{"id":346,"date":"2024-07-26T14:26:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T12:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travels.043test.nl\/?page_id=346"},"modified":"2024-11-13T13:36:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T12:36:47","slug":"about-albania","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/over-albanie\/","title":{"rendered":"About Albania"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About Albania<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Albania<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Albania<\/strong>\u00a0is a country located on the Mediterranean Sea, sandwiched between Montenegro to the north, Greece to the south, Kosovo and Macedonia to the east, and has a narrow coastal strip of up to 60 km wide to the west. During decades of communist rule, Albania was isolated from the outside world, but in the past decade it has emerged as one of Europe's most captivating travel destinations. The country offers amazing mountain landscapes, historically and culturally rich cities, and extremely friendly locals who take pride in their 'Shqiperia<\/strong>' (the land of the eagle).<\/p>

Since the 1990s,\u00a0Albania<\/strong>\u00a0not only introduced a democratic political system, but also experienced steady economic growth. However, there is still work to be done, as infrastructure is often inadequate and causes long journey times. Nevertheless, the beauty of the cities to visit and the unspoilt nature more than compensates for this inconvenience.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Useful facts<\/span><\/span><\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n Language <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

Albanian is an Indo-European language that is unique in its branch. For Western Europeans, Albanian can be challenging. Fortunately, younger generations often speak decent English, but older people, especially on the coast, prefer Italian to other languages. German is less widely spoken.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Travel documents <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

Visas are no longer required for Western Europeans. A valid passport or national identity card with at least 3 months validity is sufficient.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Money matters <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

Albania's official currency is the Lek. The exchange rate varies, at this website <\/a> you can check the current exchange rate. ATMs are widespread throughout the country and often offer a choice between Euros and Lek. Outside major cities, finding ATMs can be more challenging. It is useful to have both Euros and Leks to hand. Credit cards such as Eurocard\/Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Diners are accepted in major cities.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Prices <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

Price levels in Albania are considerably lower than in the Netherlands and Belgium. Although luxuries can be pricey, an average holiday is relatively cheap in terms of daily expenses. You can eat delicious food for around \u20ac8.00 to \u20ac12.00, including a drink. Outside the capital, prices are generally much lower.\n\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Health <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

No special health precautions are required to visit Albania. Be careful when drinking tap water, and bringing a European Medical Passport can be useful for people taking medication.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Food and drink <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

Albanian cuisine offers Mediterranean dishes such as tave kosi (meat with yoghurt), paidhaq (lamb), and Qoft\u00eb (grilled meat). Fish is also delicious, as are Greek-style salads. Bakllava is a well-known dessert. The cuisine is varied, and produce is organically grown and fresh. There are several high-quality Albanian red wines, especially from the regions around Berat, Permet and Kalmet. The national drink is Raki, a type of brandy.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Religion <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

About 70% of the population is Muslim, 20% is Orthodox (mostly in the south) and 10% is Catholic (in the north and mountains). The ban on religion introduced in the 1960s led to a general indifference towards religion. Different religions coexist peacefully, as few actively practise their faith.\n\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Traffic and transport <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

Owning private cars was virtually unknown until the early 1990s, but now every Albanian seems to own a car, preferably a Mercedes because of its good shock absorbers. This has made Tirana a busy city during the day, so be careful when crossing. Domestic infrastructure can be variable in quality, with poor roads at times, but improvements are underway, including the construction of highways. Public transport is mainly provided by autobuses (cheap) and minibuses (slightly more expensive) with excellent inter-city connections. Taxi service is affordable both in cities and beyond.\n\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n Other <\/h4>\n \t\t \t

There is no time difference between the Netherlands and Albania. Albania is generally safe to visit and travel through, but like anywhere else, you should watch your belongings carefully. Some good travel guides for Albania include \"Travellers Albania\" by Thomas Cook (2009), \"Albania\" by Hans van de Veen (KIT, 2008), \"Albania and the Albanians\" by Edith Durham (2001), and \"The Dark Year\" by Ismael Kadare (2002). For more information, you can also visit Tripadvisor for holidays in Albania.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About Albania Albania Albania is a country located on the Mediterranean Sea, sandwiched between Montenegro to the north, Greece to the south, Kosovo and Macedonia to the east, and has a narrow coastal strip of up to 60 km wide to the west. During decades of communist rule, Albania was isolated from the outside world, but the...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-346","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":57,"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":761,"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346\/revisions\/761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/authenticalbaniatravels.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}