Wednesday 19June

 Breakfast on the terrace before going in to Skanderberg Square for a walking tour of Tirana. It is incredibly hot and likely to get to the high 30s C today. The tour is really interesting taken by a young and enthusiastic Albanian man who shares the fascinating history and difficulties of his country’s past. We move around from one patch of shade to another and spend a really enjoyable and informative couple of hours. Many young Albanians are leaving but he has decided to stay and is hopeful for the next 10 years. We feel privileged to have been born into a long established democracy chaotic as the political situation seems at times. We have a rustic lunch in a very traditional Albanian restaurant with stuffed peppers and lamb shank with cheesy polenta. We retreat to our hotel room for a rest in the air conditioning before joining the crowds in a bar to watch a bit of the Euros Football. Albania is playing Croatia and are 1:0 up when we arrive. We leave after 2 Croatian goals but later gather the final result was 2:2 so there are happy fans on the street tonight. We visit BunkerArt, a museum of recent history beneath the ground in one of the 273000 bunkers built by Enver Hoxa. 

Then a bit of people watching in a bar with an Aperol Spritz. Later we’ll try our final Albanian meal before our flight home tomorrow.