Vermosh, the northernmost village in Albania, has only been settled permanently for a little more than a hundred years, but it lies in a region with thousands of years of complicated and intermingled history. The more I learn about it, the more excited I become to have the opportunity to travel there next month, because Vermosh seems to represent the Balkan region and Albanian history in so many interesting ways.


After anti-communist demonstrations brought down the government in 1991, the floodgates to the outside world opened. In the 1990s, the town had between 1300 and 1400 residents, but today, out of 550 homes, 200 lay unoccupied. Most left for the USA or Western Europe, with many of the some 500 former inhabitants now live in Detroit. Remittances from relatives living abroad are still a major source of income for those remaining in Vermosh.
Despite its history, Vermosh has a lot to offer. "Stunning landscapes and grand vistas of the dramatic Alps make this village a true paradise on the earth." The village is located over 1000 meters above sea level, in a dramatic eponymous Alpine valley, surrounded by the Accursed Mountains, a range that lofts above Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro. It is also famous its for varieties of plant and dairy products, and for its unique status as an enclave of Catholicism within mostly Muslim Albania.

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