Sir, - Nuala O'Faolain's article on Albania in the Weekend supplement may give your readers the impression that Albania is a poverty stricken country. Her account of her short visit is good, but misses the bigger picture. Albania has taken great strides forward in the last three years, after a truly chaotic period in 1989-92.
Pogradec is in a region which is certainly poor, but Nuala did not describe the majestic sight of the biggest glaciated lake in the Balkans Lake Ohrid. Next time she. goes to Pogradec, she should try a meal of the Koran fish (a kind of large Arctic char which abounds in its waters) in Edmond Simini's wonderful small wooden restaurant, which he has built on the lake shore. A visit to Enver Hoxa's summer house nearby would also have introduced your readers to another good restaurant. I have fond memories sitting there two summers ago with a number of Albanian friends, eating a marvellous shish kebab and watching Wimbledon on television! Tennis was, regarded as a decadent bourgeois game, which was banned by Hoxa.
The journey out of Pogradec to Elbasan and Tirana is straight out of Tolkien. Magnificent mountains seem to go on for ever. This landscape eventually gives way to a plain of olive trees and native pines, as one enters Tirana. in the past two years, the city has been transformed and is bursting with building works. Yet it has also kept its charming mosque and peculiar mix of Italian and Ottoman influenced old buildings. Two international hotels are open and, though expensive, offer all the usual Western comforts. There are a number of new small guest houses in Tirana and the surrounding towns, such as Kavaija, which charge c.£15-£25 a night.
Albania, although it has a long way to go, is blossoming. This is the land of Saranda, Butrinti and Appollonia where wonderful Illyrian, Greek and Roman remains are to be found. The south west coastline is an unspoilt paradise where the warm Adriatic greets the visitor in deserted coves and beaches, much like the Corfu which Lawrence Durrell described in the 1930s.
True, there are great poverty and social problems, power cuts and water shortages, some terrible roads and poor infrastructure. But inflation has been cut from 200 per cent three years ago to about 30 per cent today, and Albania has one of the highest growth rates on the region. New businesses are opening weekly, as the Albanian is a natural entrepreneur. High unemployment rates make the picture look bleak, but there is optimism about the future. - Yours, etc.,
Hillside Road,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.