BunkArt

[caption id="attachment_2517" align="alignnone" width="660"] Russian Car[/caption]

Bunk'Art is a bunker turned into an art gallery & museum. It is located in the foots of Dajti Mountain, under a hill and inside a military zone (as expected). It was built by the communism regime during the cold war era, when we truly believed that America or any other powerful nation wanted to assault us with nuclear weapons to destroy our happiness...

To reach it is fairly easy. If you're going by public transport, go to Scanderbeg Square and ask for Tufina's bus. When on the bus, ask the ticket guy to warn you when close to Bunk'Art. I guess the bus station will be on the main road while the military base is at the end of a secondary road. There are signs though, hard to miss if you're not driving.

If by car, just ask around for the Dibra Street. It is fairly famous because the main hospital and the military school are on it. After the military school, the Dibra's Street divides into Aleksander Moisiu and Teki Selnica. The first one takes you to the Albanian Film Archive, that's another institution I'll cover in one of my future posts. Just take Teki Selnica, the one on your left and drive some 500 meters and keep an eye for signs to Bunkart.

Or just let me know beforehand and I'll drive you there if I'm free. :)

At the entrance of the military base you will have to show an ID. For the moment the entrance is free of charge. Check at their website beforehand if situation has changed. However, even with a fee, it won't be more than 3-4 EUR I suppose.

Beware, the entrance of the bunker is far from the entrance of the military base, some 800 meters.

[caption id="attachment_2516" align="alignnone" width="660"] ZIM-12 Russian Car[/caption]

This is a Zim 12 Russian car donated by Stalin to Enver Hoxha. Less than 22,000 were produced all in all and only 10 made it to Albania. This one is the only one remaining. The curators of the BunkArt are even having fun with it since they have put a traffic fine at the front window citing a broken light and parking on the sidewalk :D

[caption id="attachment_2514" align="alignnone" width="660"] Moto Guzzi[/caption]

This one's description was not too clear. It says that those bikes were used by the Italian Army during the 60s and then some were donated to the Albanian Army in 2002. I know Moto Guzzi is a great brand but hey, 40 years old bike belongs to collectors, not to an army. I bet Italians pushed the contract for their maintenance as well.

[caption id="attachment_2515" align="alignnone" width="660"] Entrance[/caption]

This is the entrance to the bunker. There are like 4-5 doors one after the other and the first ones are concrete and very thick. I guess the bunker was made to withstand a nuclear explosion in its front yard too...

Goodnight

[caption id="attachment_2511" align="alignnone" width="660"] Goodnight[/caption]

Cold Mornings

[caption id="attachment_2508" align="alignnone" width="660"] Cold Mornings[/caption]

Mineshaft

[caption id="attachment_2505" align="alignnone" width="660"] Mineshaft[/caption]

This is part of the "Politically Persecuted Victims of Communism" memorial in Tirana. There is also a bunker and a piece from the Berlin Wall.

Budget Casting Couch

[caption id="attachment_2502" align="alignnone" width="950"] Budget Casting Couch[/caption]

Olive Tree

[caption id="attachment_2494" align="alignnone" width="660"] Olive Tree[/caption]

I don't know what to name this

Lana II

Reminds me the famous photo, Rhein II, hence the title. By the way, Lana is the small river that crosses Tirana.

Race To The Top

[caption id="attachment_2484" align="alignnone" width="660"] Race To The Top[/caption]

Left or Right, it doesn't matter. There is no choice.

After leaving the fortress, we took the road to the seaside to see where the asphalt ended. We passed by a couple of snail farms and a nice restaurant which surprisingly didn't have snail based dishes. If you have a snail farm in front of you, is it difficult to put it in the menu? At least you'll be the first buying hand and the price will be too damn cheap! Anyways, as you can see, the road ended here and the sea was exactly 1 km straight ahead but we didn't went through. We took some photos and turned back home. Bought a sack of apples and potatoes at the guy I mentioned in my previous post. The apples were delicious but half of the potatoes were bad. Them crooks fill the sacks with half bad and half good potatoes, hence the cheap price. My mother had to throw half sack away.

During summer the road is enjoyable and the coast is very long, some 8-10 km with sandy beach. Beware though, there is no infrastructure like shops or restaurants. During high seasons there are canteens (food trucks) and even woody buildings that serve as restaurants but bring food and water with you, just to be safe.

Fortress of Bashtove - The Inside

The fortress is in the middle of a field. It is not guarded, it doesn't have information tables around or inside. Looks like it fell from the sky.



Only the walls remain. It is completely stripped from everything else.



You can play football inside, you can have a pick-nick or whatever. It is very flat and wind-proof :)



It looks like a small passage but it's a window actually. The other side is blocked by vegetation.



Two of the towers are still standing. The other two have disappeared. There are stairs to climb on the wall and walk around.



A tower-less angle.

My car, Polo Variant :) Plenty of space for luggage. I might start my own tour guiding business/service.

This photo and the next one are taken from the same position. This is the road leading to the castle. The asphalt ends at the tower.

 

Another tower-less angle.

Walking on the walls and looking around to find a reason why was this fortress built. There are hills only some hundred meters away. I guess this was not an actual fortress overseeing the area or something similar. It must have been some sort of a storage for goods like animals, what or corn. The river is close by and the sea is only a couple hundred meters further. Maybe people stopped here to wait for ships or whatever. In the mean time they must have stayed here to avoid pirates or thieves...

Fortress of Bashtove

[caption id="attachment_2459" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Fortress of Bashtove[/caption]

I've seen photos of this fortress on a great Air Photography Album by Alket Islami, the first Albanian para-glider. I got my hands on the album but didn't catch the name of the fortress at that time. At first I thought it was a fortress close to Butrint but things didn't match. This one is in the middle of a field while the other one is in some sort of swamp. After a couple of years I saw other pictures of a friend of mine, biking there. It meant the fortress was accessible by car and not far from Tirana. I got the name, checked Google maps and planned for Sunday morning.

[caption id="attachment_2460" align="alignnone" width="660"] Fortress of Bashtove[/caption]

Getting there is fairly easy and the road is asphalted. If you're driving from Tirana, take the SH2 to Durres and then take the SH4 to Fier. Careful, after crossing Kavaje keep your eyes for Gose village. At the moment, it is found at the point where the new highway crosses the old highway, there is some sort of overpass and also a guy selling potatoes and apples in large quantities. If you see the guy or the overpass, turn right at an almost invisible roundabout and just follow the asphalted road. After some 15 minutes you will see the castle on your left. If directions unclear, give me a call beforehand and I'll be glad to accompany you there if not busy with other things.

[caption id="attachment_2461" align="alignnone" width="660"] Fortress of Bashtove[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2462" align="alignnone" width="660"] Fortress of Bashtove[/caption]

Fog

Storm

[caption id="attachment_2451" align="alignnone" width="660"] Storm[/caption]

Red

[caption id="attachment_2448" align="alignnone" width="660"] Red[/caption]

Seagulls

Funfact: Seagulls in Albanian are called White Chickens.

Sparrow

[caption id="attachment_2435" align="alignnone" width="660"] Sparrow[/caption]

Reeds

[caption id="attachment_2432" align="alignnone" width="660"] Reeds[/caption]

Son watching mom during second pregnancy

Perhaps not the best way to announce to everybody that we're expecting a baby...

Dervican, Gjirokaster, Albania

[caption id="attachment_2423" align="alignnone" width="660"] Dervican[/caption]

Early Morning

[caption id="attachment_2420" align="alignnone" width="660"] Early Morning[/caption]

Dhembel Mountain

[caption id="attachment_2417" align="alignnone" width="660"] Dhembel Mountain[/caption]