Albanian Shqipëri, means "The eagle's Country". Albania is located west of the Balkan peninsula, in south-eastern Europe. It is bordered by Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, and on the west by the Adriatic and Ionian seas. Albania is one of the smallest countries in Europe, with a length from north to south of about 345 km. The size of the country is 28,748 square km. Tirana is the capital and largest city, and the population is about 3.400.000

The Albanian language is a Thraco-Illyrian subfamily of the Indo-European languages and has two forms Gheg spoken in the north and Tosk spoken in the south. The Albanian population is evenly divided between Gheg and Tosk speaking communities. In 1967 the Albanian government abolished religious institutions. This prohibition was revoked in 1990 when mosques and churches began to re-open. In 1991 Albania became a secular state preserving freedom of religious belief. Although a significant portion of the population are non-religious, 65 percent of those professing a faith are Muslim, 20 percent are Orthodox, and 13 percent are Roman Catholic. Albania is the only country in Europe with a predominantly Muslim religious population and mother Therese was a famous Albanian The monetary unit of Albania is the Lek (138-150 Lek equals 1 US$ per the beginning of 2002). From the 1940s through to the 1980s the country's only political party was the Communist Party. Opposition parties were legalised in December 1990 For a British passport holder the entry and exit tax was 10 US$ in 2002

Albania is a wonderful country to visit, my parents have gone on a two week holiday there from the 12th to the 25th of May 2008

Childe Harold's pilgrimage, the second canto by Lord Byron

Morn dawns; and with it stern Albania's hills,
Dark Suli's rocks, and Pindus' inland peak,
Robed half in mist, bedew'd with snowy rills,
Array'd in many a dun and purple streak,
Arise; and as the clouds along them break,
Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer;
Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak,
Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear,
And gathering storms around convulse the closing year.

Now Harold felt himself at length alone,
And bade to Christian tongues a long adieu;
Now he adventured on a shore unknown,
Which all admire, but many dread to view:
His breast was arm'd 'gainst fate, his wants were few;
Peril he sought not, but ne'er shrank to meet:
The scene was savage, but the scene was new;
This made the ceaseless toil of travel sweet, Beat back keen winter's blast, and welcomed summer's heat.

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27.05.2001. I decided to go on a day trip, and headed off in the direction of Corfu, in a Land Rover Defender with Tug. We got as far as a place called Dhermi on the Ionian coast, and could see Corfu about 40 km away across the sea

27.05.2001. On the way down to Dhermi

27.05.2001. The costal scenery is quite spectacular and pretty. It helps getting away from civilisation. For lunch we ate fish at a fish restaurant, where the centre of attraction was a beached, rusty, and abandoned patrol boat

27.05.2001. "Now he adventured on a shore unknown, Which all admire, but many dread to view." This picture is looking in the opposite direction to the picture above

19.01.2002. Fruit and vegetable markets are very colourful in Fier. Vegetables are quite cheap compared to northern Europe and the vendors are very honest. I am eating lots of vegetable curries and stir fries

27.01.2002. The best picture I captured on this Sunday walk was a lovely image of a lady hand spinning wool while her daughter (I’m using poetic licence here) dug a hole in which to plant something, the poet in me would like to think an olive tree

27.01.2002. A panoramic view of a village near the town of Patos

03.02.2002. Fier town centre

24.03.2002. On this trip I was not expecting snow! It was cold

29.01.2002 Patos Marinza oil field. The oil field covers approximately 64 square kilometres, and there are about two and a half thousand vertically drilled wells

29.01.2002 Patos Marinza oil field. The oil field covers approximately 64 square kilometres, and there are about two and a half thousand vertically drilled wells

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