Alice Taylor

2 weeks ago | aliceinalbania.com | Alice Taylor

As we left the town of Mamurras, the road took us across several canals and a main road before turning off onto a flat plain with nothing but rolling fields of crops and poppies to accompany us. The smell of sulfur trailed away, replaced by the faint odour of cattle, flowers, and the dry, slightly sweet scent of grass and recently ploughed earth.

3 weeks ago | aliceinalbania.com | Alice Taylor

Opinion - Society - Travel If you ask people about Shetel, the majority will not know what or where you are talking about. A small village, not far from Shijak in Durres county, Shetel is barely even on the map, clinging onto the modern world with slippery fingers in the same way its small, stone houses cling onto the side of the hill on which it sits.

3 weeks ago | aliceinalbania.com | Alice Taylor

In 1902, the brothers Mura and Ali Biceri, along with Met and Mustafa Meme, discovered a trove of treasure nestled in a field not far from Vrap, a remote village outside of Tirana. Where it came from, who it belongs to, and what happened to it are topics that remain mysterious and subject to many theories, but one of the common ideas is that it dates from the 6th century and belonged to the Avars of Obrai, the Bulgarian Slavs who at one time were present in the area.

3 weeks ago | aliceinalbania.com | Alice Taylor

Mamurras is not known for much, but when I have heard about it, it has often been in relation to murders or crime. Considering most of Albania is safe and crime-free unless you are a drug dealer or trafficker, you must have worked quite hard over the years to get this reputation, considering its small size and relative obscurity. It came as no surprise to me then that my reason for visiting Mamurras was to track down the location of a century-old murder, long solved but still shrouded in mystery.

4 weeks ago | aliceinalbania.com | Alice Taylor

A short drive out of Korce, on the long and winding road to Voskopoje, is the small village of Gjonmadh. The smooth road twists and turns through the countryside, rising through the bushes and trees, stripy fields full of corn, flowers, and fruits, and large cliffs that rise and fall on either side. As you reach the hill’s summit, your eyes are immediately drawn to a large, red canyon on the right. Jagged orange and red rocks protrude from the foliage and descend deep into the valley below.