Durres - last week

We’ll be leaving Durres a few days earlier than originally planned. The building is undergoing some sort of construction. We’ve never seen the actual construction taking place, but OMG we have heard it. The grinding sound has been so loud we’re almost in tears, even with earplugs and headphones. We’d hoped that it would be done by the time we returned from the Balkan tour, but no such luck. We then rented a “day” apartment to have somewhere to get away from it. The apt had a nice water view and I loved sitting in the “sunroom”. Some of the noise seemed to follow us because they are working on the waterfront promenade and it’s sometimes pretty noisy, although being on the 11th floor.
View from the 11th floor

Although the view from the hairdresser (while waiting for the colour to set) was better

I like these statues on the waterfront listed as “the Rolling Stones”

Durres street at night

Yesterday I walked up to the villa of King Zog, this is what the plaque says:
“The Royal Residence in Durrés was initially conceived as a Presidential Residence in 1925, intended to serve as the state's
ceremonial villa. To meet the standards required for such a representative structure, it was decided that the residence would be
built atop the hill, offering one of the most impressive views of-the Bay of Durrës.
Following the proclamation of the Albanian Monarchy and the coronation of Ahmet Zogu as King of the Albanians in 1928, the
building was renamed the "'Royal Summer Residence." Construction began in 1926 and was completed in 1937, just a few months before King Zog's marriage to Queen Géraldine de Nagyappony on April 27, 1938.
Before the final version of the building, designed by architect Florestano di Fausto, three alternative designs had been proposed by Armando Brasini, Hans Köhler, and Kristo Sotiri.
According to some sources, the residence was a gift to the King from the business community of Durrës; other accounts suggest it was a contribution from the Italian government, aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations between Albania and Italy.”

It’s easy to see that it was one a beautiful mansion; sadly, abandoned and crumbling.

And beautiful views through the various windows and from numerous terraces. There’s a terrace off almost every room on every floor.

I couldn’t find out why it was abandoned other than references to communist rule.

On the way back I snapped a few pics of the concrete bunkers, relics from the communist era

Today, I took a nice walk to the reservoir

In my usual effort to take a different route back, I walked all the way around the reservoir and, then took the ugly mind-numbing garbage-ridden way home.