I set out for Greek food on a rest day and ended up in a real estate negotiation with a developer who thinks a three-bedroom apartment in Tirana is worth €800,000. Some weekends you binge Netflix. This one, I inadvertently became a market analyst for Albanian residential towers — and picked up supplies for Berat while I was at it.

🧭 Wander — Day 11: The Road That Gave It Away

Today was supposed to be a rest day. I decided to go out for Greek food anyway — a walk, a lunch, nothing strenuous. But along the way I came upon a road under construction. There are plenty of dirt roads and roads in dire need of repair in Tirana, so I was curious: why was this particular stretch being completely rebuilt?

About a third of the way down, it became apparent. Two large residential buildings under construction. Twenty to thirty stories high. That’s a lot of valuable real estate in a nice, desirable area of Tirana. The kind of location that suggests the developers aren’t guessing — they know something about where this city is heading.

I took photographs and reached out to the developers for cost information. I estimate it will take at least another year before the towers are finished, assuming work continues at its current pace. In my day trips around Albania, I’ve seen many residential buildings going up — perhaps too many for Tirana. Oversupply tends to do one thing to prices: bring them down. That could present an opportunity to buy at a discount in a few years. Or it could mean a lot of empty towers. Either way, I was curious enough to ask.

👅 Palate — OPA and the €800,000 Lunch

While waiting for email responses, I sat down at OPA, a Greek fast-food restaurant. I ordered an oven-roasted lamb sandwich, fries, and a drink. The kind of meal that makes you wonder why more fast food doesn’t involve slow-roasted lamb.

As I’m enjoying my lunch, my phone buzzes. A response from one of the developers. They’re mostly sold out — but they have one three-bedroom unit available.

It sells for €800,000. I replied that for that kind of money I could buy two units in Chicago by the lake.

Not a joke. Chicago’s Lakeshore East, Streeterville, even parts of the Gold Coast — you can find two-bedroom units for $350,000–$400,000. Two of those, with lake views, for the price of one Tirana apartment. I don’t know who’s buying at these prices, but some poor fools are getting suckered. The expression exists for a reason: a fool and his money are soon parted.

That said, the developer claims the building is mostly sold out — so either the fools are plentiful, or there’s a class of Albanian wealth I’m not seeing from the street level. Remittances from the diaspora, perhaps. Cash buyers who don’t care about Chicago comps. A market is a market, even when the numbers look insane from the outside.

✋ Unwind — Day 12: Berat Prep and Fried Comfort

Sunday was genuinely restful. I dashed to the grocery store to pick up snacks and bottled water for a day trip to Berat on Monday — the City of a Thousand Windows, a UNESCO site I’ve been looking forward to since before I arrived in Albania.

Dinner was fried food at Royal Fish Chicken — a bit of comfort food from home after being gone over a month. Fried chicken doesn’t need to be gourmet. It just needs to taste like something you recognize, something that reminds you of drive-thru windows and paper bags and not thinking about the geopolitical implications of real estate pricing while you eat. Mission accomplished.

By the Numbers

Item	Amount (EUR)
OPA — oven-roasted lamb sandwich, fries, drink	€9.19
Royal Fish Chicken — fried chicken dinner	€8.65 lek
Grocery — snacks + water for Berat trip	€25
3-bedroom Tirana apartment (not purchased)	€800,000.00
Weekend Total	€42.84

Two towers going up. A developer who thinks Tirana commands Chicago prices. Lamb that deserved a longer lunch. And a grocery bag packed for Berat. Monday, I head to the City of a Thousand Windows. If the real estate there is any more reasonable, I might have to start a new column in the spreadsheet.