The Foreign Service Journal, December 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2020 105 edly pro-American and great admir- ers of American values, as the staff at Embassy Tirana helped us to understand. One of the embassy’s locally employed staff members said that the American landmark that most impressed him was Arlington National Cemetery—for its palpable display of respect for our fallen leaders and military members. We capped our trip at Mullixhiu, a farm-to-table restaurant run by an Alba- nian chef who cut his teeth at the interna- tionally renowned Danish restaurant Noma and returned home to establish a world-class restaurant in Tirana. We enjoyed an amazing dinner: jufka , home- made pasta with wild juniper berry; clay- baked quail; and a coffee dessert drunk from tiny pitcher spouts. Albania is now in NATO and a can- didate for accession to the European Union. As Albanians slowly recover from decades of isolation and repression, they are transforming one of Europe’s poorest countries into a democratic society—and fascinating tourist destination. We are grateful to Albania. It brought us together again, reminding us of the fortitude of the human spirit and why we became diplomats in the first place. n We need to give the Albanian people credit for being uniquely long-suffering. Located in the Balkans, Albania has been victim to centuries of power politics. Conquered by the Byzantines, Ottomans, Slavs, Serbs, Italians and oth- ers, it boasts a rich mix of Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Sufi traditions (in the approximate order of prevalence) among its population of three mil- lion in a country the size of Maryland. Despite—or perhaps because of—its history, the country is internationally recognized for protecting Jews during the Holocaust. Albania has probably the most kalei- doscopic mélange of religions, political systems and cultures that we had ever seen in such a small country, which makes it so utterly quirky. An Albanian history professor who had lived through Hoxha’s reign shepherded us through Tirana, recounting personal experiences and historical insights. He reminded us that Hoxha had been so upset at Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin that he broke off relations with the Soviet Union and informally allied with Maoist China shortly after. The professor described the obligatory Chinese cloth- ing of that period, one of the most bizarre geopolitical vignettes we had ever heard. We meandered to the Museum of Secret Surveillance, also known as the House of Leaves, which opened in 2017 in the building that served as the Alba- nian Secret Service’s headquarters during the communist era. Visitors can view the tools of oppression of a country that was struggling to feed its own people and had fewer than 3,000 cars at the time. A foray into central Tirana revealed an enormous glass and marble pyramid built after Hoxha’s death to honor him and to house some of his possessions, pharaoh-like. Graffitied in a manner familiar to any New Yorker, it sits empty while authorities bicker over its fate. And just a few blocks away is one of Tirana’s main plazas, now named Mother Teresa Square. We also journeyed to the town of Berat, an Ottoman-era architectural jewel on the UNESCO World Heritage list, overnighting in a centuries-old stone guesthouse found on Airbnb. We climbed to the Citadel, the fortress that dominates the town, and gazed across the valley at giant letters that had spelled “E-N-V-E- R,” Hoxha’s first name, before Albanians rearranged them to spell “N-E-V-E-R.” We met many Albanians set on over- coming the past, such as Elton Caushi, the owner of Albania Trip, a company that is deftly promoting the country’s political patrimony and natural beauty. He recounted matter-of-factly how two young female Albanians desperately attempted to swim to Greek Corfu, covering their heads with hollowed-out watermelons to elude capture. He and other creative entrepreneurs are at the heart of Albania’s integration into the West. Indeed, T : The New York Times Style Magazine named Tirana one of the 10 most enchanting places its writ- ers visited in 2019. And, indeed, Albanians are unabash- Dolores in front of Hoxha’s bunker, a major Albanian tourist attraction. COURTESYOFDOLORESBROWN