Life in Tirana

Albania's Biggest Communist Era Nuclear Bunker

OR..... Put Another Way

A Tour of the 106 Room, 5 Story "Palace"

By now, those of you reading my blogs on Albania are aware of the dictator, Enver Hoxha, who oppressively ruled this country for 45 years. Hoxha died in 1985 and the Communist regime collapsed in 1991.

In 1945 Enver made friends with Khrushchev. There was a parting of the ways as Hoxha felt that Russia was not adhering to the Marxist-Leninist doctrine! He then cozied up with China but that relationship soured in the 1970s when Nixon visited China.

Hoxha, feeling vulnerable to the rest of the world, felt certain imperialist countries would (but never did) invade his little country.

He built 700,000 small bunkers for citizens to use if they needed to defend their country.

He built 100 underground tunnels to house his tanks, submarines and aircraft.

Between 1972 and 1978 he built a 106 room nuclear "bunker" set in a mountain. This 28,900 square foot palace had room for the political and military elite to live in style, complete with a cinema!

The current government of Albania just opened up this "palace" to visitors and called it

"BunkArt"


Examples of country and city bunkers still adorning the landscape


Creative people either build around them or put them to clever uses!


These are examples of the tunnels used to house tanks and arms

And so we begin the tour of the "Palace"


Above is a military truck compliments of the Chinese government and below a Russian car for the dictator

This is the ventilation system for the 28,900 square foot structure built into the mountain. It was supposed to filter out nuclear fallout.

The young dictator and his own private bedroom, living room and study below

Though this "palace" was never used, the gas masks were there and a homey look was the goal

This is a photo of the first election boxes in the late 1940s. There was only 1 candidate, Enver Hoxha. You could put a ball in his box or the blank one. Ominous repercussions occurred when you were seen using the blank box.

These two photos were a gymnastic extravaganza staged in the main stadium to celebrate 45 years of oppressive Communist rule in Albania.


The dictator wrote volumes of encyclopedia like treatises on many subjects as it pertained to his political beliefs. Every home had to display these 70 volumes. Secret police or relatives could "turn you in" if these books were not visible. After the fall of Communism, some used the despised books in clever parodies.

The crowning jewel in the nuclear bunker is a huge movie theater for the residents viewing pleasure

Let's hope in 2015 we can be guided by our faith, not our fear!

End November, Peter and I visited three capital cities in Central Europe: Vienna, Austria; Bratislava, Slovakia; and Budapest, Hungary. All are located on the Danube River and each has rich histories with the latter two countries having been carved up significantly over the last 30 years. Their land and population were significantly reduced. The religion is predominantly Catholic and the outdoor Christmas Markets are everywhere this time of year.
Living in Albania, I admit that I have gotten very soft in this warm climate so it was bracing, to say the least, to be in the cold, gray drizzle each day!

Bratislava, Slovakia (Formerly Czechoslovakia until the two countries split)


There are wonderful sculptures throughout the city. This is depicting a work man who finally gets off his feet and finds a place to rest.

This is a city of 500,000, formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary for 250 years. This city became the capital of Slovakia following the "Velvet Divorce" with the now Czech Republic in 1993.

Our wonderful host, Maya, the Swiss Ambassador's wife.

This is the only house standing from the Jewish Quarter after WWII. It was the home of a watch maker. Most of the former residents in this quarter were tinkers, tailors, watch makers etc.

Unfortunate time for a foot accident! This city is becoming known as a stag party destination for folks from England and France. They fly in, drink, eat and party and leave when dawn arrives.

Outdoor fair food at the Christmas Markets...potato pancakes and pumpkin vegan ones lathered with sour cream!

Budapest, Hungary

There were two towns, Buda and Pest until they united in 1873. Budapest is one of the largest cities in the EU with 1.7 million people. The government kept Germany at bay and skirted around participating in WWII until 1944, so the destruction of the ornate buildings suffered less than other cities.

Thanksgiving dinner. Peter had an interesting turkey dish and me a yummy cabbage concoction. Great wine here!

Fair food...This is a tube of a sweet bread cooked on skewers over a fire.

The hot mulled wine. You can have varieties of wine or liquor, including hot Chardonnay . It feels so good in the freezing cold temperatures. The problem is, it only stays warm for 5 minutes so you need to drink it fast!

View of the castle in Buda from Parliament Building in Pest

There are hot springs all over the city. This gorgeous late 19th century hotel has 4 different pools, one outside and 3 inside to lounge around in and get all your ailments cured.

One of the three main bridges over the Danube that separates Buda from Pest.

The big Hungarian Market with more than paprika!

Goose liver is a big deal in the market and in their cuisine.

Pickled items are popular and these are decorated jars for the holidays.

The Hungarian version of fried dough but no maple syrup.

The very opulent Opera House

We took a tour of this synagogue . It is the largest in Europe and second only to the one in NY. The interesting thing is the architecture. It has a church like design and the decorative stars are Moorish. That is because there were no synagogues in Europe at the turn of the century to copy. There were, however, plenty of Catholic churches to copy.

The Jewish tradition of taking care of others is played out in this bowl. In poorer towns, a family would write their name on this half acorn. When a family in need came to the synagogue, they would reach in the bowl for a half acorn and the family name written on it would commit to helping the needy family.

This was a Menorah found in the concentration camp made out of bread crumbs.

This is a German list of how many Jewish people they intended to annihilate in each country. England was 330,000 people. In fact, the Germans killed 742,000 Jews in Hungary.

Above is a sculpture that reads from left to right, highlighting individuals that slowly lose their identity and become a mass as happened to the Jews in the way they were treated and killed.


The tree of forgiveness...each branch has a leaf with a name of a Jew who died in Hungary during WWII.	Life didn't get much better post WWII when Russia took control of Hungary and replaced Fascism with Communism that was not welcomed by these once powerful citizens of the Austria Hungarian Empire for 400 years.

The elegant Parliament Building, the largest building in Hungary.

88 pounds of gold, half a million precious stones and marble make this an amazing sight.

Cigars were popular for the parliamentary members (men to be sure) in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When the smoke became too much during the sessions, it was ruled that cigars must remain in the halls. These brass cigar holders are all around the great hall and each man had a numbered slot in which to place his cigar until the session recessed.

Vienna, Austria

Peter, who studies cities and how they function, was struck by how well Vienna works for the citizens: public works, energy efficiency, green space and public transportation. It is a city of 1.75 million people and it is governed by a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Green Party.

It doesn't get much more elegant than these little creations!

Above are antique beaded trees that were popular late 1800s and below a classy window display for a jewelry shop.

Fancy presentation of coffee and below apple strudel swimming in an elegant vanilla sauce.


A street protest

Classy touch at this museum. The Miro exhibit inside is advertised by painting the steps in the spirit of the show. There are over 100 art museums but we only made it to one fabulous one!

Our wonderful friend, Catherine and garlic soup in a bowl. Felt good in the cold temperatures but eat the soup and bowl quickly before you lose the feeling in your fingers!!

Sausage... Goulash and the famous noodles

Now that is a piece of schnitzel!

Cat took us to this amazing ecological social housing project. The artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and architect Josef Krawina created this massive city block housing project from 1979 - 1985. Trees grow from the center of the housing complexes out through the roof tops. With bright color and undulating flooring, the artist wanted to imitate nature, blazing with colors, fantasy and in a relaxing environment. Many who live here live within modest means. It is worth googling.