Much to the driver’s bewilderment I halt the city-bound bus in the middle of a four-lane highway by an industrial wasteland on the fringes of Tirana. Thankfully there’s a bridge to my destination: a greige-looking area that boasts a medley of tyre warehouses, half-built houses, water towers and train tracks that would definitely constitute Stephen King territory come nightfall. It’s a stifling August day but the burly mauve clouds are threatening rain, the mountaintops of Dajti National Park no longer visible.
After 20 minutes of meandering, hopefully, along bitumen punctuated by dirt track, the tractors and bicycles are suddenly replaced by parked Range Rovers and Mercedes. And, like a mirage, the tall gates of Uka Farm appear. An organic family-run restaurant and winery that was founded by Albania’s former minister for agriculture in 2014, Uka is set among nearly two hectares of farmland and boasts the youngest winemaker in the country at its helm.
It’s one of a growing legion of local restaurants that seeks to revisit the traditional food cooked for centuries by grandmothers in modest country kitchens, and to pay homage to the rich, Mediterranean produce this soil has long nurtured. The menu at Uka is an ode to these simple pleasures: country-style bread, grilled wild mushrooms, platters of cheese from the Albanian Alps and a ‘village salad’ of rosy tomatoes, plump green olives and sweet carrot ribbons. Even the interior is pared down and distinctly rustic – think red gingham tablecloths, pine chairs and wood-fired brick kilns – to ensure the focus remains on the food. Subsistence farming has long been a way of life here, but only now is a farm-to-fork diet starting to be seen as a source of pride.
“We were closed for almost 50 years,” says Albanian chef Bledar Kola of the communist rule over the Balkan state. “When we came out we were like a dry sponge that soaked up all the water.” For a populace that was practically imprisoned within its own borders – with few allowed to leave and even fewer allowed to enter – almost any influence from the outside world was deemed cosmopolitan and aspirational. During those days, under the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, chewing gum was rare enough to warrant shared use and the arrival of bananas was so monumental that it’s stained indelibly onto the memories of many Albanians.
Walking the streets of Tirana now it’s hard to imagine such austerity reigned only 25 years ago. The capital might be scarce of skyscrapers but it harbours more leafy coffee shops and restaurants than any other city I’ve ever wandered. By sundown bars in the trendy Blloku district overflow with beautiful young creative types languorously smoking cigarettes and drinking glasses of local red.
It’s families that fill the Great Park of Tirana, where ladies sell sunflower seeds by the lake and kids cruise around on trikes. Here, hiding below an apartment block with scalloped balconies, lies Bledar Kola’s new restaurant, Mullixhiu. Having spent the best part of his working life abroad – performing stints at Michelin-starred London restaurants and even Copenhagen’s Noma – Kola came home in 2007 to a country that was very different to the one he left: “Before the 90s there were not so many restaurants in Tirana. We also have a very strong influence from Italy so it’s rare to see Albanian restaurants, but we’re getting more open-minded.”
The Slow Food Chefs Alliance, which launched in Albania in mid-2015, has helped instil a growing sense of honour in local cuisine. But the hangover from Hoxha’s days still encumbers the city’s kitchens. “We have a lot of fresh vegetables in Albania, but eating them is considered a poor man’s diet,” says Kola. “When Albanians come to visit us at Mullixhiu they get irritated because only one dish on our 10-course degustation contains meat. For 50 years everything we had was rationed – people have missed it.”
With its collision of Greek, Italian and Turkish influences, it’s flabbergasting Albanian food isn’t feted globally. Vibrant city centre restaurants serve mixed mezze platters, citrus and pomegranate salads, thick stews and stuffed, roasted vegetables. In the dimly lit dining room of Mullixhiu it means a more contemporary stroll through Albania’s greatest hits. Small glasses of tart cornelian cherry juice. A crisp nest of kadayif (finely shredded filo pastry) perching atop a creamy and sour pool of yoghurt and olive oil, dusted with a salty hit of grated black olive. A bowl cradling petals of dehydrated cabbage – the sweet, concentrated tang offset by an earthy punch of powdered porcini mushroom. Then there’s japrak, the dill-spiked rice with a tender hint of verbena. The al dente curves of eggplant tossed with figs in a gooseberry and purslane sauce. A pocket-sized filo parcel concealing a quail’s egg. And the dynamite stick of blackberry ice-cream served within a bramble.
Although the technical mastery is on point, it’s the quality of raw product that is king for Kola. “Now I’m focusing so much on Albanian ingredients,” he explains. “If you don’t use the produce of your country it’s like being married and cheating on your wife.” The Slow Food Movement’s Ark of Taste project also seeks to shine a spotlight on foods that are at risk of extinction. In Albania there are 43 products on this list. Items such as mishavin, a delicate white cheese made by shepherds in the Albanian Alps; trofta e egër e Cemit, a wild trout from its freshwater lakes; and verëtrëndafil i egër, a rosehip wine from its southern valleys.
Mrizi i Zanave, an organic farm restaurant perched near the Montenegrin border in northern Albania, is the country’s original slow food trailblazer and proud parent to Mullixhiu. After toiling for years in restaurants in Italy, Albanian Altin Prenga and his brother Anton came back to their small home town, and with a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude, opened the restaurant in 2009. Such has been the success that even today tables book out weeks in advance.
A year after opening, Mullixhiu is still building its own reputation – and that of Albanian cuisine – meal by meal. Locally based ambassadors and foreign journalists covet Kola’s dishes, booking private dinners and visiting in their droves, but locals take a little more convincing, he says. “If foreigners come and tell us something is nice only then do we value it,” he says. “We have a very rich cuisine, but to revisit it isn’t easy.”
Kola’s modern take on the traditional dish of japrak sees whipped sour cream replacing yoghurt and nasturtiums taking the place of vine leaves.
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
1 spring onion
1 bay leaf
10ml olive oil
130g parboiled rice
sprig of fresh dill, chopped
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
100g whipped sour cream
10g lemon verbena powder or lemon myrtle
2 nasturtium flowers for garnish
METHOD
Finely chop the spring onion and cook slowly with the bay leaf and olive oil over a low heat until softened.
Pour in 100g of the rice and continue cooking for a further three minutes.
Add 1 cup of boiling water and bring to the boil before covering the saucepan. Allow the rice to cook – without stirring – over a medium-low heat until it’s cooked but retains a slight bite, and all the water is absorbed. This should take around 20 minutes. Prior to taking the pan off the heat, remove the bay leaf and mix in the chopped dill.
In the meantime, heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed, tall-sided pan until it reaches around 160°C. If you don’t have a deep-fry thermometer for measuring the temperature then simply slip in a grain of rice and wait until it pops up in the oil and starts to crackle. Once the oil is hot enough, slowly feed in the remaining rice grains and wait until they are lightly golden and crisp before removing onto a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
Arrange the dill and rice mixture on the plate as desired, before garnishing with the lemon verbena powder, the two nasturtiums and the sour cream whipped to a foam. Finally, top with the deep-fried grains of rice.
Hate doing the washing? Us too. Unless, of course, sorting the laundry also means sipping on cocktails. Introducing Lavomatic, a quirky Parisian bar that serves up mojitos with a side of freshly laundered towels. From the front, this 10th arrondissement establishment looks like just another laundromat – we’re talking washing machines, dryers, soap, the lot.
Press the right button on the correct washing machine though, and watch a secret door open to reveal a hidden staircase leading to the bar. The metallic, sterile laundry environment is replaced by one that resembles a cool, comfortable apartment. With cosy, cushion-filled nooks, swing chairs and an extensive drinks menu, this spot just made doing the laundry a whole lot more enticing.
Forget everything you know about the Mykonos party scene, at Scorpios there’s no doof-doof music, no sweaty, gyrating bodies and definitely no overpriced alcopops. Ideally situated on the sun-kissed southern tip of the island overlooking Paraga Beach, Scorpios is designed to represent a contemporary interpretation of the ancient Greek agora – a gathering place for people to come together to socialise and collaborate. The rustic space, much of it open-air, is littered with wooden cabanas, whitewashed walls, knitted hammocks and a quirky assortment of straw baskets, rugs, and light fittings.
There’s even a boutique bazaar, which stocks a carefully curated selection of products by local artisans – ensuring you can party in the hottest organic slip dress, should you forget yours. You’ll need to arrive early if you want to secure one of the highly sought-after cabanas by the water – the ideal spot to treat yourself to a Mediterranean feast from the 200-seat restaurant. The setting sun signals a change in tempo, and before you know it you’re kicking up your heels at the chicest party in Mykonos.
On this stand up paddleboard (SUP) tour through the centre of Slovenia’s capital, you’ll glide past willow trees and colourful buildings, beneath the nineteenth-century Triple Bridge and four dragon statues along Dragon Bridge. At the height of summer, you’ll likely hear the lilting jazz tunes or spine-tingling soprano of opera singers from the laneways above as you work your core, balancing against ripples forged by local cruise boats.
And as Ljubljana is Europe’s only capital where you can SUP through its centre, you’ll become part of the attraction with tourists regularly snapping your photo as you glide past. Still, it’s worth the physical exertion and moment in the spotlight if you want to experience a city with a fun twist.
With a reputation as the hottest party island in the world, you expect a certain level of unruliness when it comes to clubs in Ibiza. Tucked away on the sandy shores of Cala Nova, Aiyanna is a breath of fresh air. It’s significantly quieter than the party hotspots of Ibiza Town, Playa d’en Bossa and San Antonio, and refuels you with morning yoga and an on-site Airstream caravan serving fresh cold-pressed juices.
There’s a boho-meets-luxury aesthetic happening at Aiyanna, with natural colours and earthy textures dominating the landscape and creating some seriously zen vibes. But it’s fun too, with bright Guatemalan parasols adding vibrant pops of colour, oversized bean bags scattered throughout and strings of sparkling sequins cascading from the roof. Evening live music performances generally get the party started, and when night falls, Aiyanna really comes to life. Best of all though, there’s not a hint of exclusivity here. Foregoing a VIP zone, Aiyanna is access all areas, and that’s just how we like it.
Tucked away at the end of a narrow and winding street in Lisbon, Memmo Alfama boasts breathtaking and unobstructed views of Lisbon’s coveted Alfama. There’s a rooftop pool and a wine bar that features a curated list of local and international blends, a great combination to rest one’s feet after climbing Lisbon’s hilly streets.
If staying indoors is more your thing, the hotel is focused on creating ‘neighbourhood’ spaces around the property for guests to unwind, relax and enjoy the selection of handpicked literature and daily newspapers from around the world. Best of all, if you’re stuck for inspiration on how to spend your day in Lisbon, the front desk can help plan an epic itinerary for you.
It’s one of the most beautiful places in Northern Ireland, yet few explore Lough Erne, a vibrant waterway rich in folklore in the Fermanagh Lakelands. Once a route of pilgrimage and plunder, today Erne Water Taxi takes punters for leisurely tours across the Lough’s glassy waters.
On a spacious and comfortable eight-seater vessel, you’ll explore the ruins of castles and monasteries, including Devenish Island, one of Ireland’s most significant monastic sights for its preserved sixth-century Augustinian monastery and twelfth-century round tower, and the striking stone cross on Inishmacsaint. You’ll learn the stories about the lives of the monks and Viking raiders while enjoying local cheeses and craft beers – it’s a fascinating look into Northern Ireland’s past.
Along the ancient paths of the infamous Silk Road lies the untouched beauty of Kazakhstan. Far from the tourist trail, these lands have remained a well-kept secret, none moreso than the mystical Lake Kaindy, which sits 2000 metres above sea level. In the early 1900s when a vicious earthquake struck and a limestone landslide ensued, the gorge became blocked and eventually water cascading down from the mountains above formed the 400-metre-long lake, swallowing dozens of Asian spruce trees along its banks.
Infused with limestone deposits, the water’s seemingly unnatural greenish-blue hues are punctured by stark white tree trunks, which are still standing tall, and cast eerie reflections in the glassy surface, while below leaves still cling to their branches, preserved by the lake’s cold temps. With multiple companies offering tours to Lake Kaindy and the breathtaking sights surrounding it, this forest is wellworth the hike.
Mykonos is the perfect island setting. On a hillside above Elia Bay, the luxury villas at Myconian Villa Collection have a panoramic view of the Aegean and surrounding hills dotted with whitewashed houses. There are just 18 villas, suites and rooms, all with differing configurations and individual styling.
Some have private hot tubs, while others have pools. It’s all a bit like a luxurious house party, but with added five-star benefits including a spa, two restaurants, a pool bar, shuttle service to the beach and 24-hour butler service. There are also gallery spaces in common areas showing contemporary work by Greek and European artists.
We’re tipping big things for this burgeoning Balkan country, so now’s the time to make tracks before everyone else catches wind of its charms. MIR Corporation’s two-week Albania: Beyond the Guidebook tour offers the perfect introduction to the country.
After starting in the vibrant capital of Tirana, where the buildings are painted different colours, you’ll pass through the remote Albanian Alps, visit a local qeleshe (skullcap) workshop in Kruja, down shots of raki in Permet and gawk at the incredible Ottoman architecture in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town of Berat. Plus, there’s mussel tasting on Lake Butrint, a walking tour of Shkodra and a cooking class in Korce, which just goes to show how full of surprises Albania really is.
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