Back in Sarandë, one of our group noticed that all of the
television aerials were pointing to the west, towards Italy rather
than Tirana. Doubtless, they could receive broadcasts from Italian
stations. I often wonder what comparisons the illicit users of
these aerials made of the life outside isolationist Albania -
especially the version portrayed on Italian programmes. By
viewing Italian, or any other foreign broadcasts, ordinary
Albanians would have put themselves at risk from getting into
considerable trouble with the authorities.
Our unpredictable itinerary took us inland from Sarandë, and
northward. Whilst driving through the mountains towards Durrës,
one of Albania’s two principal sea ports (the other being Vlorë,
which we were not allowed to visit as it was an important naval
base: one much coveted by both the Russians and the Chinese),
we passed a sign to a village, whose name Karen recognised. She
knew that it was inhabited by members of Albania’s tiny Greek
speaking community. She asked the driver to stop, which he did.
With some reluctance, Julian and his Albanian colleagues, Eduart
and Aferdita, allowed the driver to take us off the main road and
along the rough track leading into the centre of the village. The
buildings in the village, which differed little in appearance from
other small places, which we had passed, were plastered with
political slogans in Greek rather than Albanian. Karen translated
some of them for us. On arrival in the village, the driver made a
u-turn and returned towards the main road without stopping. I
doubt that many of those who were travelling with me realised
that we had just glimpsed something which the Albanians were
not keen to show us. I noticed that the two men, who admitted
that they were only visiting the country as part of their attempt to
visit every nation on the map, were fast asleep. Some days later,
Karen pointed out to me a copy of a Greek version of the
Albania’s only state newspaper “Zeri I Popullit” lying on a table
in the lobby of a hotel.
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