As soon as you get off the main drag from the airport hitting the city for real, you are immediately struck by the ambience of the light if you arrive early in the evening. It is warm, low key and instantly soothing. The city roads are straight, tree lined and short lamp posts sneak out some light through the tree foliage. Just enough light to prevent you from tripping over on the pavements. In a bigger city this amount of light at night may be scary, but not here. Neat, modern, thoughtfully considered shops, cafes, bars and restaurants line the streets, adding further light and a sense of calm and confidence. For a population of 535,000 people, the number of places to stop, sit on the pavement and people watch is astonishing. Likely supported by swollen numbers of visiting weekenders, and beach holiday day trippers.
Tirana does not disappoint. Small yet spread out, easily manageable and so so unique. Unlike other Eastern European capitals that have expunged their darker histories, Tirana has introduced an eclectic mixture of architectural styles and a mad array of vivid colours. And is totally unapologetic about this.
Once under that special ambient light and a September sky this all reveals itself more strongly.
Wow, who would have thought that Tirana would be this cool !
Comments
7 responses to “Tirana : the city of ambient light and vivid colour”
Looks amazing 🤩
What an array of fabulous architecture.
Kath, the head shaped building of the hero Skënderbeu in the main square is mind bending.
…a bit creepy to my eyes! but the rest of looks amazing and definitely very cool!
Fantastic!!
The city itself looks like a giant open air museum! So fascinating.
Easy flying time from Istanbul Senem :))