Local Focus #2
As a graphic designer for 30 years, my brain doesn't really know how to shut off. Every walk down the street here in Albania is like wandering through a massive canvas, one where the colors spilled a bit outside the lines. The relocation to Tirana sharpened my gaze, and suddenly the most mundane things become a crazy composition of culture, history, and absurdity. Here is the second compilation from my visual diary, a collection of moments that demanded I stop, observe, and create a local focus.
Taxi. Driver. Stool In any normal city in the world, there are taxi stands. Cars line up, drivers are in a rush. In Tirana? There's a completely different pace here. I've stumbled upon this brilliant frame several times: a parked taxi, a door and the trunk wide open as if the car is catching its breath, and the driver simply sitting on a tiny plastic stool in the middle of the sidewalk. Sometimes other drivers join him, and that's how they conduct conversations about the most important things in the world, right at stool level.
Eighties-Style Pigeon Forget the boring gray pigeons you all know. Tirana's pigeons have style, and they come in dramatic black and white. But what really makes me smile every time is their leg fashion. There's a special breed of pigeons here that simply grow feathers on their legs. Some settle for a few solitary feathers, while others flaunt what looks like exaggerated fur leg-warmers straight out of the eighties, as if they're on their way to an aerobics class with Jane Fonda.
יונה לבנה עם נוצות על הרגליים יונה שחורה עם נוצות על הרגליים יונים עם נוצות על הרגליים
Sewing Up a Meal
״Mrizi i Zanave״ is a famous agricultural farm and organic "slow food" restaurant in northern Albania. Luckily for me, they also have a branch here in Tirana and another special concept branch called Mrizi i Zanave - Buk e gjath ("Bread and Wine"). You wait in line, which is usually long, and magic happens right before your eyes: they take a hollowed-out baguette, pour in an illegal amount of melted Kachkaval cheese, and shove in a massive, freshly grilled meat skewer. The skewer is pulled out, the meat and cheese remain, they add more vegetables or fried onions, and with it, you march into a beautiful inner courtyard with tables and chairs, greenery, and a piano player.
What caught my eye? This table. A table with an antique "Singer" sewing machine converted into a dining table, with a wine bottle serving as a lamp on top. Simple, precise, and beautiful.
שולחן של מכונת תפירה ישנה שולחן של מכונת תפירה ישנה
Survival on the Runway As Israelis who are used to flying, we've gotten spoiled. An air-conditioned jet bridge straight to the plane, or in the worst-case scenario, a bus that takes you to the stairs while ushers guide the passengers along the correct path. In Tirana? Here, my friend, it's about survival. You might step off the plane's stairs and discover there's absolutely no one directing you. You simply find yourself walking on foot across the tarmac, crossing it while dodging buses, cargo trucks, and service vehicles, and just a few meters away, another plane is making its way to take off. All that's left to do is clutch your head, mutter a silent prayer, and hope you make it to the terminal in one piece.
Encounter Beyond the Wall If you survived the walk on the tarmac and made it into the terminal, here's what awaits you at the exit: a massive, colossal metal wall that gets entirely bathed in dramatic blue lighting at night. This wall is the barrier separating the inside of the airport from the outside world. Behind it wait the taxi drivers, family, or friends who came to pick you up. There is something very industrial yet impressive about the visual of this thing as your first sight in the city.
קיר וחניון טרמינל שדה התעופה בטירנה קיר טרמינל שדה התעופה בטירנה
Typography of Faith
In the center of Tirana stands the "Namazgah Mosque," the largest mosque in Albania and the entire Balkans. It's built in a classic Ottoman style and is simply breathtaking in its visual cleanliness. As a design professional, I found myself mesmerized specifically by the small details. The walls are adorned with texts in stylized Arabic letters. For someone who doesn't read Arabic, these letters lose their literal meaning and transform before my eyes into clean, curling, and perfect graphic shapes that blend together into pure art.
מסגד נָמָזגָה בטירנה מסגד נָמָזגָה בטירנה מסגד נָמָזגָה בטירנה חלון מסגד נָמָזגָה בטירנה
A Painted Skyline I took the following photos from Skanderbeg Square, the central and most colossal square in Tirana. It is named after Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, a 15th-century Albanian national hero who fiercely defended the country against the Ottoman Empire. This city is currently undergoing an insane construction boom, and every skyscraper tries to steal the show. In the photos here, you can see three completely different buildings that illustrate this architectural madness, and there are more...
The first is the Maritim Hotel, an impressive building with a 3D texture that hypnotizes the eye.
מלון Maritim בטירנה מלון Maritim בטירנה
The second, a massive building, and a personal favorite of mine, is built in the shape of a human facial profile (photographed by day and by night).
בנין בצורת פנים בטירנה בנין בצורת פנים בטירנה בנין בצורת פנים בטירנה
And if you look closely at the next photo, right beneath the blue-green building, you can see the perfect contrast: the impressive bronze statue of that very hero, Skanderbeg, riding a horse. This statue was placed there in 1968 to mark the 500th anniversary of his death, and the visual contrast between it and the modern glass monster behind it is simply mind-blowing.
Behind all this new skyline is Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania and former Mayor of Tirana. The man is actually a painter and a trained artist. When he took office, he decided to use art as a political and urban tool. He started by painting the facades of depressing communist housing blocks in vivid colors like pink, orange, and green, and from there, he moved on to encourage the construction of these modern skyscrapers. A city that is entirely a canvas.
Danger on the Edge
On one of the recent weekends, we drove to Ura e Vashës. It's a gorgeous, ancient Ottoman-style arched stone bridge that crosses over the Mat River, built from ancient limestone. The place is stunning, truly, a postcard.
Ura e Vashës גשר 
Ura e Vashës גשר
But my anxious Israeli brain just couldn't relax. It started when right by the river, exactly on the edge of a narrow cliff, an older man stood building a stone retaining wall with his bare hands. No safety cable, no harness, no fence to hold onto. Just him and the stones, on the edge, as if gravity is merely a non-binding recommendation.
איש בונה קיר סלעים איש בונה קיר סלעים
And if that wasn't enough, it turns out that the restaurant located on the other bank, right under the bridge, has no access road for trucks or cars. The local solution? A makeshift cable supply line. While people dip their feet in the cold river water or sit comfortably to eat under yellow umbrellas, a metal cage loaded with boxes of goods does a "zipline" and simply hovers in the air from the road above straight into the restaurant, passing right over their heads. A daily routine of truly living on the edge.
Life here is made up exactly of these contrasts. Sights and situations that create the complete picture of this place for me. I'm sure I'll continue to collect, photograph, and share more photos of local focus with you.
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