Tag Archives: Architecture
Centennial Hall, Wrocław: every landmark Modernist building should have an erupting Wagner fountain
By the time we got to Wrocław, a college town in the western side of the country, we were full on loving Poland. Usually we make up a local name for HOB: in Poland he was Józef Burlequeski. I decided I also needed a Polish name, so I was Pani Slutski. Well anyway, Józef Burlequeski and I were […]
Korçë, Albania: come for the tolerance, stay for the Modernist architecture
The people of Korçë are proud of their tolerance and I like it in them. “We are a tolerant people” we heard several times and surely this is true. After all, this Southeastern town is famous for having the first girl’s school in Albania and still has an intellectual and cultured vibe (bookstores and museums, hooray!) […]
Where to store your bags of weed in the Ottoman houses of Gjirokastër
If you want to visit Zekate House, a traditional Ottoman home in Gjirokastër, Albania, walk up a steep hill, make a right, ask directions from a man tending his grape arbor, go up hill a bit more and then find the building with it’s two wood-capped towers and go inside. No, Zakate house is not locked and no one works […]
Lost in the Orientalist painting that is Gjirokastër, Albania
Our furgon (minibus) arrived in Gjirokastër, Albania in the lower part of town and since we didn’t have a map and the old city is built on a steep hill we took a taxi to our guest house. When I say we took a taxi I mean we paid a guy who was using his […]
Post-communist rainbows fade to hipster in Tirana
Here’s what happened to Tirana, Albania: communism screwed it over for 40 years, destroyed much of its historic architecture—mosques, Orthodox cathedrals and an Ottoman era baazar—and then replaced those once beautiful buildings with architectural train wrecks. Architecture train wreck case in point: this so-called Pyramid of Tirana was originally the Enver Hoxha Museum. (For those of you […]
Starlit xhiro in Berat, Albania
Now if I told you that there’s a town called Berat in Southern Albania with UNESCO protected Ottoman era houses, a romance novel-worthy castle, and an exquisite icon museum, you’d probably want to go, right? Berat is gorgeous but also relaxing and super-duper friendly. Let’s make that gorgeous, friendly, relaxing and budget friendly too—-our lovely guest […]
The Baha’i temple reminds me of….something
The first time I visited the Baha’i Temple, about ten years ago, I said “Wow! This building is so symmetrical” and then didn’t think much of it afterwords. I’d like to believe that my architectural frame of reference is more sophisticated these days, so I made another visit to the temple. This time my reaction was “Wow! […]
Transfiguration in Tbilisi
I can never resist a thrift store. Walking through a thrift store door is an act of optimism, a confidence that a few minutes of digging through racks will unearth just what I didn’t know I was looking for but what I most desire. It’s more than finding a treasure; it’s an act of recognition, […]
The Gelati Monastery in Kutaisi and an incident in our hostel involving a certain husband imbibing too much wine
I almost missed seeing Gelati Monastery because of HOB’s hangover. We’d arrived hungry in Kutaisi, Georgia, the night before and couldn’t find a well stocked grocery store. This was not a problem as the restaurants were quite cheap. We stopped in a decent looking place, and since I couldn’t read the Georgian menu, I ordered several […]
Ushguli: you will be astonished, you will be covered in mud
My hands tingled in Ushguli. Technically, this was due to the altitude: Ushguli is said to be the highest permanently inhabited location in Europe. Though these tingly fingers and my shortness of breath seemed more like symptoms of astonishment than of altitude sickness. Austere. Astonishing! Ushguli is made up of four villages strung together in the mountains of the […]
