Albanian Bomb Shelters

Covid and Flu vax? Check. Raki anyone? Watch your STEP!

We got our flu and Covid shots today, two weeks before we leave for Europe. So far so good. Hope you stay healthy where ever you are and where ever you go. It will be interesting to see how much protection these latest vaccines provide. Those viruses can mutate so fast, you never really know until the Spring whether they were able to target the right variant. All we can do is try, right? In fifty years they will probably be laughing at our meager efforts.

Yes two weeks from today we will finally land in Budapest. There will be a lot to discuss and, I hope, to share. We will be visiting Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. But we will not be visiting Northern Macedonia or Albania in Southeast Europe (formerly the “Balkans.”), two countries we’ve previously visited in Southeast Europe. Last week I covered Macedonia in my post:

Today I want to share a few of the highlights of an amazing adventure we had in Albania. The country is located north of Greece, directly across the Adriatic from the heel of Italy’s boot. North are Montenegro and Kosovo, and east is North Macedonia.

Above: Credit Google Maps.

The Nazis occupied Albania in 1943 after the Italian Fascists lost control, repressing the Albanians with forced labor, economic exploitation and repression. Enver Hoxha led communist forces to defeat the Nazis in 1944, liberating the country and ushering in forty years of authoritarian rule by Hoxha. Private property was abolished, religion was forbidden, and a curtain of isolation dropped over the country.

Hoxha was a big buddy of Stalin, but split from the USSR after the Khrushchev Thaw, becoming a big fan of Mao.

Above: Mao and Hoxha, dictators of China and Albania, 15 Sept. 1956. Public Domain.

But twenty years later he split with China after the Nixon visit in 1972. In 1976 Albania became the world’s first constitutionally atheist state.

Hoxha used fear and paranoia to cement his power, convincing the people the country was at risk of an invasion. He built a bunker so everyone could have a safe place when the neighboring countries invaded. It was a false threat dreamed up to scare the population. There are an average of 5.7 bunkers for every square kilometre (14.7 per square mile). The bunkers (Albanian: bunkerët) were built during the intensely Stalinist and anti-revisionist government of Enver Hoxha from the 1960s to the 1980s; by 1983 a total of 173,371 concrete bunkers had been constructed around the country.

We were supposed to visit a farm but for some reason had to abandon those plans. Instead the bus driver, who spoke no English, convinced our guide to let us visit one of the communist era bunkers on land farmed by one of his relatives.

He pulled the bus over on the side of the road and we were off across the fields and goat paths!

Left, our local guide. Middle with the blue shirt, our Brilliant Guide David Willet. We had such fun with this group and still stay in touch. I know some of you are following this journal so please chime in!

Above: Our destination. An old Albanian Bunker, converted to a moonshine still!

Yes we tasted the Raki. Wow. Let’s just say it is highly flammable! 50-80 % alcohol.

Inside the bunker were instructions on the use of the standard rifle, including fixing bayonets!

This bunker was well hidden, but some of them are quite obvious as you drive across the country.

Above: CreativeCommons.

After having perhaps a bit too much of the moonshine we headed back to the bus, about a 20 minute walk away. I followed some goats to get some good pictures. Suddenly everyone was waving their arms madly and screaming! What were they saying?

I started to walk towards them and they went even crazier!

Finally, I understood.

I had wandered into a MINEFIELD! Literally!

I then noticed signs in Albanian that apparently said this was a minefield area, being cleared by Dutch Army volunteers through the United Nations! Those Dutch must have done a pretty good job.

I followed the goat path back to the main trail without triggering any mines!

Needless to say we had quite a bit to talk about and celebrate that night, as the moon shone done on the mountains around Gjirokaster and a local group performed traditional songs and dances.

The music was amazing, all a cappella.

We partied late into the night.

In spite of all the hardships these people had gone through they still had a zest for life, a love of good music, and the gift of friendship and goodwill.

We also visited the castle up on the hill, another amazing place, but that’s another story. Here’s a You Tube Video of Albanian Folksinging.

Thanks for riding along! Watch out for those pesky land mines! And be careful of the Raki!