We left Montenegro and headed back to Albania. We only passed through earlier in the season so wanted to do a bit more exploring. We left the boat in Durres and took the bus to Tirana, which became the capital of Albania in 1920. We headed to Skanderbeg Square which is named after Gjergj Kastrioti who was known as Skanderbeg (1405 – 1468) He was a national hero who held off the Ottomans for more than twenty years.
As I mentioned before Albania is full of bunkers Between the 1960s and the 1980s the Hoxhaist government, led by Enver Hoxha, who was paranoid Albania would be invaded, built over 173,000 bunkers. One of these bunkers has been converted into a museum, called Bunk Art 2. It was the bunker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs built between 1981 and 1986.
The bunker consists of 24 rooms, an apartment for the Minister and a large hall for intercommunications. The bunker’s entrance and exit were built only recently, because the entrance into the tunnel was only possible from within the Ministry. The anteroom was never used by any minister, even for training exercises.
The Sigurimi, which was the state security, intelligence and secret police service of Albania, spied on people. As well as radio interception they would use fixed microphones connected by a wire to recorders. They spied on prisoners and foreigners, who stayed in hotels. The main rooms of hotels had microphones connected by wires to a central recorder a few kilometers away. Prison cells and police stations were also bugged in the same way.
Citizens suspected of hostile activities towards the State had their homes bugged. The Sigurimi would use a neighbour’s house, who then became a co-worker who would activate the recorder. A microphone would be inserted in a hole in the wall and the authorities would set it up when the occupant was out. They could also set up cameras to take photos, which they passed through the walls, to capture suspicious meetings. It’s hard to imagine that this was going on in the 1980s, not so long ago.
On wandering around we come across the Resurrection Cathedral, an Albanian Orthodox Church which was quite a spectacular building, officially opened on June 24, 2012, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the revival of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the election of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania. In 1967 Albania was declared an atheist state. During this time churches and mosques were seized and either destroyed or turned into cinemas or dance halls. Religion was only allowed again following the collapse of the communist regime in 1990.
We next visited the Museum of Secret Surveillance also known as the “House of Leaves”. This was a real eye opener on how much people were being monitored. It was the Sigurimi’s interception HQ. It was also used by the Gestapo during the German occupation in the second world war. The museum displays the various equipment used to spy on people, graphic drawing of the different types of interrogation and torture that was used. There are also transcripts of intercepted conversations and interrogations.
It had been a long day and it gets thirsty so we went in search of somewhere to get a drink but not any old drink. Colin was hankering after a “Long Island Iced Tea”. We knew there was a cocktail bar around but had trouble finding it. So nothing for it but good old Google. We eventually found this quirky bar off a side street. They had a very extensive menu but no Long Island Iced Tea. We asked if they could make one and no problem of course they could and and much to Colin’s delight it was the best one he’d ever had. The Porn Star Martini’s were pretty good too.
September 2023