Der Standard: Three Reasons You Should Go to Albania Now

But foreign visitors to Albania are growing year-on-year, writes Sascha Aumüller and Beate Schümann for the renowned German newspaper”Der Standard”:

Elbasan A City as Cultural Assets

Hospitality, in its complete sense, is located in the middle of Albania, in Elbasan. This is the town known on the edge of Shkumbin.

“A matter of honour”, Ermion and Dassamir Qorri explain.

Their home is located within the historic walls of the castle, it is beautifully restored, and the garden is revived by flowers. Easily dressed, 65-year-old Ermion serves Turkish coffee and hard-to-do brandy in the garden. Her neighbors have emigrated, including two of her children.

But the Qorri family remained.

“is not always simple”, says 74-year-old Dassamir, who explains why this couple invite tourists to complete their pension.

We are a happy house because we are surrounded by two holy houses”, Hermione points out.

One of them is the Orthodox Church of St. Mary, and the other, the Catholic Church of Christ, who managed to escape the era of destruction by Enver Hoxha.

The ruins of old Elbasan are whispers of the past under the rule of Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans.

The gate south of the fortress opens the wall ring to the present. Along the” Qemal Stafa” boulevard of palm trees and blocks of Communist-era palaces, sunburned elbassels walk with smartphones. Women covered with headscarves are rare. Most Albanians dress as Westerners. However, the muezin voice must be heard again. Elbasan will have a new Turkish-funded mosque. King's mosque, the oldest in the country, is being restored.

On the outskirts of the city, once the famous Metadlugic Nation” Chelic of the Party” had turned Elbasan into Albania's largest industrial centre. But now it is a giant industrial ruin.

About nine miles [9 km] southeast of Elbasan, Pal Qosya is happy today with freedom of faith. In the village of Shelcan a priest has been searching for an XIV icon for 26 years. In St. Nikolla's Orthodox Church, a modest Basilica, he looks forward to a vivid painting attributed to the largest Albanian fresco painter, Onufri from Berat.

“Thank God, they still exist”, he says.

They survived the dictatorship as cultural monuments.

Gjipe Bay, a beach like “Page” Di Kprio

After a week at the Albanian Revolution, we have been able to understand the typical behaviour and gestures of locals: of course, at a crossroads in Albania it is not always necessary to obey road signals, but to blow the trumpet. The roads are visible here, as they are often very broad. Especially those that lead nowhere.

Such is an asphalt belt between the village of Ilias and Wunoi, a 2009 World Bank financing where a subx0-airbus”Airbus” can otherwise be lowered, but in the meantime it is without enlightenment. A guide waits for us there and asks us to park the car on olive trees so that we can save space. She too feared a great influx of vacationers that day on the beach in Gipea, but her fear proved to be futile.

Only a few pedestrians and two “Yeep Defender” cabrals with license plates from the town of the Tegerns crossed that mosquito trail from the improvised parking lot to the magnificent Ionian coast. In the blue - clear - water bay, we are welcomed by the deafening sound of an oil generator, which only serves to supply the old defiberation of brand “Cimbali”, as well as those of us who had received two coffees at the beach bar.

The first impression of relative calm this morning of July should not have deceived us: With boats, a small number of other vacationers are coming from Himara. They occupy nearly half of herzlons as they take photos of celephie in front of cave entrances along the rocks. Later in the afternoon, however, we have to divide the camp in the shade at the exit of the Gulf of Gipea with dozens of adventurers, while in the twilight the barbecue is filled with fish.

In the Gulf of Gjipe, time seems to be standing still. Despite the extensive road built in 2009, the beach still resembles “Plazhin” in Leo Di Caprios' film. But the film has already turned 19, while Albania has been receiving candidate status for membership in the European Union for five years.

Sibenik-Jablanice National Park: A mountain range without mountaineers

“The final snows melt from the tops of the Sibenik mountain range when the summer flowers ~x1> bloom, Laurenc Toupi tells the covered climbers behind the village of Fushesh-Suda, where the alpine grasses lie like red corks and 31-year-old recognizes the blue-head flower only by local appointment.

Like many others in the Shembin Valley, Albanians question whether tourism will truly bring what they hope for. In his heart, he is happy that the National Park, declared in 2008, is so unknown along with his U - hou forest NESTO, valleys, 14 mountain lakes and extraordinary variety of species, such as purple flowers, or the endangered Balkan lynx.

He does not like people who use noisy four - wheel - drives, who stir up forests and leave wastes behind their treks in the mountains. He still dreams of the time when at least 3,000 people lived in the valley, while his village had a slaughterhouse and a bakery. The mosque remains, while residents have migrated and only 30 families remain in the village. Even hotel investments bring no hope because of lack of experience in services, very limited staff, and very small numbers of tourists.

This will change”, says Julie Balla.

No initiative, nothing can be achieved”, says the head of the forest service for the protection of Albania's largest natural park. For him, the future rests solely on sustainable tourism development. Unlike many visited Albanian Alps north of the country, the Shebenik mountain range - Jablanice has never been in the attention of tourists. That's good, says 33. He expects nothing from the Albanian government. Grants awarded for the semi-finished road between Liberdez and Fushe-Sudna are unknown where.

Meanwhile, the village has a visitor centre with information and accommodation facilities. The restaurant “Bey Fates” serves the morning meal and hot food. In the last three years, forest guards have marked 13 tourist paths. The shortest takes 30 minutes, and the longest is four hours. If it were in the hands of Lawrence Toup, he would have allowed you to the Sibenik National Park. Only tourists who love and care about nature.