When we flew to Albania from London our first impressions of Tirana were not favourable – rain falling, a gloomy airport and pot-holed roads. The sunshine next morning gave a better picture since Tirana is in a hollow surrounded by mountains (we went up a ski-lift later on) some of them snowcapped. We then went to explore the centre of the city. The most unusual monument is a pyramid erected as a museum to the late dictator Enver Hoxha but which is now converted into a conference centre and disco. The local youths have discovered that the inclination is just right for sliding down!

In general Tirana is a very busy city with a lot of vehicles. The main boulevards are impressive but elsewhere road works were ongoing, they had just tarmaced in front of a church in memory of Mother Teresa, but you had to be careful in walking on the pavements that you didn’t disappear down a manhole! Everywhere more flats seemed to be going up, many of them brightly painted, but there were gardens with grapes being trained over them in the more traditional red tiled houses. We stayed in a missionary’s vacant apartment and as we walked to Jane’s we passed the ABC Clinic, shops selling fresh bread, fruit and groceries and cafes with men drinking coffee and talking. There was an abundance of fruit (especially olives), vegetables, cheeses, fish and meat in the market. Jane chatted fluently in Albanian introducing us to many people who were all very friendly. In particular we were impressed by her talking to a gypsy woman, a patient, begging in the main square. She had a toddler with her, also had a baby and was expecting another.

Jane took us twice to the ABC Clinic which seemed well fitted out and capable of doing minor operations. We had a great welcome and chat with the staff and it was good to put faces to names. We also met the two Albanian doctors Jane has been helping with intern training.

On a Saturday morning, while Don visited the museum, Jane and Pat went to an Easter Rally for all Evangelical Christians in Albania, which takes place every four years. It was wonderful to go into a packed sports stadium full of Christians praising God. There were choirs, a band and drama as well as a message, all in Albanian. The next day was Easter Sunday and we went with Jane by bus to a small Church called Light of the World, where Jane helps the McBain’s who pastor it. We enjoyed the service and afterwards most of us had a picnic by the lake in the Grand Park. People in Albania may consider themselves either Muslim, Orthodox or Catholic but their faith is often nominal.

Well you can’t judge a country just by its capital, so Jane took us by minibus to Kruja about 50 miles to the north. This is a mountainous area where the national hero, Skanderbeg, had his castle and organized resistance against the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century. Our other expedition was to Saranda a seaside resort in the south of Albania, since Jane wanted a few days break in Corfu. From the minibus on which we traveled we had a good view of the countryside, the impression being of rocky mountains with flat fertile plains in between. Some cultivation was done by tractors but we also saw ploughs pulled by animals. Some areas were grazed by sheep with a shepherd watching, being Spring the wild flowers were outstanding.

Our enjoyable four days in Corfu coincided with the Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations, which seemed a bit like a combination of our Christmas feasting and the New Year. In Corfu Town they have processions involving ikons and a saint’s body. From our hotel balcony we viewed an open-air candlelit service in the local village with fireworks at midnight starting Easter Day. We realized how little we knew about another part of Christendom. Compared to Corfu, Albania has still some way to develop but the people are friendly and hard-working so it may become popular with tourists fairly soon.

Don and Pat McNutt

Don and Pat McNutt’s daughter Jane is working as a doctor at a Christian medical clinic in the Albania’s capital city of Tirana. Don and Pat filed this report of a recent trip to visit Jane.

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