Day 142: Shkodër

Aug 23 - Wander the streets of the city for a few hours this morning.

Statue of Mother Teresa (1910-97) near the central square. She was born in Skopje, North Macedonia, so really not so far from here.

We finally got to the History Museum of Shkoder. It is held in a preserved traditional house, that does a great job of displaying unique decoration. The exhibits themselves are few, it really only takes about 20 minutes to see everything.

A traditional Albanian men’s costume.

An intricately decorated old chest that now appears to function as a bench.

There is a decent sized display of coins here, stretching from Roman Republic issues up to 20th Century. So many groups have traded with and influenced Albania through the centuries, like much of the Balkan region, and one really gets the sense of how, culturally, it was pulled both East and West at the same time.

A fragment of the architrave from the Church of St. Serg and Bakh, 13th Century.

An Ottoman coat of arms, leaning up against the exterior wall of the museum. The toghra, or signature of the Sultan, is inside the upper raised oval.

It is more interesting than usual just to walk around the city. There is a real old world feel to it, broken down and slow, with old, bent over women, clothed in black, ambling down the sidewalk. There are some stores from large European chains (like the German ‘Spar’ supermarket), but little local businesses are everywhere, more so than we’ve seen in most countries so far on the trip.

I don’t know what this sculpture is about, but it provided a few minutes of diversion for Odette.

A monument to the misery and human loss associated with Albania’s ‘Communism’ experiment under Enver Hoxha.

A detail on the wall of the Xhamia e Parrucës (Mosque) near the city center. Some great detail on the artwork. Also displays a toghra from an Ottoman sultan, and dated AH 1329 (1911-12 AD).

Nearby the above mosque they are setting up for a concert. At night we can hear some loud Arab-style music, I leave the room to see where it is coming from but the concert ends before I get there. Gands of dogs are out in force at this hour, chasing cars and people on bicycles.

Albania