Albanian cuisine is excellent, with both Ottoman and Italian influences evident. There are many good restaurants everywhere, although obviously in smaller towns the choice is less wide than in the cities. Vegetarians will find themselves eating a lot of salad; luckily for them, Albanian tomatoes and cucumber are delicious.
Albanian vineyards produce high-quality wine, some of it from indigenous grapes such as Kallmet (red) and Shesh (red and white). Grapes are also used to make
raki, a clear spirit which is the country's national drink.
National specialties: • Mediterranean
fish such as sea-bream and sea-bass, as well as eels.
• Koran (a species of trout unique to the Ohrid and Prespa lakes).
• Traditional dishes often use vegetables and yogurt or curd cheese to make the meat go further.
• Paçë koke (sheep's head soup).
• Kukurec (sheep's innards in a gut casing).
National drinks: • Apart from
raki (see above), Albania's other national drink is coffee. In bars and restaurants, this usually means espresso or cappuccino.
• In private homes,
kafe turke is made in the traditional Balkan way, with grounds and sugar brewed together.
Tipping: The usual tipping practice is to round the bill up by about 10%.
NightlifeNightclubs in Tirana stay open until very late. The music is sometimes live, especially at weekends. Outside Tirana, clubs of this sort are less common; in the coastal towns during the summer tourist season, music and dancing is laid on in the big hotels.
The local cinema chain, Millennium, has branches in all the large towns. They usually screen Hollywood films, in the original language with Albanian subtitles.
Albania has a high standard of classical music. Opera, ballet and concert performances take place throughout the year in Tirana, and to a lesser extent elsewhere.
Next Page »
