Valbona
Valbona Valley is one of the best known hiking attraction in Albania and the Balkan Peninsula.
With an area of 8,000 hectares Valbona Valley National Park is the gem of Albanian Alps – Accursed Mountains. Valbona is the name of the river which flows through the Valbona Valley and the village bearing the same name located in the Tropoja District of Northern Albania. The district of Valbona Valley, bordering Kosovo to the northeast, and Montenegro to the northwest, in combination with the adjacent Theth district to the west, encompasses a region called the Malësi in Albanian, which translates roughly as “The Highlands”. Valbona River Valley is located 25-30 km to the north west of Bajram Curri town in Northern Albania and is adjacent to the Theth National Park. Valbona Valley lies between the rugged and remote and breathtaking mountain peaks and makes a festival of colors and contrasts. Its biodiversity makes it very important as a tourist attraction. The Valbona River is crystal clear and is well known for its clean water, where visitors can swim, catch fishes and do canoeing and kayaking. The Valbona River flows throughout the Valbona Valley to the Drin River.
Valbona village is the focal point of the Valbona National Park. Its configuration, hydrology, forests, flowers, characteristic dwellings and the hospitality of its people, make this park an ideal place to visit and invigorate. The village of Valbona is secluded, with few lodging possibilities for travelers, no stores, post office, doctors, gas station…. Rocky and dramatically steep high peaks, such as Jezerce, Iron, Kollata (Podi of Kollatës), and Pecmarrës attract hikers, adventurers and mountaineers from all over the world. Agricultural and livestock products or the Valbona Valley National Park and area are completely natural, and entirely organic. Food is generally fresh and home made, but it is also sometimes processed and canned by the inhabitants of the tiny and remote villages. Stunning nature, clean air, high and characteristic mountain peaks, lakes, numerous water resources, forests, mountains, flora and fauna of Valbona Valley National Park provide conditions for true eco tourism experiences. There are wonderful well-marked hiking trails that connect the whole area, providing hikers and nature lovers to explore places in Valbona Valley, Albania.
- Mother Teresa (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu) is generally celebrated as the only Albanian to win a Nobel Prize, though born in Skopje in 1910 (now in Macedonia but then in the Ottoman Empire).
- Between 1950 to 1985 around 600,000 bunkers were built in Albania, they are nearly impossible to destroy so many are still in existence.
- Noding your head in Albania is a disagreement while shaking the head means “yes”, so it can get pretty confusing for tourists.
- At its closest point Albania is only 10km away from Corfu across the Ionian Sea.
- Hoxha’s official title was ‘Comrade-Chairman-Prime Minister-Foreign Minister-Minister of War-Commander in Chief of the People’s Army’ – quite a mouthful!
- Under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania was declared the world’s first atheist state in 1967.
- Xhiro is the name for an evening walk in Albania. Some of the towns close roads to cars at certain times of the evening so locals can talk their daily stroll.
- Norman Wisdom was a cult figure in Albania where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed in the country under Hoxha’s dictatorship
- Officially 70% of Albanians are Muslim but the number who actively practice is much lower.
- George Kastriot Skanderbeg
- Mother Teresa
- Fan Noli
- Pope Clement XI
- Gjon Mili
- Ismail Kadare
- Ferid Murad
- Inva Mula
- Eliza Dushku
- John and Jim Belushi
- Ermonela Joha