Albania by Juela Misha

Albania is a Balkan country situated in South-Eastern Europe. It lies between Montenegro in the north, Kosovo in the northeast, Macedonia in the east, and Greece in the south.

Most of Albania consists of mountainous and hilly terrain (approximately 70% of the country), with deep and inhabited valleys. The western part of the country along the Adriatic and Ionian coast consists mainly of lowlands that contain nearly all of the country's agricultural land and is the most densely populated part of Albania.

It has a Mediterranean climate with not so cold winters and very hot summers.

98% of the population is ethnic Albanian and 2% are minorities. The official language is Albanian, with two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk. Some Greek is also spoken in the south.

The capital of Albania is Tirana and that is also my home city. Tirana is the centre of the political and cultural life of the country. It has a population of approximately 700,000 inhabitants.
Tirana is a vibrant city with a lot of pleasant bars and cafes, so at weekends you can go there, meet your friends and have a drink.

It also has a nice city centre with a big boulevard built during World War II by the Italians.
Most of Tirana consists of communist style buildings which were very ugly but most of them now have been painted in nice colors and look interesting.

On the outskirts there is a big park that is like a forest and has a big artificial lake in the centre. This is a very nice area to go for picnics, jogging or to get a breath of fresh air. But you can also go to the beach to cool off because fortunately Tirana is only a 30 minute drive from the sea.
All in all, although it has terrible traffic, Tirana for me is a nice place to live in.