Alright. it’s been over a month – almost 2 actually – since I wrote Part 1 of Albania. I didn’t actually post it on time (for reason explained at least partially in some of my other posts) but that’s okay. It’ll still be released before this part, so if you haven’t read it, do so now 😉

New Years

Okay. So I promised that I would talk about New Years in this one! It was so much fun. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how New Years would be like in another country. The closest that I had gotten was when I left Japan on New Years Eve. But Albania does New Years right. Oh my gosh. They are gearing up for New Years for weeks before it happens and on the day of there are so many different things to chose from. Some of the things I could’ve done:

• Watch the Fireworks from the Pyramid
• Go to a NYE Concert at the square outside the Opera house
• Go celebrate at a bar/club
• Watch the Fireworks from the square outside the Opera house

I ended up going with the final option with two others from the hostel – though we got to hear a little bit of the concert as well. The thing about New Years in Albania though is that they love their fireworks. Everyone was getting personal fireworks and as soon as we got there people were setting them off. So even before midnight the sky was alight with color and you couldn’t walk a couple of feet without seeing someone else putt of fireworks (or flashbangs on the ground haha).  Then midnight hit and you would think that it was suddenly hours earlier the way the sky just lit up. The city put off fireworks above the Opera house, but it could be difficult to sometimes see the difference between the official fireworks and the fireworks from everyone else. Take a look at the video below to see what that was like. It was a great night and a really fun way to call in the New Year.

Food

Alright. I know I touched briefly on food in Albania in my last post. But I wanted to touch on it again in a bit more of a specific way. Honestly – I’m a creature of habit and while I love to try new things. When I don’t want to think about it, I ended up going to the same places. And there were two local places that I really enjoyed. One is a traditional Albanian restaurant that doesn’t even show up on google maps. They don’t have any kind of online presence (which isn’t unusual for Albania). It’s called Sherifi (spelling is probably off..). It was a great place to go – affordable, close to the hostel, and great authentic food! The second was my go to place and one that most of us at the hostel would send new guests when they were looking for a quick and affordable place nearby. They’re called Pizza Stationi, but they had more than Pizza. Honestly – I never even tried their pizza there. Sandwiches are the thing that most people order there, though if you’re not a fan of mayo or having fries (chips) on your sandwich then it might be a good idea to look elsewhere. They also have calzones as well! They were supper nice and when they realized that I was staying for a while and was attempting to pronounce their dishes rather than just point at the menu, they started to teach me some simple Albanian. I’m really going to miss going there!

Tattoos

Alright – so I’m not sure how many people know that I’ve been trying to get tattoos for every country that I’ve been to (I’m behind). But I got 8 new ones while in Albania!  The first one I got was actually done by a girl who was staying at the hostel. She’s a tattoo artist and brought some of her equiptment with her. I got the Albanian symbol in a postage stamp on my leg. After that, when I realized I was going to be staying for awhile, I decided to get an additional 7 flags of countries that I’ve been to already added by a local tattoo artist. She did an amazing job and her lines were super clean! Unforunately, I had a bit of a bad reaction to the soap I was using (I didn’t realize it was scented) and so one edge of one of my flags got some damage. But thankfully I didn’t have any infection since I caught it and switched soaps quick enough!