A Short History of Albania

Albania is a young state with a long history. Although its lineage stretches back thousands of years to the Illyrian peoples who long inhabited the eastern Adriatic coastline, the modern country only celebrated its 100 year anniversary last November.

Vermosh

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.

Ticket purchased, hostel confirmed, ready to go...

After weeks of feet-dragging and hand-wringing, I finally booked my ticket today to Podgorica for the 31st of July, my first stop en route to Vermosh, the village where I'll be working in May. For the next month or so leading up to my trip, and hopefully during my time in Albania, I'll be using this blog to write about the group that has organized this project, the Balkan Peace Park Project (B3P), news about the region, and ongoing information about what I'm doing both in preparation and, once again, hopefully some updates once I'm there.