A Beautiful Stranger

Is it a sign of something special when a New Zealander finds your country fascinating?  I'd say if you have people from the country where "The Lord of the Rings" was filmed impressed, you must be doing something right.

Gearing Up for Next Year

Daytime temperatures have yet to dip below 20 degrees as summer continues to cling to Albania and the tourist press is already touting the country as "the best bargain vacation destination."  Check out this gentleman's take on Frommer's recent rating.  He starts out with:

“… I had never been there before and I knew nothing about it, and neither did anyone else,” Paul Theroux wrote of Albania in 1995 in The Pillars of Hercules. “… here on the most heavily beaten path in the world, the shore of the Mediterranean, it was still possible to travel into the unknown.” Still remote, Albania – for 40 years the most isolated country in communist Europe – is blooming. 

To me, Theroux's blank slate is the best way to approach your first trip to Albania.  You'll never be disappointed if you don't build your expectations. You'll also be directly observing the country rather than looking to confirm the things you've "learned" before you arrive.
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