Aljazeera - The Traveler - Albania - Episode 2 (activate subtitles)

Let's make the distant horizon our destination. Through it, and where it is very far, we will travel. Together, we will walk and discover. The magic of today's light. And the mystery of yesterday's shadows. We touch the history of times. To read the history of the future. To celebrate what is dear to our hearts. And to sanctify what makes our humanity shine. To discover the legends and wonders of the world, wherever they may be hidden. We see the details of their colors. We feel them. They shine. So that our visions become reality. Here I am, the traveler. And today I step in a new world. There is an old Albanian saying. The house is for the guest and for God, before it is for his companion. Welcome to Albania. Some of the Turkish coffee is found in a house of an Albanian family from the middle class. They used to live here three centuries ago. Albanians turned it into a coffee shop. And they turned their house into a museum. Many windows and many balconies for a family open to nature and its neighbors. Stone, mud and wood. Architectural details that indicate elegance, craftsmanship and warmth. Imagine now, while I am here, how wonderful and happy this family's life was. If you want to know the life of Albanians during the past 200 years, you just have to visit the National Museum of Photography. And this is what I am doing now. A museum that contains hundreds of photos taken by the Italian photographer Pietro Marobi in Albania. Marobi emigrated to the city of Shkodra and took photos in the middle of the 19th century. His brother and son, who are also professionals in photography, followed him. The accuracy and quality of the photos amazes you even with the standards of the present time. Marobi's family documented social and political life in that period. Through these unique photos, you meet face to face with the real Albanian personality. Farmers, workers, musicians, warriors, craftsmen, leaders, children and women. You simply meet Albania as it was about 200 years ago. Albanian people are hospitable and generous. They are always willing to help and welcome people to their homes when they know that you are not Albanian. And the elderly, as usual, are the most patient, the most welcoming and the wisest. In the Albanian folk legend, it is said that a town was visited by its people when they learned that a hotel was going to be built on its land. The people went to the town's mayor to complain, saying we are not stingy enough to let a guest stay in a hotel instead of our homes. This story summarizes the nature of this noble Albanian people. You never feel strange here. Rather, you are a precious and dear guest. We are in the historical city of Birat. Some call it the city of a hundred windows, while others call it the open museum. Birat is the historical capital of the south. Like most Albanian cities, it is surrounded by mountains. White houses line up on both sides of narrow corridors with a large number of windows. It is called the city of a hundred windows, although I have counted more than a thousand of them. This is Birat Fort. What makes it exceptional is that it has been buzzing with life for centuries. Its squares, houses, shops and places of worship are still inhabited by its indigenous people, who welcome the waves of tourists here with love and a warm smile. And you have the opportunity to participate in a football game. The fort was built with its magnificent walls on top of a mountain, which they call Al-Ghazal. It was founded by the Greeks, but what remains of it today dates back to most of the Byzantine era, during the 13th century. When you have the opportunity to see it from above and see the Ossumi River and the high mountains surrounding it, you feel the majesty and grandeur of the fort. This fort, which is located in the south of the country, has a special value for the Albanian people. This is Gjirokastr Fort, one of the ten most important forts in Europe and the most important fort in Albania. It had a role in the First and Second World Wars and in the Battle of Independence of Albania. Most of its parts were built in the Ottoman era as a military fortress, but it turned into a large prison for the elements of resistance who participated in the Battle of Independence in the 1940s. Part of it today has become a military museum, as a witness to the courage and bravery of the resistance that led to the independence of Albania in 1944. We had to cross many bridges to reach these huge springs that people mean to gather. History records that the Romans used the hot springs of southern Albania two thousand years ago for healing. The Ottomans followed them and built this beautiful bridge to make it easier to reach it, especially in the snow melting season, where the water level rises. This rich mineral water comes from a series of springs 500 meters long along the valley. You need to cross the river several times to reach some of them, for fun and healing, and sometimes for relaxation only. People used to come here to atone for their sins, and if there were many sins, the sinner had to keep his breath under the water like frozen for a long time. But I don't do that to atone for sins, even if there are, but I and many visitors like me look forward to an exceptional, fun and cold experience, no doubt. The sun is burning, the temperature here is about 37 degrees Celsius, while the temperature of the spring water is about zero. Six thousand liters of melting snow water springs from these springs every second from the mountains. This site is called the Blue Spring. The blue of the fresh water and the transparency here is a scene that takes you to the Asian islands, although you are here in European Albania. Most of the Albanian population are Muslims, but they were banned from practicing their Islamic rituals for five decades, but now you hear the sound of the adhan echoing in all corners of the country. During the presence of the Ottomans in this country, most of the population converted to Islam, but in all the historical eras that passed through Albania, the values of tolerance and harmony between religions remained strong and original among all. Peace be upon you. How are you? My father is an imam. Your father is an imam? Yes. The Koran is there. Do you memorize the Koran? In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. I visited a Byzantine church in Biraat, which has now become a museum. The church was renovated in the 18th century under the rule of the Ottomans. During my tour here, the museum supervisor noticed Christian icons that I have never seen before. Like this one, which was painted in the 18th century. It shows the rituals of Christian adoration, and at the top of the picture, two Islamic mosques. This wall shows a priest and an imam from side to side. A Sufi sect in Albania is called the Baktashians, and they are widespread in the country. I met one of the men of this sect, and I understood that they merge between Islamic teachings and teachings from other religions. They claim to be advocates of reconciliation and tolerance, and he pointed me to the role of the Baktashians in the Albanian National Movement. With the arrival of the communists to power in 1944, mosques and churches were destroyed, and all religious rituals were banned. Execution was the fate of a religious man who appears rebellious. These measures were a decisive factor in the convergence and reconciliation of religious people on the difference of their religions in the face of their common enemy. This harmony and harmony remained after the return of religious freedom to Albania in the early nineties, where abandoned mosques were rebuilt and other buildings were built. Today, in its cities, the call to prayer is raised, as in all Islamic cities. We are on the brink of a new adventure in the Vjosa River between the mountains of Albania.