Tag: Europe
-
A hands-on Albanian cooking class (byrek, sheqerpare, përshesh, cornbread), the secret of Kalinjot olives, and a walk through Tirana Castle — besieged in 1817, demolished in 1832, now woven into the modern city.
-
First day in Tirana: Skanderbeg Square (40,000m², Europe’s best public space), the Et’hem Bey Mosque with its painted landscapes, the Clock Tower, BunkArt 2 (former secret police HQ), a €43 dentist cleaning, and a bag of potatoes bought from a street vendor to finally solve the Great Albanian Fry Crisis.
-
The connective tissue between cities: a mini-bus to Tirana, a pizza joint with robots on the wall, a bottle of Berat olive oil, a €70 massage, and a forensic KFC investigation into why every fry in Albania tastes terrible.
-
Last day in Shkoder: cleaning the apartment, stocking up on cheap meds, and a farewell dinner at Marina Seafood where the red porgy was unavailable but the smoke was, miraculously, also absent. The first 100% smoke-free meal in Shkoder — and it was the last one.
-
A rest day with grocery-burning and future-planning, then dinner at Fisi: FËRGESE with Berat-region olive oil, baked lamb I’ll spend a lifetime trying to find again, and the ongoing war with cigarette smoke. Plus: why the bees of Albania might be seeking me out for fresh air.
-
A rest day that became a meditation: the Site of Witness and Memory (26 prison cells, 987 dead), the strange numerology of 26, fried pancakes at Nam Bistro, a regrettable Whopper, and the discovery of the single best bench in Shkoder — shaded, windswept, and miraculously smoke-free.
-
Shkoder Day 1: A walk through the Marubi photography museum, breakfast at Nam Bistro with orange juice that tastes of Valencia, and an unforgettable evening feast — 26 dishes, 4 kilos of rose petals, and a host who turns out to be a software-developer-philosopher rolling grape leaves by hand.
-
7-senses hotel review of Central-Living Vienna in Vienna, Austria. Scoring sound, touch, taste, aroma, sight, sanctuary, and wander instinct.
-
It was a light day today as it’s been a long week. The morning was all about getting one last walk through the University of Wein Botanical Gardens and soak in the last few minutes of Vienna nature. Not much is blooming except for the Sauppler effect. I walk the gardens and end up…
