Mirë se vini në Shqipëri – Welcome to Albania!” said the dark-haired young woman as she took our lines on the dock at Sarandë. This was Jelja Serani, our guide for the next few hours as we explored this strange (to us) land. Even though we had all travelled widely around Europe and I had spent my entire childhood sailing around the Mediterranean, none of us had explored Albania, this still-mysterious country at the heart of southern Europe, which seemed so close and yet so alien.
Of course, there’s good reason for this disjuncture. For nearly 50 years, Albania closed itself off from the Western world, and no Western visitors were allowed into the country. Its only relations were with other Communist countries, such as the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and China, and it embarked on a major cultural revolution – including banning all religions.
Growing up on a boat in Greece as a child, I spent several summers and one winter based in Corfu. I remember often gazing out over the narrow channel that separated us from this forbidden land and wondering what it was like on the other side. One year, both engines on our 48ft Silver motor yacht broke down while we were on passage from Greece to Yugoslavia (as it was then called). A strong wind was blowing from the northwest, and for more than an hour we drifted helplessly towards the Albanian coast, while my father tried to get the engines working again. All
