Green Adventures Into Albania

12/02/2026

🎥 Tourism in Albania through international eyes | Episode 4

When people leave, they don’t just take their bags.
They take culture, memory, and meaning with them.

Tourism is often presented as opportunity — but without people, there is no one left to host, guide, cook, or pass on what makes a place truly authentic.

In this episode, Alice Taylor reflects on depopulation in Albania’s villages and asks a fundamental question:
Who sustains tourism when the communities themselves are disappearing?

🎙️ Credits: Alice Taylor

03/02/2026

🎥 Tourism in Albania through international eyes | Episode 3

Tourism trends come and go.
Reputation lasts.

🎬 In this episode, Alice Taylor explains why Albania’s future lies in sustainable tourism — tourism that values culture, people, and authenticity over fast returns and short-term profit.

Sustainable tourism, she argues, is not a buzzword but a necessity: one that attracts visitors who value Albania for what it truly is — its people, culture, landscapes, and way of life.

Not all tourists are the same.
And not all tourism brings long-term value.

▶️ Stay tuned for the next part.
🎙️ Credits: Alice Taylor

27/01/2026

🎥 Tourism in Albania through international eyes | Episode 2

🎬 In this episode, journalist Alice Taylor reflects on what visitors often say after they leave Albania.

From online comments and social media discussions to conversations with colleagues who visited the country, a recurring concern emerges: over construction and uncontrolled development, especially along the coast.

While Albania is still seen as beautiful, welcoming, and unique, there is growing worry that rapid development, pressure on infrastructure, and environmental damage may be eroding the very qualities that draw people here in the first place.

▶️ Stay tuned for the next part.
🎙️ Credits: Alice Taylor

26/01/2026

🎥 Tourism in Albania through international eyes – Part 1

We’re sharing a short video series featuring journalist Alice Taylor, where she reflects on tourism in Albania, its challenges, its potential, and the importance of sustainable development.
The original interview lasted over 9 minutes, so we’ve divided it into 6 short episodes, each focusing on a key topic.

🎬 In this first episode, journalist and documentary filmmaker Alice Taylor introduces her personal relationship with Albania — from years of travelling across its countryside, mountains, villages, and remote communities, to observing how the country has changed over time.

After living in Albania for eight years, she reflects not only on progress, but also on the growing concerns around tourism: expectations, pressure, and the risk of moving faster than the country is ready for.

A thoughtful opening to a series that invites us to pause, listen, and reflect.

▶️ Follow along for the next episodes.
🎙️ Credits: Alice Taylor

31/12/2025

Lehtësi, hirësi dhe lirësi.
Për t’u spostuar, për të zgjedhur, për të mos qënë ata që kemi qënë deri tani dhe për t’u bërë ata që akoma s’jemi.
Keshtu “jeta e lëngshme”.

Kuti të mbushura me xhirime, me montime, me kaseta, me muzikë dhe arkiva.
Një shpërngulje kujtimesh, suksesesh, gjërash të harruara … si vilat e dikurshme, gjuha shqipe, rrugët, rrugët me peme, pyjet e paprerë, liqenet e pandotura, identiteti i dikurshëm …

Sepse në Janar do fillojë një program i ri, një ekspozitë e re, një pallat i ri, nje vit i ri.

Dhe ne do vazhdojmë tē egzistojmë, të ecim nëpēr rrugë pa pemë, të shëtisim afer liqeneve të ndotura, te flasim me zhargone te huaja, të imitojme.

Qingja dhe keca. Salcra dhe meze. Verëra dhe raki. Kështu viti që po ikën. Pak pushim dhe menjëherë në një tjetër zdërhallje ideshë.

Konkluzioni: kështu është viti që nuk ndryshon.

03/12/2025

From the mountains to the valleys, every Albanian story grows from its roots.

Deep Albanian roots have shaped our products for generations, blending nature, heritage, and human passion into every flavor.
But today, growth moves beyond tradition. It thrives through innovation, care, and new opportunities.

Because what comes from our land is more than a product.
It’s our identity.
It’s TYPIC-AL!

TYPIC-AL is funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) 🇮🇹, and implemented by CIHEAM Bari in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Albania 🇦🇱.

05/11/2025

06/05/2025

The Shëngjergji Festival, a traditional Albanian holiday, symbolizes the arrival of spring and the revival of nature.
The girls and women dress in colorful costumes of Shishtavec, gather flowers to decorate their doorsteps, expressing joy and welcoming the new season.
This ancient rite is not just a celebration, but a deep connection between man and nature, preserving and passing on cultural values ​​from generation to generation.

05 .May .2025


Source:
Shishtavec
Shishtaveci (Group)
Fshati Shishtavec

25/04/2025

Maligrad Island is one of the most valuable monuments of cultural heritage and a pearl in the middle of Lake Prespa.
It is located in Lake Prespa only 20 minutes by boat from the village of Pustec. Also known as the “Island of Snakes”, it has an area of ​​approximately 5 ha and is a small tectonic karst island, positioned 900 meters above sea level.

"Qyteti i Vogel" or Maligrad, or in ancient time Diomedes Island, has been populated since the Neolithic times, 7,000 BC.
The island represents a rich historical and archaeological area: a Neolithic settlement from around 7,000 BC, named Liqenas close to the village of Kallamas has been discovered, as well as an submerged settlement called Old Village near Kallamas which dates back from the bronze period; a roman road from the 2nd century BC that connected the Gorica e Vogel village with the area called Nabeli, and the Wall of Alexander III of Macedonia at the mountain passage Qafe Thane.
Not far from there, famous cave churches from the byzantine and the post-byzantine period are to be found, built in the period between the 12th and the 15th century, located on the shores of Prespa Lake.

To get to the “mystical” island of Maligrad, a rocky ridge that defies with its harshness of appearance, boats are needed. Every house in the village has its own boat, and fishermen here are found in large numbers fishing or weaving fishing nets.

When you see the island of Maligrad in the distance and try to approach it, you feel like you are approaching an enigma or a legend. The inhabitants talk about a "monster" that has been seen in the waters of this lake, that appeared and disappeared on moonlit nights, that so-and-so had seen it, that the BBC wrote and broadcast a report about this event... and full of other legends, but which have one truth, that Prespa continues to live on the ruins of a very early Pelasgian-Illyrian civilization.

22/04/2025

"When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet."
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

24/03/2025

The remains of the ancient city of Triport are, for the most part, submerged in the waters near the modern port city of Vlorë. It was first discovered by archaeologists in the 1920s who documented Greek and/or Roman stone structures, including the beginnings of a large wall and a road. Surveys in the 1970s and 80s discovered an ancient fortress and its defensive walls. It was inhabited from the 6th c. B.C. to the 2nd A.D.

The structures were initially thought to be part of the supportive infrastructure of the port. Later investigations found that the large walls originally encircled the lower city. When sea levels rose, the port and lower city were submerged. Archaeologists have mapped about 12 acres of the site over the past century. This season divers found an additional eight acres of ancient structures under water.

The results suggest Triport was a harbour for a large settlement during the Roman period, perhaps associated with the ancient city of Aulon (now Vlora). Triport offered ships safe anchorage in both the sea and Narta Lagoon and connected to ancient cities like Aulon and Apollonia through major Roman roads.

Peter Campbell comments: “We found indicators of ancient sea level change, Greek and Roman trade (4th BC – 7th AD), and contemporary environmental data. But one of the most significant discoveries was the larger submerged remains – prompting us to rethink the importance of Triport as a Roman harbour.
“Albania has some of the most important waters in the Mediterranean. This coastline was vital for ancient trade, and it continues to be significant as the convergence zone for species from the Adriatic and Ionian seas.”

13/03/2025

Although pastoral and hunting cuisine are the foundations of Albanian cuisine, and not "japrak" or "fli" which come from Turkish cuisine, this article has captured a generation that gives a nostalgic nuance to Albanian gastronomy.

However, if someone has to refer to Albanian cuisine, should seriously consider the cuisine of Laberia, Cameria and the Araberesh regions of Southern Italy.

Albanian grannies are teaching multiple generations how to cook age-old dishes: https://bbc.in/43B4EvG