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Destinations

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Albania doesn’t have a great international reputation. It’s famed for its mafia, drug trade and human trafficking. Naturally, this image raises the question of whether it’s safe to travel here. After two weeks in Albania and I can tell you: it is.

Dogs are not usually treated well in Albania. Anyone who has lived in Albania will have a horror story you don’t want to hear. For more than a week, it broke my heart. When I had a chance to visit a dog shelter in Vlore, I took it. I wanted to see something positive.

If you were a rich and famous film maker would you build a little wooden village on a hill and invite “creative and like-minded” people to visit? Probably not. But Serbian director Emir Kusturica did and the result is the eerie and surreal town of Drvengrad.