Great piece Andrew and a sad one as it so well records that march towards conformity and uniformity. The irony is that it is the visits of those from elsewhere that, while being economically important, drives that march. You can see why I prefer those areas and cities who endeavour to say - take us as you see us in the spectrum of colour we are, rather than the 'beige' of everywhere else. As you know from my latest 'Meander' I seek out the so called 'poorer quarters' for when I do, I truly experience the culture, belief and character of a place. Far more rewarding than to tour simply to 'see' and just maybe that helps the true local economy even more. As ever though it's purely a personal view and thanks again for a thought-provoking offering.
Yes it’s difficult to experience something different in our increasingly homogenised world. Having said that, one backstreet away from the main drag is generally enough to get away from our fellow tourist hordes.
This reminds me of some of the main port cities in Croatia along the coast (my wife's Croatian) and how incredibly inaccessible to locals they have become exactly because of this.
It's the sad reality of western Capitalism I guess.
It is the sad reality and we are all part of it. As David H says in an earlier comment let’s hope the local population benefits too and isn’t priced out.
This is a beautiful piece of writing. Evocative and insightful, your narrative of the modern place with historical context is really poignan! I too travel and see.the conformity. I too notice working areas and people marginalized for the sake of... I too will return. Yet I wish that when I do I find the transformed areas full of thriving local populations of abundantly supported humans in cooperative community which allows everyone at all levels to enjoy the transformed places we live and love and adventure in.
Those photos are stunning. Has only reinforced my desire to travel back to Albania and see more of the country. Pretty much only saw the northern tip in our recent trip there
Jul 25, 2023·edited Jul 25, 2023Liked by Andrew Eberlin
All that’s beautiful. I wonder what’s besides that in there. How’s people’s living, how voracious is bureaucracy: really can’t even imagine. At the end what freedom is dressing there, it must be really exotic clothing, because in the countries we walk it is already a fabulous telltale camouflage
Great piece Andrew and a sad one as it so well records that march towards conformity and uniformity. The irony is that it is the visits of those from elsewhere that, while being economically important, drives that march. You can see why I prefer those areas and cities who endeavour to say - take us as you see us in the spectrum of colour we are, rather than the 'beige' of everywhere else. As you know from my latest 'Meander' I seek out the so called 'poorer quarters' for when I do, I truly experience the culture, belief and character of a place. Far more rewarding than to tour simply to 'see' and just maybe that helps the true local economy even more. As ever though it's purely a personal view and thanks again for a thought-provoking offering.
Yes it’s difficult to experience something different in our increasingly homogenised world. Having said that, one backstreet away from the main drag is generally enough to get away from our fellow tourist hordes.
Beautiful observations Andrew!
This reminds me of some of the main port cities in Croatia along the coast (my wife's Croatian) and how incredibly inaccessible to locals they have become exactly because of this.
It's the sad reality of western Capitalism I guess.
It is the sad reality and we are all part of it. As David H says in an earlier comment let’s hope the local population benefits too and isn’t priced out.
This is a beautiful piece of writing. Evocative and insightful, your narrative of the modern place with historical context is really poignan! I too travel and see.the conformity. I too notice working areas and people marginalized for the sake of... I too will return. Yet I wish that when I do I find the transformed areas full of thriving local populations of abundantly supported humans in cooperative community which allows everyone at all levels to enjoy the transformed places we live and love and adventure in.
Thank you very much and very well put David. I hope so too.
Those photos are stunning. Has only reinforced my desire to travel back to Albania and see more of the country. Pretty much only saw the northern tip in our recent trip there
Thank you very much. Time means we have to pick and choose where we go! We visited Tirana and the south but would like to return and visit the north.
I would love to see Berat particularly. The pictures look amazing
We chose to visit Gjirokaster instead of Berat and were a little disappointed - a bit too gift shoppy for us.
Ah tourists ruin all the best tourist spots!
We do!
All that’s beautiful. I wonder what’s besides that in there. How’s people’s living, how voracious is bureaucracy: really can’t even imagine. At the end what freedom is dressing there, it must be really exotic clothing, because in the countries we walk it is already a fabulous telltale camouflage
Some younger Albanians are keen to leave thinking they can live a better life in England (it’s all in the news here). I’m not so sure.