Albania Holidays DMC

Albania Holidays DMC is awarded as Albania's Leading Destination Management Company for 2023

noreply@blogger.com (almag) — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 19:03:00 +0000

Albania Holidays DMC has been awarded as Albania's Leading Destination Management Company for 2023 by the renowned World Travel Awards™.

This recognition is a testament to our dedication and expertise, highlighting our commitment to excellence.

We sincerely thank our partners and clients for their continued trust and support! Thank you World Travel Awards!

https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-albanias-leading...

#albaniaholidays #visitalbania #albaniandmc #albania #worldtravelawards #WorldTravelAwards2023 #leadingdmcalbania

noreply@blogger.com (sales Manderina) — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 13:10:00 +0000

10 ristoranti da non perdere in Albania, il nuovo Salento

La meta del 2023? È l’Albania. Il Paese balcanico è la destinazione ideale per passare le proprie vacanze estive (e non): è vicino all’Italia, ben collegato e ricco di sorprese. È la meta ideale anche per un viaggio gastronomico. Da nord a sud sono tanti i ristoranti, gli agriturismi e le taverne dove assaggiare piatti tipici, sapori gustosi e rivisitazioni in chiave contemporanea. Ecco i 10 indirizzi da non perdere se andate nella Terra delle Aquile.

Gli indirizzi dei migliori ristoranti dell'Albania

Padam

Tirana

Lo chef Fundim Gjepali, a capo anche dell’Antico Arco di Roma, ha ideato un menù gustoso e raffinato con piatti che sembrano delle piccole opere d’arte. Tra tutti, da provare l’uovo con tartufo, salsa di yogurt e broccoli, e il gelato artigianale con biscotto pressato.

Mullixhiu

Tirana

Lo chef Bledar Kola, con alle spalle esperienze al Noma di Copenaghen oltre che in Italia, prepara piatti tradizionali della gastronomia albanese rivisitati in chiave contemporanea. Da provare la petka, pasta tipica albanese fatta in casa, e il qumeshtor, un dolce tradizione a base di latte.

Gzona

Tirana

Nel cuore di Tirana, il giovane chef Bleri Dervishi – uno dei nomi di punta della nuova generazione, con un ricco curriculum di esperienze italiane e internazionali - prepara piatti gourmet con ingredienti e sapori locali. Dalle tartare di manzo e melanzane, passando per le insalate del giorno fino ai dolci, tutto è preparato con maestria.

Fustanella Farm

Tirana

Nel borgo di Petrelë, a una manciata di chilometri dal centro di Tirana, questo ristorante farm-to-table è un gioiellino immerso nella natura dove si va per mangiare prodotti a km 0 e piatti tipici della gastronomia locale e delle comunità albanesi che vivono fuori dai confini nazionali.

Mrizi i Zanave

Fishtë (Lezhë)

Questo tempio della gastronomia albanese, nato da un’idea dei fratelli Prenga, è una tappa irrinunciabile durante un viaggio in Albania. Ai tavoli di Mrizi i Zanave si mangiano formaggi, torte salate, salumi, pasta tipica, spiedini di carne e gustosi dolci. Da annaffiare con i loro vini, che quest’anno hanno vinto ben tre medaglie alla competizione Decanter.

Tradita e Beratit

Berat

La città patrimonio Unesco di Berat, una delle destinazioni più visitate d’Albania, è nota per le sue case tradizionali molte delle quali convertite in guesthouses e ristoranti. Come Tradita e Beratit dove si mangiano byrek, torte salate farcite di spinaci, carne o formaggio, insalate dell’orto, olive, peperoni, ammirando il panorama.

Alpeta Agroturizëm & Winery

Roshnik

A pochi km da Berat, Agroturizëm Alpeta è un agriturismo e cantina ai cui tavoli sono servite verdure dell’orto, torte salate ripiene di spinaci, ricotta salata, porri, carne di capra che vive e cresce sulle pendici del Monte Tomorr, a due passi, casseruole di jufka, pasta fatta a mano e condita con pollo di campagna. I vini, e liquori, sono tra i migliori d’Albania.

Villa Përmet

Përmet

Questa affascinante villa di fine Ottocento, ristrutturata nel minimo dettaglio, è il posto perfetto per assaporare il meglio della gastronomia di Përmet. Il ristorante gourmet al piano terra propone agli ospiti una cucina autentica, stagionale e rispettosa delle tradizioni dove primeggiano verdure dell’orto, carni di animali allevati nella zona, salumi fatti in casa e gliko, un composto a base di frutta tutelato da Slow Food.

Taverna Vasili

Korçë

È il regno dei carnivori: la carne cotta al cognac e il goulash sono prelibati, ma nel menu non mancano carne alla griglia, salsicce, polpette tradizionali. Ottimi anche gli antipasti con peperoni rossi e ricotta salata e i dolci della casa.

Restorant Bujar

Vlorë

Nel menù di Bujar spiccano paccheri con cozze, calamari e pomodorini, catalana con il pescato del giorno e polpo grigliato. Si gustano quasi al naturale, il tutto è cucinato semplicemente, su piastre roventi e servito con olio d’oliva, una spruzzata di limone, sale. In bocca il sapore del Mediterraneo.

Source: www.gamberorosso.it

noreply@blogger.com (sales Manderina) — Wed, 03 May 2023 10:50:00 +0000

Albania's developing tourism industry could help stop its young people from leaving – and boost its economy

It has been more than 30 years since Albania opened its doors to tourists, but telling a friend that you’re off to Tirana or Dhërmi for a long weekend might still raise some eyebrows.

Despite Albania making Lonely Planet’s 2023 best in travel list, and various travel specialists referring to the country as the Mediterranean’s “hidden gem” because of its pristine coastline and wildlife, Albania remains one of the least visited countries in Europe.

Despite its small size, Albania’s varied landscape offers an array of touristic opportunities. Its Adriatic coastline is home to beautiful beaches, not yet spoilt by hordes of visitors.

The interior of the country is wild and mountainous, boasting 15 national parks, picturesque remote villages and breathtaking alpine scenery. At the crossroads of various Mediterranean, Balkan and Ottoman empires, as well as having a history of communist rule, Albanian culture is a mixture of European and Middle Eastern influences, which remains evident in its cuisine and architecture.

So could tourism be an economic saviour for Albania and mediate the migration of its young people? Although visitor numbers are on the rise, the country is facing economic difficulties.

There are now “ghost towns” throughout the country. Kukësi in the north of Albania has seen more than 53% of its citizens leave, with reports showing that young people feel there are few opportunities for them.

According to a 2021 Gallup poll, 50% of Albanian adults wanted to move abroad, with unemployment, low wages and lack of opportunities being listed as main reasons.

In 2022, the United Nations Development Programme assessed Albania’s tourism trends and performance, finding that mass emigration is a significant challenge to the country’s tourism development. Around 75% of the hotels polled claimed that in peak season they would need at least 35% more employees than they are currently able to find.

Industry professionals in Albania feel that infrastructure, waste management and transport links are not at the level required to attract a large number of tourists.

Transformation through tourism

Many countries have used tourism for economic development. After the second world war, tourism became a crucial way for many poorer Mediterranean countries to kickstart their economies.

In 1951, the Greek National Tourism Organisation embarked on a nationwide development initiative to construct tourist facilities across the country, the Xenia project. Renowned Greek architect Aris Konstantinidis was enlisted to design dozens of hotels, bars, souvenir shops and other attractions across the country, in the minimalist whitewashed style Greece is renowned for.

Greece’s image was transformed into a hub for international travellers. At the start of the project, Greece hosted just 33,000 tourists a year – by the 1960s, that figure had increased by 1,098%. Today, tourism accounts for one-fifth of its economy.

A similar strategy was used in Spain. An impoverished, isolated state at the end of the second world war, tourism transformed the Spanish economy. Not only did tourism provide an invaluable source of foreign currency, but the sudden influx of foreign visitors undermined the Franco regime’s grip on the country.

The arrival of international visitors sparked a cultural transformation, as ordinary Spaniards interacted with tourists they began to question and challenge the authoritarian control of Franco’s government. The introduction of tourism is often cited as the catalyst to the toppling of the authoritarian regime.

A growth in Albania’s tourism might offer young people alternative opportunities to those they seek by leaving their home nation. Travel and tourism employ more young people (14- to 25-year-olds) than any other sector, according to a World Travel and Tourism Council study.

And in tourism-dependent countries, jobs tend to become full time and permanent, appealing to people looking for financial stability.

Stunning landscapes

Albania has many of the elements required to become a successful tourist destination. It’s a beautiful country with good food and a wonderful summer climate. In 2022, a TikTok trend sparked a boom in tourist bookings after people posted images of its stunning beaches.

But there are some challenges. For small and underdeveloped destinations like Albania, which may not have the infrastructure required to extensively develop tourism alone, help from outside investors is necessary - and that can come with its own issues.

While mass tourism can bring tourists, new hotels and restaurants, if developments are not locally owned the financial rewards may have limited benefit to the local economy, although they still provide jobs.

The World Travel and Tourism Council found that the Caribbean’s tourism sector suffered from economic leakage of 27.5% in 2019. Journalist Polly Pattullo said that on some islands this figure could be as high as 90%.

This means that this tourism-generated revenue leaves the Caribbean and does not contribute to the economy, due to hotels and tour operators being owned and controlled by foreign companies.

Perhaps Albania could take inspiration from neighbouring Montenegro, which seems to be successfully welcoming tourism. Like Albania, it is not a member of the EU, and has struggled with economic development.

The country has positioned itself as a niche destination. Tourism now accounts
for around 25% of Montenegro’s GDP (compared to around 8% in Albania).

Albania has a falling birthrate, and a struggling economy. For decades, the country sealed its population inside its borders, but these days many young people are desperate to leave. But an improvement in economic prosperity and jobs in the tourism industry might be a significant factor in changing that, if managed well.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/albanias-developing-tourism-industry-could-112036715.html?guccounter=1

noreply@blogger.com (sales Manderina) — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 14:25:00 +0000

In Albania's Tourism Revival, Food Plays a Central Role

After a century of unrest, Albania's welcome remains undimmed as refugees return to piece its national identity back together one dish at a time.

As I stroll the rainbow-painted Soviet blocks of Tirana, Gjergj invites me home for lunch. A pensioner in a tweed cap, with a face as smooth and readable as olive wood, he leaves his game of backgammon on a bench beneath the furry talons of Lebanese cedars when he sees me. “I found you,” he quietly declares, insisting that his wife has already set the table. Soon I am seated before a starched tablecloth laden with tart mountain cheeses, glistening pickles, rosemary-spiked lamb, and pomegranates.

The Zoe Hora hotel, the riviera’s first luxury property, is the result of a government initiative to revitalize Albanian villages. Jenny Zarins

Despite a century of deep national trauma, Albanians still abide by besa—the ancient code of honor—to embrace all strangers as missing family. After Mussolini invaded his Adriatic neighbor only 27 years into Albania’s independence (after more than four centuries of Ottoman rule), European and Albanian Jews were sheltered in the mountains by Muslims and Catholic villagers like Gjergj’s father; guarded by summits as fierce as eagles’ wings. “None were ever lost,” Gjergj tells me in Italian—his own language is a barbed wire of Gjs, Xhs, Shs and Njs, on which Latin, Greek, and Turkish words snag.

For the crime of hailing from unbreakable Catholic stock, Gjergj was later imprisoned under Enver Hoxha’s post-war Stalinist regime—a nightmarish exaltation of Tito’s neighboring Yugoslavia that kept the nation under surveillance, hermetically sealed, and agrarian for the remainder of the 20th century. Then in 1997 came civil war; when the new democratic government lost the people’s money, depots of old Russian and Chinese Kalashnikovs were raided and Albanians fled, the new refugees of Europe. The past is behind them now, but not forgotten—as engraved on minds as the nation’s summits are with goat tracks. Behind every smile is a story—many worthy of a Netflix deal—and an invitation to hear it over home-grown food and raki, twice-distilled from garden vines—the most judgement-melting, heart-expanding liquid form of generosity.

At Mrizi i Zanave, owners and brothers Altin and Anton Prenga are responsible for Albania’s Slow Food movement—part of their effort to protect endangered endemic ingredients like as mountain-dried mishavinë cheese.

It is in the mosaics of eastern and southern Mediterranean dishes that Albanians are reassembling their broken identity after a generation in recovery—slowly marinating a new sense of pride in their Arcadian nation, now on the brink of E.U. membership. “We’re like the Italians, food is central to our psyche, yet no one’s heard of Albanian cuisine—or even Albania,” chuckles Tani Duka, an architect with droll, wolverine eyes who walks me around the Blloku quarter, the former residential district of the Politburo that’s become a foodie enclave clattering with plates and confidence. Nearby, at Gzona, 28-year-old Bleri Dervishi, a dimpled chemist-chef, formerly of three-Michelin-starred Azurmendi, masterminds seasonal “memory” dishes of the homeland. Having fled to Italy by rubber dinghy at the age of four, he’s now kerpow-ing crab-apple pectin into chewing gum in his lab, chalking up new formulas to crack the nation’s first Michelin star.

It took those who left Albania as child migrants, working up through the kitchen hierarchies of Europe from plate washers to head chefs, to recognize its sustainable farm-to-table potential; by default, a nation of subsistence farmers, artisanal family producers, and foraged bounty. At Pazari i Ri market, women with calves carved by steep inclines sit at stalls stacked with honey, like jars of stolen morning light. Wild gentian and çaj mali mountain teas are neatly weighed out in bundles; loam-scented tables heaped with okra, persimmon, figs, and quince. Beyond Tirana’s rumpled Dajti mountains is the rest of Albania, resounding with the fairy music of free-roaming flocks. Here a stocky build and hooves are still more useful than wheels: with the isolationist regime, civilian cars and access to 280 miles of wild coastline were strictly forbidden. When Hoxha’s allegiance switched to Maoist China at the height of the Cold War, underground nuclear bunkers were built instead of roads.

When driving toward the Albanian Riviera, travelers are rewarded with ocean views from Llogara Pass.

After communism, confiscated cooperative land was re-apportioned in tiny parcels; gardens like craft patchworks, hand-sewn together by wattle. “There’s a family behind every ingredient I use, and I know them all by their first names. I get really emotional about that,” says Bledar Kola, alumnus of Le Gavroche, Fäviken and Noma, who gifts bottles of wine to people queuing outside Mullixhiu, his restaurant in the Grand Park of Tirana. Fitted out like an alpine hut, it is the perfect spartan stage for his minimalist revival of the northern highlands’ cucina povera, using ancient fermentation techniques, foraged fruits, and medicinal plants such as purslane and burdock.

Kola fled Albania at the age of 15, first by speedboat to Italy, then as a stowaway to England, clinging perilously to the chassis of a truck, at one point getting dragged along the asphalt. “In London, I had to say I was Italian to get work,” he says. “Otherwise, it was ‘But don’t you Albanians all steal cars?’ I felt I was betraying my country.” Now he proudly delivers Albanian history lessons in eight courses, unearthed national heroes served at desk-like bakers’ tables. After a palate cleanser of Cornelian cherry juice—a glass of cloudy papal mauve—comes trahana, a savoury porridge, and dromsa, Balkan pici pasta still served in Arbëresh communities in Calabria. At the end, there’s boza, the Ottoman fermented cereal-based drink—at once creamy, fizzy, sweet, and sour. After hours, Kola pulls out a label-less bottle made from Shesh grapes, the fruit of Albania’s ancient viticulture revival, as weighty as a Piedmontese red and palpably alive. When I leave, the stars above the Dajti mountains look bloated and seem to blur with meteorite tails.

My head is mysteriously clear when I leave the next morning to drive north to Lezhë province, the epicenter of the new food movement, with Kreshnik Topollaj, a chatty Bektashi Muslim who wears a felt qeleshe hat (“half of a cosmic egg”), tilted on his head with the steez of a rapper. As he talks, the clouds dissipate to a faint flock of geese on the horizon. Outside a boy sells rabbits from the back of his car. Fields are flecked with yellow goldenrod; branches offer pomegranates like the arms of expert jugglers. The drive can be slow, even on this main road to Lake Shkodër on the Kosovan border. The Dinaric Alps loom overhead; toppling stacks of rock daggers and glacial fortresses. Cow herds dither before us, their bells momentarily picking up to trotting tempo.

A lone cloud rests like a volcano plume on the hillside as we pass through Fishtë to Mrizi i Zanave Agroturizëm, dedicated to Gjergj Fishta, beloved early-20th-century friar and national poet. Its owners, brothers Altin and Anton Prenga, started Albania’s Slow Food foundation in part to protect endangered ingredients such as mountain-dried mishavinë cheese, then made by only three families in tribal Kelmend. The brothers worked in kitchens in Italy for 11 years before, in 2006, returning to the home they fled as children; they recall men waving Kalashnikovs in their grandfather’s fields, and still find bullet cases in the vineyards. They built a restaurant rock by rock—a temple to heirloom produce, which now supports more than 400 families; its incense, rosemary-infused woodsmoke from the outdoor oven strung with rosaries of drying chilis. “The most fantastic food comes from people looking after three cows and 10 fruit trees,” says Altin, a 40-year-old as flushed as a Cox apple by outdoor work and evangelical zeal. In 2016, they restored the derelict cottage they were born in: “It was like piecing together our identities again. You have to be proud to be a farmer.”

A path marked by wild cyclamen leads to a series of barns that once housed political prisoners. “Our food culture was destroyed by communism; people ate square white bread, square white cheese… In Hoxha’s day this would have been like growing hashish,” he says, laughing, sliding back an iron door to the smoke room, where beef torsos hang before a wood stove. In another barn, shelves of cheeses are catalogued with the care of museum artifacts. Villagers in long black socks nobly push wheelbarrows of produce like artists delivering their latest commission.

The next morning, we drive towards Patok Lagoon, where fishermen throw out nets before stilted huts and flamingos limber up in the water’s reflection. At Mystic Rose, a local institution on the water’s edge, we lunch on flia—crêpes with fermented cream, cooked in a wok-like iron saç in the ashes of a hearth, stoked by men lit like the subjects of an Old Master painting. “The more sacrifice in making the dish, the more hospitality it conveys,” says Diella Loshi, a gap-toothed Sophia Loren in her 60s, who camped in the woods here in the 1990s before building a home and opening a restaurant in her living room. She brings out plates of sea bass—blackened and heavy as pewter trays—and mounds of prawns the size of fists. “Chinese officials went crazy when they came here,” she laughs. Under communism shellfish, considered “insects,” were fed to the pigs—along with plump Albanian oysters, rotten black potatoes (truffles), and toadstools (porcini).

At Rapsodia in coastal Shëngjin, Alfred Marku—a charming beardy man, stocky as an olive trunk—constructs delicate mezze of seafood with wild chicory and sambuca flowers. His stories are as seasoned and well paced as his plates. As a 14-year-old fleeing civil war, he crossed the Greek border on foot and was greeted with a police gun to the head and a night in jail. Octopus and wild fennel scented his perilous moonlit speedboat journey to Trentino where, at 15, he camped in abandoned houses. Chestnut semifreddo sweetens his ascent to accomplished Italian chef, with a triumphant after-rush of oregano.

The next day, I gaze out to the flats of Bari from the Cape of Rodon; the white of the waves now harmless, as if peacefully applied by putty knife on an Adriatic-blue canvas. We follow the coastline south to Northern Epirus: a vision of terraced citrus groves and Kalinjot olives with the open crowns of laurel wreaths. Here, the Adriatic gives way to the Ionian and the Albanian Riviera starts its ascent to Corfu—a rocky shoreline of umbrella pines, shingled coves and sunlit bream-y waters, where locals speak an archaic Greek dialect and roll vine leaves into vinegary cigars. We spend the day on Dhërmi beach, until the afternoon bleaches out like a vintage Polaroid. Then we head out to explore—the menthol of pines our smelling salts—stumbling along makeshift paths that sprout with wild saffron, crunching over the red-spined fruit of strawberry trees to secret coves, where locals spearfish and dive for sea urchins. We prise one open and pick out the spongy tongues from inside; little mouthfuls of ocean, zinc-y and sweet. The fiercest shells protect the softest of hearts.

Source: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/in-albanias-tourism-revival-food-plays-a-central-role

noreply@blogger.com (sales Manderina) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 09:55:00 +0000

Albania - Awarded Best in Travel 2023

Closed to outsiders for much of the 20th century, Albania has long been Mediterranean Europe's enigma. Until fairly recently its rumpled mountains, fortress towns and sparkling beaches were merely a rumour on most travel maps.But, with the end of a particularly brutal strain of communism in 1991, Albania tentatively swung open its gates. The first curious tourists to arrive discovered a land where ancient codes of conduct still held sway and where the wind whistled through the shattered remnants of half-forgotten ancient Greek and Roman sites. A quarter of a century after throwing off the shackles of communism, Albania's stunning mountain scenery, crumbling castles, boisterous capital and dreamy beaches rivalling any in the Mediterranean continue to enchant. But hurry here, because as word gets out about what Albania is hiding, the still-tiny trickle of tourists threatens to become a flood.

Source: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/albania

noreply@blogger.com (sales Manderina) — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 14:39:00 +0000

Cette destination européenne proche de Bruxelles vous donnera l’impression d’être aux Maldives

Le mois de janvier est connu pour être le mois le plus déprimant de l’année. Pour se redonner du baume au cœur, et si on planifiait déjà notre prochain voyage ? Direction l'est de l’Europe pour un dépaysement total garanti!

Il ne faut pas toujours aller bien loin pour changer d’air, découvrir le monde et déconnecter totalement. Le staycation en a convaincu plus d’un durant la crise - cette tendance qui consiste à voyager au plus proche de chez soi - à tel point que désormais nos habitudes de voyages se sont vu impactées. Plus questions de partir à l’autre bout du monde et d’exploser son bilan environnemental en prenant l’avion, l’heure est à la sobriété à tous les niveaux et revoir sa façon de voyager fait partie des priorités numéro une. Pas question toutefois de se priver de voyage : après deux ans de pandémie, on a plus que jamais besoin de se ressourcer et le voyage nous permet sans aucun doute d’accéder à un état de détente ultime. Mais alors,où partir sans que notre impact écologique ne nous fasse trop culpabiliser?

Paradis désenchanté

Si vous rêvez de longues étendues de sable blanc et de lagoons bleus à perte de vue, vous penserez probablement directement aux Maldives. Avec ses 8 256 kilomètres qui séparent cet archipel situé au large de l’océan Indien et ses 10h30 de vol direct depuis Bruxelles, cette destination est pourtant loin de faire l’unanimité auprès des écologistes et ceux qui veulent respecter leurs engagements envers la planète. Car en plus d’être une destination lointaine, l’envers du décor de cette île paradisiaque en refroidit plus d’un, notamment en raison de la mauvaise gestion des déchets qui lui vaut le surnom d’île “poubelle” ces dernières décennies.

Le joyau de l’Adriatique

Et si on vous disait qu’il est possible d’en prendre plein la vue et de bénéficier des atouts des Maldives sans quitter l’Europe ? Vous avez du mal à y croire ? Sur Tik-Tok et Instagram, pourtant, une destination fait fureur : il s’agit de l’Albanie, située sur la péninsule balkanique au sud-est de l’Europe. Située à 2136 kilomètres de notre capitale, l’Albanie apparaît alors comme un compromis idéal pour ceux en quête de grands espaces paradisiaques. Sur les réseaux sociaux, elle bénéficie d’ailleurs désormais du surnom de “Maldives de l’Europe”.

C’est surtout la station balnéaire Ksamil, située au sud du pays, qui attire pour ses étendues d'eau à perte de vue. Sa plage est d’ailleurs considérée comme l’une des plus belles de l’Europe. Car la Riviera albanaise, c’est bien plus que 100 km de littoral, ce sont également des criques cachées et des sites archéologiques à couper le souffle. Depuis quelque temps, Ksamil est donc naturellement devenu the place-to-be et de nombreux hôtels de luxe qui rappellent ceux installés aux Maldives ont fait leur apparition. L’un des spots les plus en vogue ? Sans aucun doute la Pema e Thate beach, avec ses lits de plages à baldaquin qui surplombent la mer.

Si la destination séduit tant les internautes, c’est aussi pour son prix bien plus abordable que les Maldives ; pour une semaine de vacances à l’hôtel, comptez en moyenne 1 043 € pour deux personnes contre 2 718 € pour un séjour équivalent aux Maldives selon les estimations de Ou-et-Quand.net.. de quoi faire de belles économies sur votre budget vacances sans subir de décalage horaire. Alors, on attend quoi pour booker ?

Source: https://sosoir.lesoir.be/cette-destination-europeenne-proche-de-bruxelles-vous-donnera-limpression-detre-aux-maldives?fbclid=IwAR0XTTAq6vzmbk9ZLKjoZI2QGGYk3w1JHtjtLVMHBwHoa2ItVruhtu5yCXE

BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2022 in Albania co-organized by Albania Holidays DMC

noreply@blogger.com (almag) — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 11:46:00 +0000

This year, the start of the eighth edition of the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy began in Kavajë, Albania. On the shores of the Adriatic Sea, near the city of Kavaja in the western lowlands of Albania. One of the main links in the organization of the event was Albania Holidays, proud to been part of this large and professional chain in the organization of GSTrophy2022! Albania Holidays DMC was the local DMC partner for GSTrophy, providing services in Albania, Europe's ultimate off-road gem! This year there were 21 international teams, 15 of which were three-man teams and 6 two-man teams – a completely new format for the international GS trophy. The route started from Kavaje to Berat Castle then to Lake Ohrid from Lake Ohrid to Farma Sotira then to Himare and in the end again to Kavaje.

BMW Motorrad bringed the International GS Trophy to Albania between 4 and 10 September 2022. The country, which is considered an insider tip for off-road touring, is incredibly rich in flora, fauna and culture. The unknown beauty of Albania

Rugged mountains, vast valleys, wild rivers, dense forests and a fantastic coastline. The best Enduro riders in the world can look forward to discovering this as yet quite unknown beauty on their GS bikes. Seven days of pure adventure. Seven days that took two years of preparation. Seven life-changing days. Each rider has only had one opportunity to participate in the GS International Trophy. But it wasn't a classic race – these intense challenges, in which participants demonstrate their knowledge and horsemanship, are all about team spirit and skill.

And the trip was made unforgettable by nights in the tent under the stars, unique landscapes and cultures, and new friends from all over the world. GS Trophy 2022 has findied an almost untouched piece of land with exciting trails. For the Int. GS Trophy 2022 in Europe was a seemingly unrealistic mission for our scouts. But then they discovered Albania with its fantastic landscapes. One thing becomes immediately clear: they have written here new adventure stories this year.

A country with traditions and hospitality

With a population of 2.8 million, most of which lives in the larger cities, Albania is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. On average, it lies at altitudes of 708 metres above sea level and the country’s highest peak is at 2,751 metres. The mountainous, sometimes alpine landscape makes it a paradise for GS riders. The local population is proud of its traditions. Traditional clothing includes the pleated skirt for men, the bell skirt for women or the traditional, white felt cap. An important part of Albanian folklore is the popular dances staged on special occasions. Women tend to dance more lyrical dances, while men demonstrate bravery and pride with their performances. Albania clearly forms part of the Mediterranean in terms of its cuisine. Traditionally, several dishes are put in the middle of the table for everyone to enjoy and share. Thanks to epic trails, Albania offers the perfect backdrop for the Int. GS Trophy 2022. This is where they test own limits, make new friends and cultivate a team spirit.

"I am deeply impressed by Albanians’ hospitality.“ said Ralf Rodepeter Head of Marketing and Product Management

Albania Holidays DMC was the local partner of BMWmotorrrad for organizing this huge event in Albania. Albania Holidays is widely recognized as one of the market leaders offering quality travel services in Albania and neighbouring countries, through exclusively providing incoming services to our clients and partners. Through partnership with the best tourism service providers in the country it made the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2022 a great success.

Participants had the opportunity to experience a diverse landscape and wilderness, delicious food and outstanding Albanian hospitality

Some photos of the event :-)

Source: www.bmw-motorrad.com/

Albania is the last secret of Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 10:34:00 +0000

Albania is the last secret of Europe. Spanish travelers of a certain age remember that, for many decades, their passports indicated: " valid for all countries except for Albania, North Korea and Outer Mongolia ." To the most restless, that woke up an uncontrollable desire to discover what these forbidden countries hid. Of these banned countries, Albania was the closest, but until very recently it has remained away from the tourist map . Now Albanians want to show themselves to the world and teach their beauties, both cultural and natural. And it should be done before mass tourism discovers it.

This is how El Pais, the biggest Spanish newsletter starts its article about Albania, to recommend this unique place to all Spanish tourists. The article is recommending Albania to Spanish tourists, considering it as a "irresistible mixture of splendid beaches, dense forests and Ottoman cities where the trace of communism is still felt". The article is starting with Tirana, then with UNESCO sites, Berat, Gjirokastra, Butrint and the beautiful sandy beaches of Ksamil, Himara, the museal city of Kruja, then the experiences of other cities Korca and Shkodra.

Decades of isolation have made Albania, a somewhat smaller dimension than Catalonia or Galicia , a country different from the rest of its Balkan neighbors. It is not a destination for those looking for many comforts and a trip without unforeseen events. But perhaps there is the grace: to turn a trip into a little adventure. Thus, we will cross mountainous territories through winding roads; we will look out on a wild coast; we will walk through some towns that are like a Venetian mosaic of Byzantine churches with frescoes and naked mosques, tekke bektashíes (sanctuaries) and Ottoman houses of gleaming white, Kombinat mastodónticos (business conglomerates) of the Soviet era and tiny bunkers. But without a doubt, the most surprising discovery is its 400 kilometers of coastline where the Adriatic sand merges with the stones of the Ionian beaches..

See the full article here: https://elviajero.elpais.com/elviajero/2020/03/03/actualidad/1583238543_434831.html?fbclid=IwAR2Kj9vuLiVRtwhKJfZO-JE0uy6ygCMRZs4Y5xFK9HjBeXJwysmkd5hVUCQ

Berat city, among 10 spiritual places on Earth with the strongest energy field

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 14:30:00 +0000

Berat city is not only known as a beautiful white city, property of UNESCO, but also for good people and hospitality. A new ranking has listed Berat as one of 10 best spiritual places in earth with strongest energy field. "There are places in the world where you can feel the connection with the divine – one of them is Rila Lake, famous for its powerful energy field. Sensitive people dream of strange things when they spend the night in that place. Such places can give you answers to questions that have been troublesome for you and you can feel concentrated energy on a higher spiritual level" says the article published by "Behind the Illusion" media where Berat city in Albania is number 7.

Here is what is written for Berat city:

Berat is a pride of Albanian architecture. The old town is under the protection of UNESCO. Berat represents a wonderful blend of eastern and western culture, traditions and customs. The city is the treasury of Albanian history and the evidence of harmony between faith and culture.

In Berat, people have a very powerful, spiritual energy of healing. Today, behind the city walls there are still people who do not believe in illness, making this place unique and authentic.

The original Article

10 spiritual places on Earth with the strongest energy field

1. Rila – Bulgaria

Some people might be surprised but this mountain range is one of the strongest energy centers in the world.

It is no accident that he was one of the greatest spiritual masters of the 20th century – Beinsa Duno chose this place to transmit his wisdom.

The area around Rila Lake actually has a very strong energy and sensitive people feel it, and they get strange dreams when they stay in that area.

2. Machu Picchu in Peru

The lost city of Inka is one of the places connected with the energy centers in the world. The Inks were built by Machu Picchu in a specific place, high up in the Andes.

This place channels energy and enables people to experience something that simply does not belong to our world.

3. Socotra

Socotra is an archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean on the Africa Row. The largest makes about 95 percent of the land.

Its specific landscape as well as the flora and fauna seem to come from a science fiction film and you can easily imagine being on another planet or in prehistoric times.

As a result of isolation, many species of Socotra have been born that are not found elsewhere in the world.
Spiritual energy here connects the human soul directly with the universe.

4. Plato Uluru in Australia
Uluru is the spiritual center of Australia and is in the very center of the continental country. Legends say it is a plateau hollow and it is a source of energy, called Tiukurpa.

The ancient tribes surrounding the plateau have left many painted stories in some of the caves in the area.
In the tribes, the conviction that when a person circles around the plateau, she then receives spiritual visions.

5. Easter Island

This is one of the most isolated places in the world, known for its fascinating stone giants – “moai”, rising everywhere along the rocky shore. Scientists have absolutely no answer to the question “Who made them and how?”, The whole place is a complete stranger.

The whole island is the tip of a large volcano that rises from the ocean floor. The ancient peoples have also called “The belly button of the world” – in the local language known as Te Pito O Te Henu, while the name Rapa Nui prevails today. The second indigenous name for the island is Mata who you rank (“The eyes that look at the sky”).

For “The belly button of the World” is believed to collect the most important spiritual energy of the Earth.

6 Belintash Plato

Belintash Plato is one of the three points (Belintash – Cross Forest – Karadjov Stone), which is one of the strongest energy zones in Europe.
In the area around Belintasha, there is strong energy on it, and hundreds of people testify to frequent paranormal phenomena.

7. Berat

Berat is a pride of Albanian architecture. The old town is under the protection of UNESCO. Berat represents a wonderful blend of eastern and western culture, traditions and customs. The city is the treasury of Albanian history and the evidence of harmony between faith and culture.

In Berat, people have a very powerful, spiritual energy of healing. Today, behind the city walls there are still people who do not believe in illness, making this place unique and authentic.

8. Stonehenge
Stonehenge is the most famous megalithic monument in the world, probably devoted to the Sun, about 5,000 years old. It is located in the center of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, UK.

It is known for its huge stone blocks arranged in the circle. He still does not know with certainty what Stoneheng’s purpose is, but many scientists believe the monument was used as a ceremonial or religious center.
According to one theory Stonehenge is an ancient cemetery.

9. Bosnian Pyramids

The Bosnian Pyramids are not far from the city of Visoko, and according to the latest research, they date from far beyond the biblical past. The largest pyramid is the Pyramid of the Sun and is the first of its kind in Europe, while the Pyramid of the Moon and Pyramid of the Bosnian Dragon is considerably less.

Under the pyramids three underground rooms and a little blue lake were found. The lake contains clean, sterile water, without bacteria, algae, fungi, microorganisms, animals, mosses and mud. They are called living water because it cleanses the body.

This means that these objects are actually “healing rooms”. The human body regenerates faster and the disease disappears.

10. Mount Kailash on Tibet

Kailash Mountain is the most divine place of the four religions that originate from that part of Asia, namely Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and the Old Buddhist Religion of Tibet – Bongo.

All these religions have their own legends about this place but are united in the claim that the mountain of the gods is a home of the gods and one of the energy centers in the world where they climb to bring them spiritual bliss.

Where to go in 2020: an insiders’ guide - Albania is in the list!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 12:56:00 +0000

Albania is listed by Financial Times as an excellent destination to visit in 2020.

“Montenegro was the star of 2019 but the whole region is on the rise,” says Jonny Bealby of Wild Frontiers, who reports bookings for 2020 up 15 per cent compared with the same point a year ago.

“Visitors are drawn to the mountains, canyons and rivers, the sparkling coastline, ancient towns, Greek and Roman ruins, Ottoman citadels and rural hospitality.”

Trekkers are finding the Accursed Mountains in the north of the country — off limits during the country’s years of communist isolationism and during the Kosovo war — offer an alternative to the Alps with almost no-tourist development.

Meanwhile, historical tours are taking growing numbers beyond the Unesco World Heritage site of Butrint to explore the numerous Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman sites throughout the country.

Read the full article here

Where to go in 2020: an insiders’ guide

By Financial times

1 Armenia

Georgia has enjoyed soaring visitor numbers, and a string of new airline routes, since it was tipped in the equivalent of this article two years ago. Visits by international tourists during the first 11 months of 2019 were up 19.4 per cent compared with the same period in 2017. Meanwhile its southern neighbour Armenia has remained relatively off the radar — attracting fewer than a quarter of Georgia’s visitor numbers — though that now seems to be on the verge of change.

Four members of our panel picked Armenia as one to watch in 2020 (Wild Frontiers says its forward bookings are up 100 per cent compared with a year go) and the country will get its first low-cost airline links with western Europe. Ryanair, Wizz and Air Baltic are all due to launch flights, connecting the capital Yerevan with cities including Milan, Rome, Berlin and Vienna. The main draw for visitors is the country’s extraordinary collection of medieval monasteries and churches, many of them set among dramatic mountains. Geghard monastery, for example, was cut into the rock of the Upper Azat valley and was completed in the 13th century. It is now a Unesco world heritage site, as are the monasteries at Haghpat and Sanahin.

But Yerevan and the wine-lands are also fascinating. “Yerevan is one of the region’s most exuberant and endearing cities,” says Justin Wateridge of Steppes Travel. “Both country and capital are an unexpected delight that you need to discover before the secret gets out.”

Tom Marchant of Black Tomato recommends the newly opened Alexander hotel in Yerevan, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, as well as stopping for a degustation at the Ararat Brandy Company.

2 Chad

For travellers who really want to get off the beaten track, Chad is ideal. More than five times the size of the UK, the entire country gets fewer visitors in a year than Tate Modern gets in a week. And that is despite glorious desert and mountain scenery, fascinating ancient rock art and the closest “big five” safari park to Europe.

The bad news is that there is a reason for such a dearth of visitors: the UK Foreign Office advises against “all but essential” travel to most of the country, and “all travel” to the rest, highlighting the potential risk of crime and terrorism; the US State Department suggests potential visitors “reconsider”.

Despite that, several tour operators tip it as a rising destination for the coming year, a recommendation that is largely down to the work of African Parks, a South African-based non-profit conservation organisation. In 2010 it was invited by the Chadian government to sign a long-term agreement to manage Zakouma National Park, a 1,200 sq mile park in the south-east of the country that had been ransacked by horseback-riding poaching gangs.

With the help of EU funding, African Parks restored security (elephant deaths fell from 4,000 in the eight years to 2010, to just 24 since then), opened 17 schools and created employment at the three tourist camps.

In 2017, the government put an expanded area around the park into African Parks control, then in February 2018 the organisation was given responsibility for the Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, a 15,500 sq mile expanse of sandstone mountains in the north of the country, filled with dramatic canyons, cliffs and arches as well as rock art that dates back 7,000 years. “Declared a World Heritage Site in 2016, the Ennedi is a vast wilderness with a savage beauty,” says Will Jones of Journeys By Design.

3 UK

Britain may be preparing to leave the EU, but the British national tourism agency is predicting a record year in 2020. Visit Britain says international tourist numbers will hit 39.7m, the highest ever and almost 5 per cent up on 2018. Particularly important to the growth are emerging tourism markets in the east — Visit Britain’s data shows flight bookings to the UK for the first half of the year are up 33 per cent from China, and 22 per cent from south Asia.

While the reduced value of sterling has helped make the UK cheaper, the big draw this year is likely to be the country’s literary and artistic heritage. 2020 is the 250th anniversary of William Wordsworth’s birth (marked by a £6.2m project to expand the museum at his former home, Dove Cottage at Grasmere in the Lake District) and the 150th anniversary of Charles Dicken’s death (with a five-day festival in Rochester among many others). Meanwhile the lack of a significant anniversary does not seem to have deterred Jane Austen fans: a 10-day festival is planned in Bath in September, there is a nine-day festival in Hampshire in June, and yet another film version of Emma is due for release in February, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and a string of fabulous stately homes.

4 Norway

A growing awareness of climate change has brought the Arctic regions to the forefront of many minds. On one hand, the vulnerability of the ice caps, wildlife and traditional ways of life inspires an increasingly emotional reaction — the endangered glaciers pitied in the same way as the elephants and rhinos of east Africa. On the other, in a warming world, spending a summer holiday somewhere cold rather than hot seems increasingly attractive.

Above all, the Arctic has become so much more visible: consider, for example, that in 48 hours over Christmas, the BBC’s output included radio broadcasts from Greenland and Iceland, a two-hour “slow TV” programme following a Sami sleigh ride through Arctic Norway, and a film about the disappearing skills of the Inuit, “an elegy to the world that is melting away”.

Even Hollywood is leveraging the appeal of the north: Disney’s new children’s movie Frozen 2 draws heavily on Sami culture, myths and landscapes while the forthcoming James Bond movie No Time to Die, out in April, includes snowy sequences filmed in Norway.

While countries across the north are experiencing growing visitor numbers, Norway is especially well placed to benefit, with infrastructure that makes it straightforward to reach the Arctic, and an abundance of fjords, mountains and islands. Set among them are a growing number of landmark architectural projects by the Oslo-based practice Snohetta, a master at creating buildings that manage to be both appropriate to the stark beauty of their surroundings as well as catnip for social media.

Among them are Europe’s first underwater restaurant, launched in March 2019, the National Opera house in Oslo, a remote pavilion for watching passing reindeer at Hjerkinn, and the forthcoming Svart, a circular hotel just above the Arctic Circle, which isn’t due to open until 2022 but is already generating a buzz.

“Interest in all things Nordic continues to grow,” says Georgina Hancock at Discover the World, who tips Senja Island, to the west of Tromso, as “a quieter, under-explored alternative to the well-trodden Lofoten Islands”.

At Red Savannah, George Morgan-Grenville reports forward bookings for Norway up 33 per cent compared with this point a year ago. Both agree about the appeal of Svalbard, which in 2020 marks 100 years of Norwegian sovereignty, and offers the chance to visit the world’s northernmost city, school, museum, piano and much more. “Nowhere is more wild,” says Morgan-Grenville.

5 Turkey

Tourism in Turkey collapsed in 2015 and 2016 in response to terrorist attacks and political instability, with visitor numbers falling almost 40 per cent. Those security fears have now eased, and tourist numbers are rebounding — helped by a significant devaluation of the lira (a euro currently buys about 6.6 Turkish lira, up from about 2 lira a decade ago).

That exchange rate has made citybreaks more affordable in Istanbul, with its constantly expanding roster of luxury hotels. Recent additions include Sofitel on Taksim square, which opened in November complete with 33 Hermés-designed suites) and the Six Senses Kocataş Mansions, which soft-launched the same month, housed in two 19th-century mansions and with far-reaching views over the Bosphorus. The longer term trend, however, is for adventure-seeking tourists to look beyond Istanbul and the Mediterranean seaside resorts. Steppes highlight the move of the World Nomad Games this year from a remote yurt village in Kyrgyzstan to the Turkish city of Bursa, making it far easier for international visitors to watch events including kok-boru, a sort of central Asian equivalent of rugby, with competitors on horseback and a headless goat in place of a ball (the date for the event has yet to be announced).

In the far east, the ancient archaeological sites of Upper Mesopotamia are attracting growing interest, with numerous operators offering expert-led group tours. Meanwhile skiers in search of perfect powder and a complete absence of crowds are travelling to Turkey Heliski’s base in Ayder, close to the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea, where visitors this winter are expected to include the star Swiss free-rider Sam Anthamatten.

6 Japan

Data from eDreams ODIGEO, which claims to be Europe’s biggest online travel agency, suggests a surge in the number of European travellers heading to Tokyo in 2020. Across its various websites, forward bookings are up 90 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. There is one obvious reason: the Olympics and Paralympics, due to take place in late July and early August. Some estimates suggest the Games might attract an additional 10m visitors, and there has been a rush of hotel openings in expectation.

Tourism in the country is already soaring: 31.2m foreign travellers visited in 2018, up from 8.6m in 2010. In 2016 the government set a target of reaching 40m visitors by 2020, and 60m by 2030. The downside has been the concentration of visitors in the honeypot sites of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, something the national tourist office has tried to counter with publicity campaigns promoting lesser-known regions, and which should be helped by new flight routes including, for example, Finnair’s direct service to Sapporo, on the northern island of Hokkaido, which launched last month.

“Quite apart from the Olympics, Japan is increasingly on the radar of those seeking alternative, experiential travel and a completely unhomogenised cultural identity,” says George Morgan-Grenville of Red Savannah. He suggests 2020 hotspots will include the Samurai districts of Kanazawa, the scenic coastline of Noto, and the art museums of Naoshima Island.

7 Uruguay

“Uruguay has always been considered a seasonal destination, but is just as special outside the December/January rush,” says Harry Hastings of Plan South America. “It’s ideal for ‘slow travel’, with cycling and riding trips through olive groves, vineyards, fishing villages and the open farmland of the south, stopping for sea swims, picnics, wine tasting and visits to artists’ studios.”

Home to fewer than 3.5m people, the country has long been in the shadow of its neighbours, Brazil and Argentina, with only the sceney seaside resorts of Punta del Este and José Ignacio attracting much international attention, and even then only in summer.

Now, though, small numbers of visitors are beginning to look beyond those hotspots, to the remote beaches of Rocha state, the surfer hang-out of La Pedrera, the old Portuguese city of Colonia del Sacramento and sleepy Carmelo, surrounded by vineyards, wineries and tasting rooms and known by some as South America’s answer to Tuscany.

Visitors should explore rich, full-bodied reds made with Tannat grapes, produced from vines descended from cuttings across the Atlantic in the 19th century before phylloxera devastated the originals in southern France.

The journey I’m really excited about next summer is a road trip from Alaska to California. I’ll be in Alaska in August giving a talk on board the QE2 and I’ve given myself a couple of weeks in between jobs to travel down the west coast of Canada and the US to San Francisco before I head to the Burning Man festival with some friends.

I’ve been to California before, but never seen the rest of the west coast so I’m looking forward to exploring, particularly Oregon and the Rockies and seeing Mount Washington in the flesh, spotting bears and experiencing some real wilderness.

8 Dominica

The mountainous Caribbean island has staged a remarkable recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, while promotional campaigns billing it as “the nature island” seem more in tune with the times than some of its glitzier neighbors.

Rather than white sands and smart restaurants, the draw here is the pristine rainforests, remote mountain gorges and waterfalls. The tourist board is keen to distinguish it as a place for adventure travellers and in particular as a place for hiking: the country is home to the longest walking route in the Caribbean, the 185km Waitukubuli trail and a system of free “hike passports” was introduced in 2019 for visitors to record their walks.

The government has been working to restore trails damaged in the hurricane, while also introducing a string of environmental policies (plastic straws and cutlery were banned last year; plastic bags are due to be banned outright in 2020).

While eco-tourism remains the focus, the accommodation options are moving increasingly upmarket. Secret Bay, a glorious clifftop retreat that closed when the hurricane struck, reopened in November 2018 with major upgrades. It now comprises six villas built from sustainably sourced tropical hardwood, each of which has a private plunge pool and sea-views from the covered terraces.

The Kempinski group’s Cabrits Resort, a five-star beach hotel surrounded by the tropical forest of Cabrits National Park, opened in October 2019 while the Anichi Resort, part of Marriott’s Autograph collection, is due to open in 2020.

9 Albania

“Montenegro was the star of 2019 but the whole region is on the rise,” says Jonny Bealby of Wild Frontiers, who reports bookings for 2020 up 15 per cent compared with the same point a year ago. “Visitors are drawn to the mountains, canyons and rivers, the sparkling coastline, ancient towns, Greek and Roman ruins, Ottoman citadels and rural hospitality.”

Meanwhile, historical tours are taking growing numbers beyond the Unesco World Heritage site of Butrint to explore the numerous Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman sites throughout the country.

And, on a totally different note, the Kala music festival, a week-long seaside party on the southern coast at Dhërmi, is putting Albania on the map for young travellers, in the same way events such as the Garden, Outlook and Sonus festivals did for Croatia. It is a measure of the Albanian authorities’ enthusiasm for tourism that prime minister Edi Rama attended the first Kala festival in 2018. “People think of it as a place where you get robbed or killed,” Rama told a poolside press conference, The Guardian reported. “But the stigma has helped us. When someone visits and gets out alive, they realise it’s paradise!” The figures appear to back him up: foreign visitor numbers for the first 11 months of 2019 topped 6.1m, up 8.3 per cent on the same period in 2018, and up from 1.9m for the full year of 2009.

Read more >>> Financial Times

Albania Holidays and its overseas partners contribute in earthquake relief

noreply@blogger.com (almag) — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 08:17:00 +0000

On November 26, Albania was rocked by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, killing 51 people, and leaving thousands with homes destroyed and uninhabitable. Homes, schools, hospitals, churches were destroyed or severely damaged.

Albania Holidays apart from donating direct relief funds did also raise awareness among its partners throughout the world. Grand Circle Corporation and Overseas Adventure Travel reacted with lightning speed and through their Grand Circle Foundation made clear their willingness to help.

In less than 48 hours they dispatched to Albania their Director of Corporate Air Travel and Contracting Mr. Josif Goga, who is originally from Albania. In Albania he meet with our team and together we started to plan where we can put the relief funds.

Josif stated” Upon arrival, I realized that the situation was way worse that I could have ever imagined. All these families left with nothing but their clothes on their back and a plastic tent to live in. The amount of misery was indescribable and beyond any stretch of my imagination. Families living in the cold, humid tents, with rain water running underneath their beds, and mud everywhere they stepped on”

So, together we went over several options on how we could help these people. Food and tents were already being provided by the neighboring countries (Italy and Turkey).We decided that the best help we could offer, was providing wood stoves, as the winter had arrived and these families had no heat in their tents, and no means to cook.

The local authorities were very responsive (surprisingly) in providing the names and addresses of families who were affected the most and with no means to provide for their kids.

With the funds put together we purchased 35 wood stoves, including the accessories that come with them, and delivered them ourselves to these people in their tents. The combined feeling of joy and desperation in their eyes was a very touching moment. These people had been already living in the tents for weeks, and these stoves we provided a much-needed ray of hope in these people’s eyes, and through them, it warmed our hearts as well.

In total, we helped 35 families (almost 200 people) keep warm this winter. Gratitude to our partners Grand Circle Corporation and everyone else involved.

21 Reasons You Need To Visit Albania Before It Becomes Super Popular

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:39:00 +0000

Albania continues to attract more and more tourists who are enchanted by its beauty, natural and cultural diversity and richness.

Jemima Skelley - contributor to BuzzFeed portal, has expressed her impressions in an article where she states 21 reasons why one should visit Albania:

"Located in southern Europe, just across the sea from Italy, it's south of Croatia and north of Greece. And guys, it's truly the best place you could ever go on holiday.

Albania is currently in the process of trying to join the EU, and is investing more and more money in tourism. So you better visit before it becomes too trendy and packed with people!

There aren't even words to describe how welcoming Albanians are. Walking into shops will inevitably end in a 10-minute chat with the shopkeeper, and waiters and bartenders will sit with you and talk all night. Every local wants to make sure travelers are having a good time in their country, and will bend over backwards to help you out. " Read the full article here

Great and Small Prespa lake - Immerse yourself in the world's loveliest lakes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 12:46:00 +0000

Joe Minihane from Daily Mail UK mentioned Great and Small Prespa lake in his recent article, as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world that he recommends to visit.

His choice felt on the chosen lakes of the world while making his boat trips - lakes where he felt the calm of the water married with the dramatic background of mountains or beaches.

"Great and Small Prespa lake, with banks in Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece, are among Europe's most tectonic lakes at one million years old, which offer the chance for a truly idyllic, off-the-beaten-path escape. The area of wetlands is a mecca for birdwatchers. Cormorants and herons are easy to spot, as it is the huge Dalmatian pelican.

Visitors to Great Prespa should take a traditional boat, called a place, out on the moody water, with the mountains of the Balkans glowering overhead."

Read full article here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-7440871/Immerse-worlds-loveliest-lakes.html?fbclid=IwAR22Fj-McaZ02D5LyiIZZWsriXcQm1lVBS5nlqXjuuZzJwVcGo-ZrMNhcDM

In Albania, a unique Jewish history museum on the brink

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 12:50:00 +0000

The Times of Israel, in its 4 March 2019 edition presented an important historical fact about Albania as the only Nazi-occupied territory whose Jewish population increased during World War II, thanks to the bravery of ordinary families who harbored hundreds of refugees fleeing persecution during the Holocaust.

A man walks through Hebrew Street in the Albanian city of Berat on February 6, 2019. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP)

The tiny Solomon Museum, which opened in the city of Berat last year is the symbol of this historical remembrance.

BERAT, Albania (AFP) — On a sloped, cobblestone street in southern Albania sits a small shop, empty except for a dozen framed panels on the walls bearing photos and stories from 500 years of Jewish life.

It may be modest but this is Muslim-majority Albania’s only Jewish history museum.

And the story it tells is exceptional: the Balkan state is the only Nazi-occupied territory whose Jewish population increased during World War II, thanks to the bravery of ordinary families who harbored hundreds of refugees fleeing persecution during the Holocaust.

The tiny Solomon Museum, which opened in the city of Berat last year, was a labor of love for local historian Simon Vrusho.

But his death last month at age 75 has put its future at risk, with rent only paid through April.

Until now he had covered the museum’s costs with his pension and small donations from a box by the door.

Simon Vrusho, 75, the founder of the Solomon Jewish history museum in the Albanian city of Berat, speaks with an AFP journalist on February 6, 2019. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP)

“Memories need to have their own home,” Vrusho, a wiry man with warm eyes, told AFP, shortly before he died following a heart attack in February.

He spent years harvesting documents, photos and memories bearing witness to a Jewish community that first arrived in Berat in the 16th century from Spain.

At the center of the collection are the stories of Muslim and Christian Albanians who sheltered Jews in their homes and basements during the Holocaust — a chapter of history that has only recently become more widely known.

When Germans took control of Albania in 1943, local authorities also refused to hand over lists of Jews inside the country.

Thanks to these quiet acts of heroism, the country’s Jewish population surged from several hundred before the war to more than 2,000 afterwards.

And, according to Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, “almost all Jews living within Albanian borders during the German occupation… were saved, except members of a single family,” who were deported and all died except for the father.

Another family was also deported and survived.

Code of honor

When asked to explain this history, Albanians will say it lies in “Besa” — a cultural code of honor to “keep the promise” at any cost.

There is also a rich history of religious tolerance in a country with a tapestry of different faiths, visible in Berat where a church and mosque face each other on the same square.

Inside the museum, Nezir Ago, a 40-year-old artist, points to a faded photo of an elderly man.

“This is my grandfather,” he says, explaining that the Muslim baker took in a Jewish family of three in the early 1940s.

“He did not know them before… or have an obligation to shelter them,” he adds.

Nazir Ago, curator of the Solomon Jewish history museum in the Albanian city of Berat, in the museum on February 6, 2019. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP)

The photo sits alongside several dozen others from the more than 60 families in Berat who rescued Jews, making the city a hub for refugees during the war.

A list of some 600 names of those rescued identifies the European countries they hailed from — many from Balkan cities like Belgrade or Pristina, where Jews were brutally exterminated by Nazi-allied powers.

The Albanian families who took them in were “Christian and Muslim, rich and poor,” says a caption taped to the wall.

They were “deeply, unimaginably humane” people, recalled Vrusho, an Orthodox Christian who spent years interviewing Berat elders for their stories.

Bread, pain and joy

Today, Albania’s Jewish population is nearly nonexistent, with fewer than 100 living mostly in Tirana.

After World War II, Albania fell into the clutches of a communist dictatorship that barred religion.

When the regime collapsed in 1991, many of the remaining Jewish community left for Israel.

Marilena Langu Dojaka, 77, is one of those who stayed.

“We are not yet free of our fears,” she says, of the terror that has stuck with her decades later.

She was born in Albania in 1942 after her mother fled there from then-Czechoslovakia.

They found refuge with a family in the northern town of Mat.

“When the Nazis passed through the village… our host family hid us in the mountains, in a cellar until the danger had passed,” she told AFP, welling with emotion.

Marilena Langu Dojaka, 77, whose mother Hermina Stein came from Czechoslovakia to Albania in 1939, speaks with AFP on February 6, 2019. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP)

lutching a framed photo of relatives her mother left behind, she says softly: “They all died in the camps.”

Dojaka has kept close ties with the Albanian family who protected hers.

“They shared everything with us: bread, pain and joy.”

Recognition

It wasn’t until after the fall of communism that the stories of the role played by Albanians in protecting Jews came to light.

Today some 75 Albanians are recognized as part of the Righteous Among The Nations — those who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The history is a growing source of pride in Albania, where the government holds annual events on Holocaust Remembrance Day and devotes an exhibit to the history in Tirana’s national museum.

But Vrusho’s museum is the only standalone center dedicated to the sweep of Jewish history in that corner of Southeastern Europe.

Since it opened in May 2018, there have been several thousand visitors from around the world.

If he had more means, Vrusho said he would have opened a museum “double the size.”

Now, his widow Angjlina says she is “very worried about the museum’s fate.”

“It took him a lifetime,” she said through tears.

Sourse

6 reasons to vacation in Albania, and the best travel tips!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 11:24:00 +0000

The Khan365 Celebrity New & Headlines portal brings 6 compelling reasons of why visiting Albania. There are good hints on the main tourist attractions not to miss while visiting Albania.

Image: Khan365

1. Tirana – the humming capital

Albania’s capital, is colorful (in the last few decades has painted a lot of paint on the old facades), beautiful Tirana. But that is no reason to spend a few days in the 400’000 people city. Anyone interested in the dubious beauty of fascist buildings and housing estates, here you can find a lot of things. Tirana excited but rather, by his energetic Groove, many students provide the greatest night life in the Region.

Who is already there, should also enjoy the Café culture in the country has a long Tradition. In the city’s many cozy cafes that offer in addition, yet delicious cupcakes.

tip: In Albania were built from the 60s-years, an estimated 200’000 Bunker – dictator Enver Hoxha was afraid of attacks from the West as from the East. In Tirana, the BunkArt Museum that tells the history of the country in the redesigned bunkers was built a few years ago.

2. The Albanian Riviera

Reasons to visit the Eastern European country, there are many – the dream beaches of the Albanian Riviera are one of them. The southern part of the coast is not compromised in vain with more well-known regions in France or Italy. The big difference, though: Albania’s southern coast is still as good as undeveloped. Who grabs a rental car, you can find beaches at the steep coast that bear the name “secret tip” to the right.

Tourist center of the South, the port city of Saranda, which is attended mostly by Albanians for their Beach holidays. Not in the mood for other tourists? Here one shares the beach with the Locals. Saranda is a stone’s throw from the Greek island of Kos – a day trip over to the island, so no Problem.

Very nice also the resort of Ksamil, with its secluded Bay.

3. Butrint: A look into the history of

With its location between Greece and Italy, this small country has seen in the course of its long history, many men – and all have left their traces. A kaleidoscope of the varied history, shows the Peninsula of Butrint in the South of the country, which was declared in 1992 to the Unesco world heritage site. To see there are temples, streets, theatres and churches of the ancient Greeks, the Romans, early Christians and Ottomans. One should not miss the archaeological Museum where you can admire the best archaeological finds of the Peninsula.

4. The Albanian Alps

The mountains in the North of the country is also known as the Albanian Alps. The peaks reach only to just below the 3000 Meter mark, the valleys, the mountains with its green and dense forests is still a piece of jewelry. Fittingly, the Albanian Name translates as “the Enchanted mountains”. Since it is almost a matter of course, that lynx, wolves and bears sneak through the bushes and an eagle to the summit circles. The mountains away from the tourist paths is a Paradise for Hiking and rafting.

5. Gjirokaster – the city of stones

The southern Albanian Gjirokaster is also suitable “town of the stones way”. The houses in the mountain town (20’000 inhabitants) were built from the local grey stone, even the roofs are covered. In the old town, about 600 buildings from the time of the Ottomans (15. to 19. Century) and, therefore, Gjirokaster, 2005, was a Unesco world heritage site. Some of the beautifully decorated houses can be visited, such as the opulent “Zekate House”, which towers over the old town. See also mosques and places of retreat (Tekken) of the Islamic Sufi order.

A special attraction is the Bunker from the time of the Cold war. The 80 rooms were designed for up to 300 people.

6. Berat – 1001 window

A world heritage site! Albania has historically a lot to offer – as the city of Berat, which is also a testimony of the Ottoman rule. The Nickname “city of 1000 Windows” was awarded the 60 000 inhabitants of the municipality by the characteristic houses with their many-to-ceiling Windows. A Must when visiting the castle district and the Muslim Mangal district with its impressive mosques.

Source

El Pais: Five reasons to discover Albania

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 11:05:00 +0000

Albania is a small country with amazing natural and cultural treasures that are worth to discover. El Pais the popular Spanish daily newspaper promotes Albania in the article titled “5 reasons to discover Albania”.

“Albania- candidate to be part of the European Union - is a small country, with the same area as Galicia and almost three million inhabitants, a third of whom reside in the capital, Tirana. Despite its small size, its variety of landscapes is dazzling: mountains in the north, lakes that penetrate neighboring countries, beaches that can compete with those of its neighboring Greece. Lonely Planet has just included Albania in its list of top 10 destinations for 2019 for its good value for money.” writes El Pais.

View of Berat (Albania). R. HELEN GETTY IMAGES

In Tirana mostly, you will see the large influence of Italian architecture at the government buildings. The Italian influence is first on the list to visit Albania.
The second reason is the capital city Tirana for its mixed architecture of ottoman, Italian style, and for the avant-garde projects as the future National Theater, a project by Bjarke Ingels Group. The city is the main gateway to the country thanks to the Mother Teresa airport (which was Albanian).
The citadel of Krujë is also one of the reasons to visit Albania. “To the north of Tirana awaits a landscape of snow-capped mountains, ski slopes and lush forests. And castles up impossible cliffs, as if they were eagle nests (Albania is the country of the eagles, which wave on its flag). Its oriental bazaar leads to a citadel which is a national symbol: from there led the resistance against the Turks in the fifteenth century, the national hero George Castriot Skanderbeg.”
Apollonia was an ancient Greek colony city and former bishopric in Illyria , located on the right bank of the Aous river (modern-day Vjosa). After visit Apollonia you must visit the UNESCO town of Berat.
Llogara and Gjirokastra (The so-called Albanian Riviera looms in the Llogara National Park. A succession of beaches and coves, sea caves, cliffs and traditional villages. Porto Palermo is one of the most typical pictures of this holiday coast and Saranda, further south, is its capital. This area is home to two of the most remarkable archaeological sites in the country: Butrint, imitation of Troy, and Gjirokastra, with its Ottoman alleys and roofs of stone slabs preserved in extreme because it was the homeland of the dictator Enver Hoxha.

Read the original article here

‘Kongres’ magazine: Tirana is a great tourism meeting destination

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 13:06:00 +0000

Tirana has changed a lot and transformation can be seen by anyone. Gone are the days when the capital city of Albania was neglected as tourism meeting destination. “Kongres’ is a magazine for the central and southeast Europe meetings industry. The magazine writes about certain myths about Tirana regarding as a meeting destination. One of them is: “Incentive programmes in Tirana are not developed”. As “Kongres” explains this is not true and they mention Albania Holidays as a great example.

Credits: Visit Tirana

“DMC Agencies in Tirana have developed a number of incentive programmes that can be combined into different lengthy programmes. These vary from culinary adventures to exploring the socialist past and adrenaline experiences. Check agency programmes such as Albania Holidays DMC and others. In addition, Tirana is full of special venues that will leave your partners speechless.”

Albania Holidays DMC ( Destination Management Company) is a professional DMC & PCO which offers creative and logistic support in the organization of conferences, events, incentive and special group programs to Albania since 2005.

Read full article here: https://kongres-magazine.eu/2018/11/tirana-meet-busters/

Lonely Planet recommends Albania among 10 places for affordable adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 13:54:00 +0000

Almost every year Albania is part of Lonely Planet recommendations.

Lonely Planet has published “10 places for affordable adventures”, and Albania is ranked on the 8^th place. The famous travel guide highlights Albania’s beaches, the unique history, archeological sites, food scene etc. In Albania you can have different kind of experiences as Lonely Planet describes: “Albania remains a destination where you can hike amid beautiful mountain scenery, stay in tiny and timeless villages and explore the buzzy capital Tirana for far less than pretty much anywhere else in Europe.

Lonely Planet writes:

“Albania has been Europe’s final frontier for a while. Here’s a pocket of great value hiding in plain sight, with some superb beaches, a unique history and none of the crowds of Montenegro to the north or Greece to the south. The country’s exciting food scene celebrates the fruits of its unique local flavours and offers seriously distinctive dining. Although its archaeological sights, such as Apollonia and Butrint, and its one-of-a-kind blend of Balkan, Mediterranean and Italian influences are no secrets, Albania remains a destination where you can hike amid beautiful mountain scenery, stay in tiny and timeless villages and explore the buzzy capital Tirana for far less than pretty much anywhere else in Europe.”

See full article: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/best-in-travel/value?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=best+in+travel#8

The Independent: Five foodie experience on the Albanian Riviera

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 12:48:00 +0000

Albania is getting noticed in European tourism map not only for the beautiful nature and hospitality but also for the delicious cuisine. Read about the culinary experience of Theresa Harold (journalist of “The Independent”) as she reveals the amazing food you can taste in Albania.

Eat freshly caught mussels from Lake Butrint (Theresa Harold)

The article published this week highlights Albania’s coastline, the history and tradition.

“The visitors arrive here to find ancient castles, clifftop monasteries and sandy beaches. There are still seaside canyons, Mediterranean villages and olive groves. The Albanian food is cheap, fresh and locally sourced; the cuisine here is simple and reflects both the Mediterranean location and the austere years of communism. You won’t find fancy ingredients or haute cuisine cooking techniques. Pizza is plentiful, thanks to the influx of Italian tourists, and they do gyros, tzatziki and Greek salad everywhere. The chefs use olive oil the way the French use butter, and every meal comes with a basket of bread to soak it up. Don’t be afraid to carb-load though: you’ll need it for all the raki you’ll be drinking.

Homemade petulla (Theresa Harold)

Here are five essential foodie experiences on the Albanian Riviera.

1. Drink shots for breakfast

2. Go on a mussel tour

3. Visit a winery

4. Eat freshly fried petulla

5. Always order the seafood platter

Read full article here: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/albania-europe-wine-holidays-beach-italy-corfu-a8563311.html

Albania Holidays brings luxury cruise with USA investors in Saranda

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 10:10:00 +0000

Albania Holidays, one of the most reputable incoming tour operators in Albania has brought 200 members of Chief Executives Organisation (CEO) in Saranda. Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama visited their cruise and meet with owners of big companies in USA. They travelled with ‘Le Lyrial’ one of the most luxurious cruise in Europe to the shores of Saranda, south coastal city of Albania

The aim of the meeting with PM Rama was to explore and discuss investment opportunities in Albania from USA investors.

After the meeting CEO members visited Saranda and Butrint –UNESCO site.

Albania Holidays, a leading Destination Management Company in Albania organizes tours, events, team building activities for corporates as well as shore excursions and other incentives.

The 'living' legend of Osman Taka and his dance

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 13:39:00 +0000

Have you seen or heard about the dance of Osman Taka? Well the dance is so popular until noways while the protagonist Osman Taka and his story become a legend now, passing to all generations.
Osman Taka was a real person, lived in Konispol in the border between Albania and Greece and belong to "çam community" and he was a warrior fighting ottomans in the years 1848-1887. Osman Taka was arrested during that time and sent to be executed in front of Vali of Ioannina. Before he being executed, he was asked to say his final wish. And Osman Taka's final wish was to dance.

He was with some other companions and asked them to dance together. It was a short dance, but so intense and touching, full of pride and melancholy, of power and grace, which left everyone speechless. It was the wife of Vali who first broke the silence, and protested that such a good dancer should not be hanged. So finally the governor, who, like the others, had admired in his heart that dance never seen before, publicly declared that the young man deserved to live, so that he could continue to dance, in that way, with those steps, in that inimitable way. Then, availing himself of his powers, he canceled the sentence, and sent Osman Taka alive, with his companions, to Konispol.

This dance is still so popular, and last almost 3 minutes..
During this dance the protagonist, supported by a hand by one of his companions, kneels and it slowly folds backwards, until it touches the ground with the nape of the neck, thus arching the chest upwards. On that chest, then, another dancer rests his foot, and rises above it with all his weight. But here, just when the dance seems over, another companions do the same. It is an amazing dance, a fantastic intangible heritage for Albanians.

See the original article for Osman Taka here
See the famous dance below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=29&v=Mzu_cmXTfNc

The Sun: Swap Corfu for Dhermi in Albania

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 13:31:00 +0000

Albanian Riviera has attracted quite a lot the attention of world-known medias and travel magazines. This time, the coastal town of Dhermi beats the Greek Corfu island.

The prestigious British media “The Sun” recommends to its readers the budget destinations in Europe, among them is Dhermi Albania.

Photo: Getty Images

Dhermi over Corfu

Corfu is a classic destination for Brits to head to, but it has a much more affordable neighbor.

The Albanian Ionian coast is just across from that of the Greek island of Corfu and you can glimpse Albania from the shore in Corfu – and its beaches are just as idyllic.

But if you want to mix things up then why not visit Albania?

A plus point is that it’s far cheaper than that of its much-loved but tourist-packed neighbour.

With a pint costing as little as 58p in Albania as opposed to £1.80 in Corfu, it’s a no-brainer.

Read full article here!

The unexplored waters of Albania are filled with artifacts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 08:41:00 +0000

The undersea treasures of Albania were the focus of an article of the famous British media on line www.thetimes.co.uk

The journalists were here on a mission to explore the underwater treasures in order and to raise awareness to save one of Europe’s last secret underwater treasure troves before it is plundered.
The underwater world here combines Albania’s recent isolationist past with its ancient history..

“It’s incredible what’s down there,” said Mateusz Polakowski, 29, an underwater archaeologist at Southampton University. “We don’t even know about a tiny fraction of it.” He is part of a team of archaeologists and technicians working feverishly to map out Albania’s underwater riches unexplored for decades because the country was ruled for four decades by the dictator Enver Hoxha.

Enver Hoxha, whose communist forces seized power in 1945, ran Albania as a hermit kingdom, the most repressive and ideologically driven regime in Europe. It was the North Korea of its day. Its coastline is less than two miles from the beaches of Corfu, but it might as well have been on the moon.

Thanks to the diving ban, however, the waters off its coast are an archaeological time capsule, unrivaled across the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.

Underwater heritage experts hope Albania will avoid the fate of Greece and Italy, whose historical richness have been pillaged by treasure-hunting divers. Further north in the Adriatic, in the seas off the former Yugoslavia, armies of looters have used scuba apparatus to plunder artefacts from beneath the waves.

In the Bay of Vlore, on Albania’s southern coast, where the Hercules was last week searching for shipwrecks, the waters ran red when Caesar clashed with Pompey’s forces during the Great Roman Civil War of the 1st century BC.

When the Ottoman Empire was threatening Italy during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, its fleet gathered in the bay. Jews expelled from Spain during the late Middle Ages escaped to Vlore via Italy. All have left their imprints on the sea bed.

“We’re trying to find this little guy,” said Polakowski. Leaning back in his chair, he pointed at a map of the sea floor, marked with a green line showing the location of a wreck from about the 1st century BC. “We can identify the age by the type of amphora it carries. This one would have been carrying things like olive oil or wine.”

This search of Albania’s waters has been going on unheralded for the past decade.

A day’s sail away from this shipwreck lies Butrint, which, according to the Roman poet Virgil, was founded by refugees from ancient Troy, who escaped the sacking of their city more than 3,000 years ago.

In the modern era, the Albanian coast was an important supply line during both world wars.

“It’s like looking under the ocean with a flashlight,” said Polakowski. “It’s so vast. We’ve still only surveyed less than 1% of the area. You can swim a site 10 times and you can still be 10 metres off a shipwreck and miss it.”

Scuba diving is technically still not permitted, but three years ago the Albanian Council of Ministers allowed recreational diving in defined areas along the coast.

Now treasure-hunters from Italy and Austria have been seen in Albanian waters, as well as enterprising locals equipped with scuba equipment and a desire to make fast cash.

Kala Festival-hundreds of young people gathered in Albanian Riviera

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 10:19:00 +0000

Kala Festival, an international music festival was organized in Albania for the first time from 20-27 June 2018.

Kala was set at a seaside location in the Albanian Riviera where the Adriatic meets the Ionian Sea. The 7-day summer festival was a full success. Albania Holidays, one of the best incoming tour operator in Albania was the local partner of this big event.

Photo: Kala Festival

Dhermi was packed with young people from Europe and region to celebrate this summer festival.

A British tourist was noted saying:"I came to Albania for the festival, but the expectations went beyond. Albanian Riviera is stunning, the food is amazing and the friendly people always dressed with a smile. One of the organizer at Albania Holidays office said: "It was so difficult to accommodate 1500 people in small places like Dhermi, where there are only small hotels and guest houses, and we had to deal with all of them. But, I am happy we did it at the end and the festival turned into great event, the only of its kind in Albania"

Photo: Kala Festival

Kala, debuted this year on the Albanian coast, and the festival lasted seven days of dancing by a gorgeous beach and a lineup featuring exactly the kinds of music you’d want to hear in the sunshine: from deep house DJ Jayda G to legendary reggae crew Trojan Sound System, not to mention the man behind one of the greatest summer anthems of all time, Roy Ayers “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” .

Photo: Kala Festival

Following such a huge success, a Kala 2 is planned for the next year. Stay tuned with Albania Holidays.

Photo: Kala Festival

Albania Holidays awarded with Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 May 2018 09:14:00 +0000

Albania Holidays announces with great pleasure that it has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2018, reflecting the great reviews that we have consistently earned on TripAdvisor. This is a recognition from Trip Advisor, the world's largest travel site. We are very happy to receive it and will continue working toward making the most for every visitor or group of tourists that choose Albania Holidays.

Albania Holidays- Certificate of Excellence 201

Only the top-performing 10 per cent of businesses listed on TripAdvisor receive this prestigious award. To qualify for a Certificate of Excellence, businesses must maintain an overall rating of four or higher, out of a possible five, as reviewed by travelers on TripAdvisor, and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months. Additional criteria include the volume of reviews received within the last 12 months.

The Certificate of Excellence award provides top performing establishments around the world the recognition they deserve, based on feedback from those who matter most – their customers.

More info about Albania Holidays:

Albania Holidays a leading Destination Management Company invites you to be part of a unique experience, discovering an unknown but fascinating country. Albania has much to offer: a sunny Mediterranean climate, delicious food, kind and welcoming people, a laid back attitude, a rich history, an old culture, unique traditions, beautiful landscapes with mountains, rivers and a magnificent coastline. Visitors to the country describe Albanians as warm and inquisitive, happy to see foreigners.

Albania Holidays can assist you to discover the country in the most authentic way by offering tailor made solutions for groups & FIT-s, with a focus on the local elements: history, culture, traditions and way of life. We provide professional arrangements for: tours, events, venue selection, team building activities, shore excursions for cruises and more.

Albania Holidays DMC

Albania Holidays DMC is awarded as Albania's Leading Destination Management Company for 2023

10 ristoranti da non perdere in Albania, il nuovo Salento

Gli indirizzi dei migliori ristoranti dell'Albania

Padam

Tirana

Lo chef Fundim Gjepali, a capo anche dell’Antico Arco di Roma, ha ideato un menù gustoso e raffinato con piatti che sembrano delle piccole opere d’arte. Tra tutti, da provare l’uovo con tartufo, salsa di yogurt e broccoli, e il gelato artigianale con biscotto pressato.

Tirana

Tirana

Fustanella Farm

Tirana

Mrizi i Zanave

Fishtë (Lezhë)

Tradita e Beratit

Berat

Alpeta Agroturizëm & Winery

Roshnik

Villa Përmet

Përmet

Taverna Vasili

Korçë

Vlorë

Transformation through tourism

Stunning landscapes

Cette destination européenne proche de Bruxelles vous donnera l’impression d’être aux Maldives

BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2022 in Albania co-organized by Albania Holidays DMC

Albania is the last secret of Europe

Berat city, among 10 spiritual places on Earth with the strongest energy field

Where to go in 2020: an insiders’ guide - Albania is in the list!

Albania Holidays and its overseas partners contribute in earthquake relief

21 Reasons You Need To Visit Albania Before It Becomes Super Popular

Great and Small Prespa lake - Immerse yourself in the world's loveliest lakes

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6 reasons to vacation in Albania, and the best travel tips!

1. Tirana – the humming capital

2. The Albanian Riviera

3. Butrint: A look into the history of

4. The Albanian Alps

5. Gjirokaster – the city of stones

6. Berat – 1001 window

You may also like :

El Pais: Five reasons to discover Albania

‘Kongres’ magazine: Tirana is a great tourism meeting destination

Lonely Planet recommends Albania among 10 places for affordable adventures

The Independent: Five foodie experience on the Albanian Riviera

Eat freshly caught mussels from Lake Butrint (Theresa Harold)

Albania Holidays brings luxury cruise with USA investors in Saranda

The 'living' legend of Osman Taka and his dance

The Sun: Swap Corfu for Dhermi in Albania

The unexplored waters of Albania are filled with artifacts

Kala Festival-hundreds of young people gathered in Albanian Riviera

Albania Holidays awarded with Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor