Launching the Balkan Road Trip

The Balkans region of Europe seems to be a vacation destination for Europeans but doesn’t usually make it on the radar for a summer vacation from the US so we decided to check it out! The US does lack many direct flights to the region but we found a British Airways flight from DC to Tirana, Albania with a 3 hour layover in London. Deals on summer flights to Europe are hard to come by it seems, so remained slightly open to destination cities in the region and jumped on this one when it came along for about $540. We are adventuring with my sister, brother-in-law and 6 year old neice on this trip.

Tirana pleasantly surprised us with how lively and family friendly the city is. We stayed in an apartment in the Blloku district which has many shops, cafes and parks. After dark, when the sun disappears and the temperature is lovely seems to be the time of day that most families come out to play and fill the parks and playgrounds. We don’t have night time photos but imagine these parks filled with kids and lights!

We decided to try out the Djati Express cable car to the top of a nearby mountain. We knew there were some activities at the top but we anticipated that we’d likely spend no longer than an hour up there. At the base of the cable car you choose the type of ticket you want and if you want to include some of the activities. There was an adventure park pass which was only a few Euros more than the base cable car ticket so we got that. I had seen photos of the adventure park online and figured the 6 year old would be entertained with a low ropes course but that was it. We were totally wrong. There were multiple low ropes courses for the 6 year old to enjoy, but there were additionally 6 very thrilling high ropes courses for the bigger kids and the adults to enjoy. Lots of high flying zip lines and other obstacles that had everyone challenges and some adrenaline pumping. Even the hard to please 14 year old was temporarily loving life and not questioning why his mom chose Albania for his summer vacation. After more than 3 hours, we decided this was the best value 4 Euros ever and we needed to break for lunch.

We had planned to explore Bunk’d Art 1 while out at the Djati Express, however, we ran out of time with the adventure park. This is a massive underground government bunker turned into a museum that is one of the top tourist attractions in Tirana. There is a smaller version in downtown Tirana that we at least saw the interesting entrance to. Bunkers are apparently present all over Albania so maybe we’ll see another on our trip.

We had made plans for a cooking class at ‘Cooking Class Tirana’ for a traditional Albanian meal in the evening. We hoped this would be a good way to introduce us to Albanian cuisine and learn a bit more about the culture. It delivered! The owner, Dervis, opened this establishment just a few months ago and I think he will be wildly successful with it. We made a byrek, like a puff pastry filled with tomatos and onion, a tave kosi, lamb in a yogurt custard with rice and a dessert traditional cookie. We ate the food we made and he supplemented with some additional traditional side dishes including local cheeses, jams, wines, breads, fruits and veggies. The kids especially enjoyed rolling the puff pastry dough and painting it with butter, and designing their cookies. My son has discovered that he really likes lamb, and he was given the piece with the lamb tail. A bit gross, but apparently this is like getting the wishbone of the turkey at Thanksgiving so tried to go along with the tradition! We also were served unlimited wine and local Raki - a distilled drink which was incredibly strong. A bit much for me but the food was delicious and we were stuffed!