Shkodra III

On the main street into Shkodra, a little park and tree blocking a mosque.This street is pedestrian only. The facades date from the time the Venetians were in control of Shkodra -- 1396 - 1479. The Ottomans captured Shkodra then and it remained under Turkish control until the Balkan wars of 1912-1913. During the Second Balkan War of 1913, Montenegrans captured Shkodra and planned to make it part of "Great Serbia," a nationalistic idea evidently still held by many Serbs. Neither Italy or Austria wanted Serbia to have an outlet on the Adriatic, and The Powers forced Montenegro to give up Shkodra and Serbia to give up its Albanian conquest to the Adriatic.

The Catholic cathedral on the main street. Shkodra and the mountain villages to the east are strongly Catholic, which is one reason Italy and Austria held so much influence here.
The oven at Tradita restaurant. Meat is cooked over the coals (lower left); wood is suspended over the coals by a metal basket, and as they catch and smolder and the coals drop into the coal bed so it is constantly replenished without being disturbed. The waiters (and the owner) wear traditional costumes.
The owner of the restaurant collects old artifacts and mountain clothing. On the outside wall he had these andirons hanging -- I thought they looked like Dachshund art pieces.

Mask Factory

The mask factory at Shkodra sells masks through one shop in Venice and one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. They are paper mache and then painted and decorated. This pile is waiting decoration.
The paper mache forming -- they have a form for each mask and just stick the wet paper over them until they have a mask.
Decorating the masks.

The factory on the second floor.

Masks in the display room on the first floor. I bought a mask for Taylor and one for Cindy.

Rooms With a View - Shkodra, Kallaja e Rozafas

The Rozafa Castle is built at the confluence of three rivers: Buna, Kiri, Drini. This first photo is of the Kiri on the left. The "Leaden Mosque" down on the plain is still surrounded by some water, not yet having receded from the flooding a couple months ago. This is a Bektasi mosque -- Bektasi is one of the divisions of Islam, Sunni and Shia being two others. The world headquarters of Bektasi is in Albania. If you zoom in on the photo, you can see the many smaller domes of the roof.
Looking mostly west, confluence of the Kiri (left) and Buna (right). Only about 20 miles to the Adriatic from here.
the Buna is Albania's widest river. It drains Lake Shkodra, which is the largest lake in the Balkans. It is jointly shared by Albania and Montenegro.
Cindy's favorite bridge, one lane across the Buna. We crossed this bridge on our way to Dubrovnik July 2008. It was in poor repair then; a new bridge is under construction a few hundred meters downriver. The marshy area at the top is the southern tip of Lake Shkodra.
Shkodra and the Albania Alps.

Shkodra I

I went to Shkodra yesterday on an outing sponsored by our Post Language Program. Shkodra is about a two hour drive north of Tirana, and it is very close to the border with Montenegro. Shkodra is the Albanian name. It is also known as Scutari, especially in older books. It was founded sometime around the third century BC by the Illyrians; then was captured by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. Nothing much remains from Illyrian times except a large section of wall near the main entrance. Much of what we see today was built by the Venetians and Turks.

This is outside the jail. The jail was not far from the church, both in the second courtyard. I guess really everything in the castle is close, though.

The church was built in the late 13th century. After Shkodra fell to the Ottomans in 1478 the church was converted to a mosque. This is the ruins of the church and the base of the minaret.
Inside the third and last courtyard at the very end of the castle. The stone roof is pretty interesting. This was originally a palace, and now houses a museum. The doorway below the green sign is the entrance to the Rozafa restaurant.
Rozafa castle from the city level.
These two are looking northeast to the Albanian mountains, towards Thethi.

The Feast of Unleavened Bagels

I had forgotten how much I like bagels, until a friend made some for a brunch the other day. They were really, really good. So with Cindy sitting around with pneumonia, I thought I'd make her some, as she likes them too. (Who doesn't?)

So yesterday when I got home I set out to make them. Evidently my yeast was dead, because they didn't rise. I knew it before I boiled them, but I thought (even though I knew better) that maybe a little heat would get it going. It did not. I knew it before I put them in the oven, but I decided I'd see what happened when I baked them. Nothing happened -- I tried to convince myself they had risen a little, but the rational side dismissed the thought. With Passover soon to be here, though, I have a small supply of small misshapen little bagelesque baked items if anyone needs one.

Maybe it was because I baked on the Ides of March. The good thing, though, is that they taste like a hint of a bagel, just enough that I'll go find some living breathing yeast and try again.

Chopin in Tirana

Chopin was born in 1810, 200 years ago, and as part of the Year of Chopin celebration the Polish and French embassies sponsored a concert at the opera house. The Tirana opera house is small and cozy -- built by the Russians, I understand. It seats about 500. The program was all Chopin, of course. The pianist was Marek Szlezer, Polish, of course, who was brought in especially for the concert. For those of you interested in these sorts of things, this was the program:

2 nocturne, op. 27

4 mazurka, op. 30

waltz, op. 42

ballade, op. 47

polonaise, op. 53

berceuse, op. 57

polonaise fantazi op. 61

sonata op. 35

One of the perks of being here is that various embassies will put on programs such as this throughout the year, free admission. Our embassy has had such things as a blues band. I don't think we've had anything classical; if so, I missed it.

One drawback to the opera is that it is neither heated nor cooled. My feet got a little colder than the rest of me -- next time I'll take a jacket. I guess in August I'll wear a tee shirt.