Thursday, March 17, 2011

Elbasan: The City

Something to take my mind off other things.

Before I tell you about our trip to Durres last Monday, I want to finish telling you about our trip to Elbasan.
This is a portion of an old fortified wall that used to surround the city (when it was much smaller). Someone told Terry that Elbasan used to be a collection point for gold mined from the nearby mountains. In any case, it had military significance for the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans alike.
If I had to come up with one word to describe Elbasan today, it would be "modest." Compared to Tirana, it's just smaller, lower to the ground, quieter, with a lot less cars.
A big chrome refinery was built here during the communist era, and as a result the city has a reputation for being very polluted. The days we were there were quite cold - first rainy and then windy (like Chicago windy) so the air was crystal clear, and you could see snow on the mountains nearby.
We liked Elbasan.

1 comment:

Rachel said...

It looks really cold there so it is surprising to see palm trees. I guess it's on the coast?

I love seeing pictures from around the world.