Does this apply to other Balkan countries too?
Posted by Antique_Birthday6380@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 94 comments
Albanians in Albania in left side and tourists in Albania in right side for those who don’t know Albanian.
sapienskarahisari@reddit
This meme applies to Türkiye as well.
DuePositive8957@reddit
My aunt suggested to traveling europe for a holiday to my mom. I had pretty high hopes of it. I’d love to see much different cultures and historical structures in europe. Because we’re an orthodox muslim family they had other plans. The whole Europe holiday was fucking Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo. And when I adked why they said “Albanian soda is very popular”
KaleidoscopeFar8190@reddit
Gotta be the worst reason to visit a nation lmao
ZAMAHACHU@reddit
Albanian soda? Wtf!?
Formal-Cup2396@reddit
Exotic fanta lol that all Balkans love to drink probably
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
I actually hate Albania
No-Example-5107@reddit
This guy gets it.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
It was dirty, power cuts, full of scammers, bad drivers. I hope I was just unlucky, I really wanted to like Albania
shpellar@reddit
It doesn’t help when dutch tourists piss on the streets either. No one in Albania does that at least.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
I dont??
shpellar@reddit
Plenty of your countrymen ended up on the news for pissing on the streets. Not saying we are perfect but we all have our retards
Ujemegaz@reddit
Spread the word friend, spread the word. Make it a religion even.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
How?
Ujemegaz@reddit
Bribe them not to come to Albania.
CountryRegular3411@reddit
Why so? Albania has beautiful old towns, restored buildings and beautiful nature
Ujemegaz@reddit
Se po na rrisin cmimet.
CountryRegular3411@reddit
Mir e ke
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Good idea, but I lack funds. Maybe find some connections in the mafia?
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
Thanks, I'm glad you didn't enjoy it. I will do my best personally to pollute and scam tourist more to prevent people from coming here. I'm already a good driver and I'll make my best to drive bad but I don't know how to cut the power more.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Thanks dude
CountryRegular3411@reddit
But albania is actually improving, which is good, power cuts are common in some balka countries.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Yeah I also got that impression
baxulax@reddit
Why?
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Why I wanted to like Albania? I think it’s normal to want to like a country you’ve never been to
OldLeda@reddit
on the other hand, I had low hopes for the netherlands after belgium, but damn it was a blast. Only good things to be said about the dutchies
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Thanks!
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
That’s sad, why though?
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
I loved Montenegro and Macedonia though
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Macedonia is really beautiful, especially western Macedonia 🇲🇰
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
The only reason why west Macedonia is beautiful if because is next to Albania
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Don’t be jealous, Macedonia is naturally beautiful and preserved unlike the neighbouring state of the west, I mean the guy described Albania pretty well no need to add anything more
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
You’re country has only Ohrid. That’s it. Your mountains are considered average in Albania. You don’t have Alps, alpine-architecture villages, proper cities with Ottoman, classical, Art Nouveau, Mediterranean whatever architecture you want, rich flora and fauna, tasty food, and let’s not even talk about the sea, you don’t even have it. So no, you are as attractive for tourists as the less touristy regions of Albania.
JovanREDDIT1@reddit
“Your mountains are considered average in Albania. You don’t have Alps, alpine architecture villages, proper cities with Ottoman, classical, Art Nouveau, mediterranean whatever architecture” You realise we share those mountains, right? Plus, sure we may not have very many classical towns but Ottoman is everywhere. Skopje did turn to kitsch shit architecturally after Skopje 2014 but there are many other towns that look very nice, apart from Ohrid. I highly encourage you to research a bit and visit for yourself so that you can judge. Look up Krushevo, Vevchani, Bitola and Prilep to name a few, or for nature there’s Mavrovo and Galicica among others.
Oh also the food, since I guess our food is soooooo different, it’s not like every single balkan country has an almost identical cuisine. But sure, yours is better. /s for people that really need it.
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
Dude what food is similar? You make tomato salad with sunflower oil and vinegar is disgusting. Our food is way different. Ours has a lot more options. From all Slavic cuisine I would definitely prefer Bulgarian because has more options and Serbian because of their grilled stuff it's great. But yours is better than Croatia though, I'll give you that.
TheSunflowerSeeds@reddit
Not all plants are completely edible. However, you can actually consume the entire sunflower in one form or another. Right from the root to the petals.
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
We share the same mountain range, of course the Dinaric one, but we should admit that the most attractive and highest points of these Alps are located in Albania, with the highest peak at Jezerce. Now, no offense, but Mavrovo or the Sar Mountains can’t really be compared to the Accursed Mountains. Not that they’re ugly, but they have a smaller “wow” factor for a tourist than the Accursed Mountains.
Okay, let’s make an exception, Bitola (Manastir) is also beautiful as a small city, and Prilep has a nice center, but that’s about it. Again, the other towns or villages aren’t ugly. It’s just that in Albania they are better preserved and therefore more attractive.
I’ve tried Macedonian food and I liked it, but let’s make a comparison: Macedonian cuisine is more influenced by Slavic cuisines (Serbian and Bulgarian), which are considered average, your food also have a lot of influence from Turkey, but still.
Now compare that with Albania, which is influenced by some of the best cuisines in the world: Italian, Greek, and Turkish, and the quality, both of seafood and food in general, is very high.
Now let’s be honest, we border countries with some of the best cuisines in the world and are strongly influenced by them, while also having a wide variety of our own traditional foods. Even then you can’t really compare this to us in this regard.
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Obviously someone is salty that not everyone like al-bania, so I know Macedonia is landlocked but that’s literally the only thing that’s lacking, mountains are beautiful, beautiful lakes, perfect for cuisine that has influences from Balkan,Italian,Middle eastern/turkish cuisines, astonishing diversity in people,religion and cultures, from Macedonian,Turkish,Aromanian,Roma,Albanian,Bulgarian,etc. Macedonia literally sits are the central Balkans and is influenced by everyone, I didn’t even mention anything about Albania but you decided to be jealous and hateful for no reason just because the guy I replied to said Macedonia is beautiful (alongside a bunch of salty and envious Greeks) I don’t get your problem? Did your country first before you worry about Macedonia
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
That’s what did you said 20 minutes ago…
IdealJaded9298@reddit
The guy I replied this to tried to say Macedonia is only beautiful because of the Albanians there, so if I say Albania is only beautiful where the small Macedonian minority is in eastern Albania how would you feel?
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
He said that its beautiful because it borders with albania, not because of Albanians living in NM. Read the sentence again.
hubbabubbameqershi@reddit
It's his opinion, he's entitled to it. Doesn't make the statement universally true. I didn't see a difference in preservation between Albania and N Macedonia, in fact Albanian wild side is getting to the point it was during communism because it was destroyed in the beginning of the 90s. I'm not saying N Macedonia isn't beautiful, but is very limited in contrast with Albania there isn't much diversity.
OhWellImRightAgain@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Macedonia
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Obviously I mean the western part of the country Macedonia, no one cares about your region
OhWellImRightAgain@reddit
Well you care enough to name your country after it
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Cope and seethe Macedonia 🇲🇰 isn’t going anywhere
OhWellImRightAgain@reddit
awww you sound mad, sorry I upset you
IdealJaded9298@reddit
You got triggered by the word Macedonia but I understand you’re always going to be jealous but ofc that aside, jealousy is a illness of the mind so you gotta go work on it and maybe Macedonia won’t trigger your Greek tears to run down , anyways you’re always welcome to visit beautiful Macedonia 🇲🇰.
OhWellImRightAgain@reddit
Damn, I was joking but you actually are mad.
Imagine calling someone jealous after that pathetic attempt to claim someone else's history lmao. The irony....
Go name an airport Alexander the Great, that will make you direct descendants to someone important, don't waste time on Reddit!
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Go clean toilets in Germany for 500euro to pay off your debt, failed and fake state, go name your airport to Otto
OhWellImRightAgain@reddit
That's a funny sentence considering Greece has 3 >>TIMES<< higher GDP per capita than your country lmao
You're hilarious. Talking about debt and GPD as one of the poorest countries in the western world. You don't even have airplanes to defend your airspace, Greece does that for you.
Again, no reason to be mad. You'll join the first world soon.
IdealJaded9298@reddit
What a surprise that a country that is larger is richer than a country that is being bullied by most of its neighbours, had a late independence from a state that collapsed is poorer!
And you know none of your neighbours like you right, that means you’re the problem just saying because people need to be upfront with most Greeks as they can’t catch up otherwise, we were poor from the beginning but unlike you and your fake state, we dont lie our way in the EU and won’t do that as we have you for example of how low a country like Greece can go, your country lives off tourism because everywhere else you’re lacking, and you are gonna patrol the air because that’s your job as there was an agreement, so be a good boy and get back to cleaning your German master toilet (or do kebabs like your ancestors did) so you can send some money to your poor state, you know it’s bad when countries like Hungary,Bulgaria and Croatia caught up to you and will even surpass you, I’d be embarrassed if I was you
OhWellImRightAgain@reddit
Awww you don't know what per capita means either
Oh so you're poorer but chose to talk about wealth and debt? Lmao you're not very smart, are you?
LMAO saying this after just having said this:
is hilarious, literally made me laugh out loud.
That's as far as I'm willing to read, stop typing whole paragraphs and name a street Alexander
IdealJaded9298@reddit
Yeah get back to making more kebabs and clean some more toilets for a few euro poor orthoturk
Anto11x@reddit
😒
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Yes exactly
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
It was dirty, power cuts, full of scammers, bad drivers. I hope I was just unlucky, I really wanted to like Albania
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
Unlucky, some tourists are sometimes unlucky. Visiting again would definitely change your experience.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
I didn’t go to the tourist resorts though, I actually met Albanians and lived in Airbnbs, not authentic Albania but it gives an insight
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
Which places did you visited, just curious?
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Tirana, Gjirokastra, Lezhë, Shkodër, Theth, and Korçë
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
Ehh, to be honest, it seems you’ve visited the most touristy places, and apart from maybe Tirana and Lezha, these other places are quite clean and attractive.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Gjirokastra was clean, yes, comparatively. But it was nowhere as clean as many places in Montenegro
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
When I was in Montenegro, I didn’t notice any difference compared to Albania in this aspect. I’ve also seen as much trash as you like in Italy, and scammers too, something that is still practically nonexistent in Albania. That didn’t ruin my experience of that beautiful country. If you’re not a bit open minded, i don’t know what to tell you. Visit it again, maybe you’ll change your opinion 👋.
Admirable_Gas1653@reddit
Good idea, I will
Adept-One-4632@reddit
This is the case in Romania.
I saw many people saying they had a good time in Romania, while us Romanians love to bitch about living in this country.
It's a normal thing
Formal-Cup2396@reddit
Guess we have things in common
Hopeful_Addition7834@reddit
I saw this strongly in Spain. The only people that don't like it are locals. Not Balkans, but that is where I saw it.
Live-Method-219@reddit
Unless you are Chinese tourist, they get robbed regularly in Barcelona
bluexxbird@reddit
I was surprised to find that beside the occasional curious stares in small villages, Albanians in general don't seem hostile to Asians.
I've been to many places in Europe and have lived here for decades, Albania (and Greece) felt like a breath of fresh air for me, in terms of experiences with the locals. For touristic places and restaurants, of course they will take advantage of people wherever they could, but not because I'm Asian and they do the same to all tourists.
In Italy and some parts of France I have the worst experiences....
Live-Method-219@reddit
Albanians and Yugoslavian know China for being cold war era allies, plus Yugoslavian NAM (Yu, Egypt, India, Ghana and Indonesia were original founders)
Hopeful_Addition7834@reddit
Possible.
The only place I was pickpocketed in my life was in Spain.
Salt_Fennel8876@reddit
This is a classic joke: "A man dies and goes to Heaven. Everything is peaceful—birds are singing, angels are playing harps, and everything is clean and quiet. After two weeks, however, the man starts getting a bit bored. He goes to Saint Peter and asks:
"Saint Peter, it’s beautiful here, really, but is it possible to go on a short excursion to Hell? Just to see what it's like."
"No problem," Saint Peter replies. "Here is your pass. I’ll expect you back in 10 days."
The man goes down to Hell and can’t believe his eyes—it's a non-stop party! Tables are overflowing with gourmet food and expensive drinks, there’s music, beautiful women etc. He has the best ten days of his life.
He returns to Heaven, but he can't settle in anymore. After another week, he goes back to Saint Peter:
"Saint Peter, I’ve made a final decision—I want to move to Hell permanently. It’s just too quiet for me here."
"Are you sure?" the Saint asks. "Once you go back there, there is no coming back."
"I'm sure! Sign the papers!"
The papers are signed, the man packs his bags, and crosses the gates of Hell. But as soon as he enters, two huge, hideous demons grab him, chain him up, and throw him into a cauldron of boiling tar. All around him, other sinners are screaming in agony, and a devil starts prodding him with a pitchfork.
The man starts yelling:
"Wait! There must be some mistake! Where are the girls? Where is the booze? Where is the party from last week?!"
The devil looks at him, grins, and says:
"Ah, my friend...Don't confuse a tourist with a local!"
bluexxbird@reddit
Albania is beautiful, the people are very nice. However the infrastructure is terrible and salary is too low compared to the living expenses they have to endure. They have the most expensive petrol prices in Europe!!!
hero_in_@reddit
It applies to each counrry of the whole world
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
Yeah i know that, but again, some countries that are very touristy ultimately have a much higher standard of living than countries in the Balkans.
dwartbg9@reddit
Not really. Here's some of the most visited countries in the world are. We all know things aren't very pretty for locals over there hahah. (Order is random)
France (we all know, I prefer not to speak.gif)
Turkey (lovely economy, inflation and lovely dictator)
Greece (we know about it too)
Mexico (poverty and liveleak)
Spain and Italy (lovely unemployment, bureaucracy and stagnated economies. Italian salaries haven't moved in like 15 years. Southern Italy nowadays has worse and poorer parts than most of the Balkans).
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit (OP)
Every country in world also has the poor and rich parts, that doesn’t mean that they are dirt poor and in shambles. Still in the end of the day an average person would choose Milan to Bulgaria and Madrid to Albania. We are not even talking about France which is better economically than Spain and Italy, let alone other countries.
hero_in_@reddit
Again, a person visiting Madrid for tourims would likeky be much more happy than a person who is living in Madrid and returning from work.
maximhar@reddit
Madrid is actually a bad example - it’s nothing special for tourism, but pretty good for living in.
Not sure I’d pick Milan over Sofia though, especially as a skilled professional.
PVanchurov@reddit
I'd never recommend going to Madrid for tourism tbh, I'd be happier as a tourist in Tehran.
That being said, Toledo, Valencia, Seville, Cordoba, Zaragoza, etc.. Would fit this exaplme.
hero_in_@reddit
So people living in Valencia and going to their job are more happy or less happy than the tourists who are in vacation? I dont get it
PVanchurov@reddit
Madrid is a shit city for tourism.
cameliap@reddit
Not true.
konschrys@reddit
Except maybe Monaco, Switzerland, Luxembourg and some gulf states if you only take the native population into consideration.
Hopeful_Addition7834@reddit
Italians seem to be the opposite.
It is a shithole place, but the locals act like they invented the whole world. While half of their country looks like some gypsy ghetto in Slovakia.
MartinBP@reddit
Bulgarians talk about Bulgaria like it's Afghanistan, even though their only frame of reference is literally the richest part of Europe. Tourists usually either go to the seaside to get drunk and don't remember much about the country or go backpacking and enjoy it a lot. Having visited most Balkan countries, we don't know how good we have it.
zzettaaaa@reddit
I’m from Kazakhstan,and I really liked your country.Tirana is such a modern city
theDivic@reddit
Of course, I would also love snorting coke with prostitutes in Belgrade like most tourists do.
Actually it I think about it I could do it now.
CrowGow@reddit
Jokes on you, I liked Albania and Macedonia because my country is even worse
RedLemonSlice@reddit
Live-Method-219@reddit
Yes. Just send tourists to do most basic administrative task on their own, they will return with PTSD
TheMediumJanet@reddit
If it means what I think it means, it 100% applies to Turkey
EnvironmentalPhoto73@reddit
No, Albania is so special
Forward-Rub-8187@reddit
Cant wait to visit Albania! Hopefully next summer!