted by a group of policemen who accompanied our consultants along the road running through the mountains.

This and the arrival of Prime Minister Edi Rama the next day, for a surprise press conference near the pool with organisers at our hotel.

“Albania has always been beautiful, ” he said, while a pink flamingo camera went through the pool behind it. “But people perceive it as a place to rob or kill... but stigma has helped us. When someone comes to visit and returns safely, they realize that it is a paradise! It's like the forbidden apple: don't bite or want it all the time “.

How about his opinion of Kale? I have to admit, I don't know anything about the festival, but, in principle, it's a fantastic thing,” he said, offering a night of free Albanian beer before leaving.

Thin Balkan humor and free beer for more, Albania is not at the top of Europe's most visited list of countries.

It is visited by about 80,000 tourists from the United Kingdom annually -- a small number compared to the 3 million travelling annually to neighbouring Greece, or 765,000 visiting nearby Croatia. But this trend is likely to change. In 2014, the New York Times included the Albanian coast among its top destinations (“This is Europe at the time when everything was fresh and free”, she writes, while Lonely Planet ranked its capital, Tirana, among the best places to visit Europe this year.

Kala-a week-long festival, which takes place in June at the Drermi resort -- could consolidate Albania's reputation as Albania's new beach destination and suitable for holidays, in the same way that Outlook and Dimensions put Croatia on map for young Britons. For the time being, The Giver is a little difficult to fly: a flight to Corfu, then four hours by ferry and bus. However, with the new airport expected to open in Vlora (just 50km from The Hague) in 2020, access will improve dramatically.

Kala Festival also has a program dedicated to healthy life

The fortress (Kala) took place last month at five locations in Deherme, mainly with hotels with beach bars. Only 2,000 tickets were made available, so there was plenty of room on the beach, clean water as crystal, as well as quiet restaurants (sea fruitlings at Luciano restaurant were the favorite).

Festival tickets included accommodation packages from beach lodges, B & B at luxury hotels, all within the festival's range. With a Wellness programme (yoga and the gong bath across the Ionian Sea) that offers parallel music events, the festival provides space for those interested in quiet holidays (like Croatia's summer festival Obonan) while for those who want to celebrate throughout the night (there is music until 6am every day).

The material was mainly electronic music, including London-Feling, Secretsundze, Phonica and Stamp the Wax-to form a crowd (many festival followers were from the United Kingdom), as well as Moody's favourites Maurice Fulton and Tama Sumo and Laquiti. The main performers were Tom Misch and Todd Terje, while Roy Ayers' lazy spirit made the crowd all to itself.

The team that founded Kale-Mainstage Travel- is the initiator of one of the biggest winter festivals in Europe, Snowboxx. Preparations to launch a summer festival had been under way for three years. “We did research in Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Malta, Morocco, but found no unexplored country”, says Alan Crofton, director of the festival. In October of last year, we visited The Source for the first time and immediately attracted his potential. The idea is you're on vacation, so you come and relax on the beach... “

Most of the people I talked to confirmed that. The best thing would be to go somewhere we've never been before, said Rebecca, 27, from London.

I wanted to go to a festival abroad. I discovered it in Resident Advisor and the photos seemed amazing. “

As many of us stayed for a full week, the tourism ministry encouraged the guests to explore other countries of the Albanian revival.

These were the Gulf of Gramma, also called the Albanian beach sister of Alex Garland -- an isolated bay available only by ships, with blue water breathless and hundreds of inscriptions on rocks dating back to the 3rd century BC; The source of the Blue Eye, a 45m - deep pool surrounded by nuts; and the beach of Ksamil, a coastal village from which four uninhabited islands can be explored by boat.

To me, the most impressive part from Calaya was the peak in Gjipe, the beach, and the ecological camping in the bay farther away - a gomone trip that lasted six minutes from The Source. Just across the beach, surrounded by lush vegetation and red - colored rock, was a small scene and audio system, where we were able to dance until sunset and the time came to return by boat.

DJs, including Bjérn Torske, Nick The Record and Yefa Mayanja, played forth for a crowd of smiling, sunny faces ... the music that crashed into the throat, changed every hour under the backdrop of a dim light. A walk in the canyon led us to a hidden waterfall - a trace of secrets that this part of the coast can draw.

The prime minister was not joking about saying that this place is a paradise.

Turns out he wasn't even kidding about the beer for free. Just two days before the end of the festival, I faced Crofto, who listened to me. “I just received a message from the prime minister,” he said. “We've got a plate of beer started... I think everyone at the festival will have a beer for free. ”