I have just returned from a wonderful if rather busy two-part holiday, starting in Albania and continuing in Italy.

The Albanian leg was comprised of six nights in the capital Tirana, then four nights at a coastal resort, Himarë in the south and a final night at an airport hotel back in Tirana for an early flight to Naples.

This was an opportunity for my wife and I to spend time with my sister and family, who were in Albania at the same time with a couple of their friends from the UK, and some friends living in Tirana who were keen to take us to see some sights.

As always, I enjoyed taking a notebook and pens for some travel journaling. This was a Leuchtturm A5 journal and three recent fountain pen purchases: the Radius Settimo, an Aurora Style and a Faber-Castell school pen (the carbon black version). I was not planning on any expensive pen purchases, (my stash having reached saturation point) although I do like visiting any fountain pen shops I find whenever travelling. I did not bring any bottled ink but just spare cartridges for the Aurora and Faber-Castell.

I was last in Albania 30 years ago. Since then Tirana has expanded considerably. Back then, the Tirana International Hotel in the main square may have been the only building of 15 storeys, but now there are numerous high rise buildings. The drive into the city from the airport was unrecognisable.

Our family and friends were very generous with their time in showing us around and in driving us to towns further afield. A good starting point is Mt Dajti, the peak accessible by cable car, from which you get a good overview of Tirana. During our time in Albania, we were also to visit Kruje, Berat (a UNESCO World Heritage city), Belshi, Lushnje and Vlore, as well as Himarë on the Albanian Riviera.

In terms of fountain pen shops, I did not find many. I had identified a good, large, stationery shop in Tirana, a “Kanceleri” a short walk from our accommodation. This also sold art materials. The pens (as I was to find in other smaller Kanceleri later) were almost all ball pens, gel, rollerball and fine liners although the larger store had a selection of Schneider cartridge pens. Tirana also has a Montblanc shop although I did not venture inside.

I found that the department store, “Coin” (located near the university and the lake park in Tirana) has a Pineider section selling fountain pens and leather goods. There I handled a nice Pineider Classic fountain pen in Bordeaux with rose gold plated section and magnetic cap at 260 Euros but managed to refrain from buying it.

On this trip, I developed a habit of travel sketching almost every day which I found very absorbing and enjoyable. I had brought a simple box of Daler Rowney water colours, an A5 sketch book (nothing fancy, but with 160 pages of 140gsm, cream coloured plain paper) and a selection of Derwent waterbrushes. Sometimes I would sketch outdoors (“plein air” as they say in the business) or sometimes from a photo taken earlier in the day. I have been inspired recently by several artists on Instagram, including Terry Christopherson (@thetravelsketcher), @tobysketchloose and @matttyburnhamart and am soaking up their tips and ideas. Before this holiday I had not tried the waterbrushes but they are game-changing! They are easy to carry and mean you can whip out your paint box without worrying about balancing a pot of water somewhere.

We were in Albania for only 11 days which does not make me an expert, but I left with countless memories, images and impressions. The Albanians are a proud people with a long history: you see the distinctive red and black Albanian flag everywhere. The communist regime was overturned decades ago but there are still reminders of the communist era, such as in some remaining concrete bunkers around the countryside. There is a museum devoted to the history of the secret police and its covert surveillance activities on the population (“The House of Leaves”) and an underground tunnel museum about the communist era.

At the time of our visit there were daily anti-government protest rallies in Tirana attracting huge numbers of Albanians, young and old, angered by the government’s intention to sell for a development, linked to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, an uninhabited island and a beloved coastal area which is an important nature reserve for pink flamingos. Banners read “Albania is not for sale!” Although there is a police presence, these protests all appeared entirely peaceful.

Personally, I enjoyed a holiday with a break from politics and doom-scrolling. The beaches and coastline in the south of Albania offered some excellent swimming. I also returned with enough photos to keep me sketching Albania for months to come!

At the end of our stay, we took a short flight from Tirana to Naples and a ferry to the Amalfi coast for the second leg of our holiday. This will be a subject for my next post.