The sights of Tirana

One of the projects Piet is working on is located in Albania. Last week he had to go over to Tirana (the capital) for a meeting in the Albanian office of the company that is operating an exploration concession in the mountains. It was his second visit, and this time he had a morning off, so he and a colleague went exploring the sights of Tirana.

This was a rather disappointing experience, as there are hardly any historic buildings or other places of touristic interest. They wandered around for a few hours and spent most of their time enjoying the favourite Tirana pastime: having coffee on a roadside terrace. The city has a modern appearance, with a touch of the orient (chaotic traffic!), and at first sight is pleasant and safe. Our Albanian colleagues are very knowledgeable and a somewhat unruly bunch, but a lot of fun to work with. Next time Piet will hopefully have a change to visit the interior near historic Berat, where all the real (oil exploration) activity is happening.

Skanderbeg Square, with his statue and the National History Museum

Tabak Bridge, one of the very few old structures in Tirana

Modern Tirana, a typical trendy cafe

Et'hem Bey Mosque, build around 1800

Modern Tirana: a roadside kiosk selling newspapers

Italy

The last 2 years Piet has been working on several projects in Italy (from The Hague), and his team organised a geological fieldtrip to look at some of the rocks in real life. It was a partial repeat of the trip of last year (post of 22 September 2011), followed by a few days on Sicily. The weather was perfect, the rocks interesting, the food excellent and the company good: not a bad week in the office! The highlight was a visit to Marettimo island, off the west coast of Sicily. The geology was intriguing, but it was very windy, and the ferry was unable to pick them up in the afternoon. So the group had to stay behind, find accommodation, buy toothbrushes and enjoy life (not too difficult in a place like that!). The next morning the ferry could land and that whole day was spent getting back to The Netherlands, well bronzed and ready for a long dark winter!

The Amalfi coast, near Naples 

Geology in action; our trip leader Rafa sharing his knowledge 

Geology in action: studying a rockface in Sicily

The interior of Sicily, farmers are burning the remaining straw

The harbour of Marettimo island

Mary is riding Beau in Meijendel, Wassenaar