Welcome to Greece Directory

Tirana capital that is so close to us and yet remains so unfamiliar, even to those who in recent years had begun to devote their three-day stays to the great cities of the Balkans. It is alive from morning till night and a change of scenery within its own centre that does not let it become monotonous.

That atypical travel tip, that by getting lost in the alleys of a city you get to know it better than when you only move through the main streets that your GPS guides you through, really makes sense in Tirana.

“Tirana is the starting point, where the possibilities begin / there is my future there my dreams / where the mosque and the church are side by side (ed. Albania has been a truly untrodden country for years) / where Nano and Berisha separate and meet / where Lana (ed. the river that runs through the city) stinks, the shops sell perfume / where there are intellectuals and rednecks / Tirana you are in our hearts / you are crazy / you live in the long hours / drunk as you are, you are ours / these are our Tirana, the Tirana of contrasts / of war and peace / of darkness and light / of lies and truth / of interest / of fun and anxiety / of dances and business. Anything can happen, since we live in Tirana / where not only women use make-up but also apartment buildings.” From the moment he was elected mayor of the city in 2000, Edi Rama began to colour the city. And in the West Side Family piece above he joins in, “spitting rhymes” himself. Much of what their own Half-Scumbrios talk about can be seen in three days of touring the city that is normally, in Albanian, female.
Where to eat

If you want to get your breakfast quickly, on hand, like the locals, look for one of their own cheese shops, the “byrektore”, which you’re sure to find on your street – in their window you’ll see pies with very thin crust. They roll out this dough, bake it and then bake it again with the filling, minced meat, pumpkin, beans, tomato and onion, leek and milk. You can accompany the pie of your choice with sour milk.

For a fine dining experience, at Mullixhiu, which means “miller”, a young chef who has apprenticed at starred restaurants abroad and Denmark’s top Noma, Bledar Kola, says he wants his cuisine to “challenge the global dictatorship of French cuisine”.

For good coffee, the choices are few and far between. But you can visit the city’s first third wave coffee shop, Antigua Specialty Coffee (Rruga Perlat Rexhepi 1001). There you’ll find thoughtful espresso, matcha burnt cheesecake and egg toast, sweet pancakes and smoothie bowls.
In the main square and in the large city park

Named Skanderbeg, it stretches over forty thousand square meters and is part of the largest pedestrian street in the Balkans. In the expanse of this award-winning for its design square you will see the statue of the country’s national hero, George Castriotis Skanderbeg, who gave it its name, the thirty-five-metre-high Clock Tower, the Opera House, the Palace of Culture, the National History Museum, the National Library, the Muslim mosque dating back to 1794. From there you will be led to Deshmoret e Kombit Avenue, you will find colorful low buildings of Italian architecture, the City Hall, the Parliament, the Academy of Arts, the Technical University of the city.

Tirana’s large park, the Grand Park or Parku i madh i Tiranës was built in the 1950s and is a space that is used by the residents. It includes a large artificial lake and botanical garden, consists of about 120 species of trees, shrubs and flowers and you can walk around it before visiting the Mullixhiu restaurant located right next to it.

Tirana can be reached by air as the city has its own airport, 17 km from the centre. To get to the centre you can use a tirana airport taxi or one of the local buses that leave every hour. Of course you can also travel to Tirana by road as the capital is 394 km away from Thessaloniki.