Exploring around Tirana, Albania! _ Travel Vlog.

Last of the Balkan countries on our tour and we are fresh from a walking tour. After two hours we have learned so much about Albania. One of the biggest things is that just from the last 27 years free from communist oppression and so now they are rebuilding their country and there's just so much to learn about this place. It's such a vibrant and bustling city. Tirana has a lot to offer despite not very many people knowing about it and so we're just going to go track back to all the cool places to see and do. So let's go! The flag of the country, the red flag of the double-headed eagle. Very proud of that flag, we really love our flag. Scary flag, war flag, it looks a lot like a game of your own flag. The idea of the flag is that the red color is representing the blood of the fighters who always fought for this country, the double-headed eagle, their bravery. 40 degrees during summer in here. So to come from that area in this area in here is like walking inside Gobi Desert. Yes, we have people dying in the middle of the square begging for water. So to cool it down and to give some fresh air to the square, the square is designed to look wet all the time. It's designed to have something more than 100 small fountains of water like the ones that you see over there and it's designed to have water coming from the top as the example of that down in the small line and get reused again. So to give some fresh air to the square, the square is designed to look wet all the time. So it's not that we are having problems, it's all part of a project. When the king left the country, the fascist forces of Mussolini conquered Albania. So nobody was fighting to protect this country. So 1941, in a small village in Preza, all the communist groups come together. They decided to found the communist party, to choose a leader. Their leader would be Enver Hoxha. Later this guy Hoxha would become the Albanian dictator. In the same meeting they decide to have an army, a guerrilla army. And the idea of that army was from the mountains, attack the Italian forces inside the city and then go back to the mountains. A lot of Albanians are joined to that army, even young and educated Albanians. Not everybody was supporting their communist ideas. A lot of them, as Albanian patriots, are fighting to protect the country. So they fought during the Second World War against the fascist forces and for one year even against the Nazi forces. On their way to retreat, they were stopping here for just one year. 29 November 1944, it's officially the end of the Second World War. Where it ended, communists managed to take power. They had an army, they had a leader, they were better organized and they even had international support. Once they took power, they made two important decisions. The first one, they formed a one-party system. So every four years we're allowed to have elections, but we're allowed to vote just for the communist party. So it's already a dictatorship. The second decision was to close the borders. So the whole country got isolated. Nobody was allowed to come inside this country. The bad thing is nobody was allowed also to leave the country. So practically the whole country is transformed into a big prison and once shaken a month. The other part would be mostly bread and vegetables. We are missing everything, but we have no idea that we were missing everything. We have no idea because we could not compare with another country. We lost the connection with the outside world. Of 1992, we have the first free and fair elections. When the democratic party takes power, this country is a new democracy. Since then, we are trying to build our democracy. We are facing a lot of problems. It's still hard to build democracy. It still hurts communism. Imagine how hard it was for the older generation to become part of this new society. For example, my parents were born and raised during communist time. So from one day to another, their whole life totally changed. With communism collapse, they had no idea about religion, never heard of Jesus Christ, Muhammad, never heard of the Beatles, Michael Jackson. They still have no idea who Madonna is. But imagine all this info coming all at the same time. As a country, we have to accept a lot of new things. One of the first international investments to come in here after communism collapsed is Coca-Cola. Yeah, we finally have Coca-Cola. In here, I don't know if you noticed, but you have to pay a little bit more attention when we cross the streets. Our drivers are not the best. We believe we have our own reasons. We've only been driving in the last 27 years. So imagine, 27 years ago, the first car started coming here. So everybody became a driver. So my grandfather, 85 years old, became a driver. And after doing that for three months, he discovered that he needed a driving license to do that. We don't do that kind of things anymore, but you just pay a little bit more attention when you cross the street. That's all. Oh, it's right in front of us. Tek Zegara Tirones, which is a traditional Albanian food, which just like the Balkans, is all meat. But should be good. So good. Our installation is this whole walkway is the musical bars and the stairs and the cigarette holders are where notes are played. All of the buildings in the main square are so colorful because the president wanted to get rid of the gray communist buildings and make them much more cheerful. Anderberg Square in Tirana, Albania. And just one year ago, this used to be full of cars, but now it is for pedestrians use. So as you can see, it's filled with all of the citizens of Tirana. Every night at around six o'clock or around sunset, you can see everyone come out to play, watch the sunset and just be around everything. This place is a pretty central spot. So if you're going to visit here, it is near all the museums, all the major things that you have to see. And honestly, just pack a beer and just people watch. It's pretty amazing. We're here at Bunk Art 2. This is one of two museums in a bunker that they talk about the communist oppression. And this bunker is only one level deep, but there's another bunker that's five levels deep. They use dogs to chase after anyone who crossed through the Albanian border to escape communism. Behind me is the Hoxha pyramid and it was designed by the daughter of the communist dictator Hoxha and it was created in honor of his memory for the things that he's done for the country. However, over time it has been abandoned and abused as you can tell from the graffiti. And from what our tour guide said, it's now going to be used in the future whenever they get the money for it as an education and technology center. For now, it's actually just used as a weird urban attraction where people can just climb to the very top of it using the very slanted sides. And it's just kind of like a crazy funny thing and very unique to Tirana. We're going to be one of those crazy people that try to climb this thing. You ready? Ready. All right, we're going up the side because it looks like it's less steep than everything else, but also it looks a little bit scarier than I thought it did. Change of plans. My Nike frees are so slippery and won't get any traction on this thing, so I'm not doing it. But Omar is. Be careful. Go, go, go. You made it. How was it? This huge fruit stands and vegetables. Actually, it's a crazy language that I can't even say. It's like but we learned three very important words, which is thank you, which is and two other words, which are yes and no. Is yes and no is yo. Pollo. Pollo. You want chicken? What? Pollo in Spanish.