Travel and places

This is based on personal experience during a short trip to Albania, basically the capital Tirana, and cities in the riviera: Vlorë, Sarandë, and Ksamil. None of the information or links below is promotional or paid advertising.

The country is beautiful but at the time of writing has experienced a massive increase in tourism in a relatively short timespan. That may introduce some annoyances to tourists: it is sometimes difficult to find an English-speaker, while you can certainly find many people who speak Italian. In many places, only cash is accepted as a form of payment.

If you are gluten or lactose intolerant, it is best to buy whatever you need in Tirana before venturing into other cities.

Tips for the lactose-intolerant

You can find soy milk in many shops, in 1-liter cartons, even outside in Tirana and sometimes even in minimarkets. Larger supermarkets may even have rice and almond milk, specially in Tirana. Outside of Tirana we basically only found soy milk, but no other vegetable milk products such as almond yogurt, which you can basically only find in the capital. Smaller cartons of vegetable milk, say of 200ml or 500ml can be found in "bio" shops in Tirana such as BioJu.

If you want your coffee with vegetable milk, you will have to bring your own to the coffee shop. Espresso coffee is served in small cups. You can ask for an espresso in a large cup and ask the barista to heat your own vegetable milk. We found only one large chain of coffee shops, named Mulliri, that serves coffee with soy milk (frappes, etc.) and they are only present at the airport and in large cities.

We could not find cheese made with vegetable milk anywhere. One can ask for a vegetarian pizza without cheese at most restaurants, even small ones: they will give you a weird look but serve it.

Tip for the gluten-intolerant

You can find gluten-free products of the "Schär" brand in Neranxi and other "bio" shops in Tirana, and in some large supermarkets such as the "Conad" in the very center of Tirana.

A great place you must visit is Panja Tirana, which is a gluten-free lactose-free bakery serving bread and delicious cakes, pastries, and icecream.

We could not find any gluten-free bread outside of Tirana. In one bakery, we asked someone to translate for us to Albanian, and the baker did not know was gluten was. There are initiatives such as glutenfreealbania.com collecting resources and trying to raise awareness of this issue.

Tips for vegans

There are few dishes in the local cuisine that sometimes are vegan: falafel (if you order without tzatziki), dolma (vine leaves, but ask, because in some cases they have minced meat) and stuffed peppers (which also in some cases have minced meat). In many places, you can ask for spaghetti with pasta with just tomato sauce, or french fries, or white rice, or many salads without feta cheese that are made with tasty local veggies.

Some restaurants that we tried that had nice vegan dishes:

• Edua in Gjirokaster has nice vegan and vegetarian versions of local dishes.
• Veggies in Tirana has many vegetarian and vegan dishes, including an amazing mushroom truffle sushi.
• Gjelber in Tirana also has many vegetarian and vegan options including bowls and wraps.

Finally, let me remark we did enjoy Albania, people are nice and kind, and the mountains and beaches are stunning.

At the end of every year I usually try to write a summary for my travelogue but 2020 and 2021 have been ... special. Anyway, it was interesting to try to summarize two years with a few photos, and here is the result.

Year 2021 was marked by three important events: two of them happy, one sad. The sad one was that my father in law, Ramon Leyton, passed away in August 2021. The happy ones were that we moved to a nice penthouse with a sunny terrace, and that I got tenured.

Year 2020 was the year of the lockdown due to COVID-19. Right before it I co-organized a large conference in Barcelona. During the lockdown, I learned to cook and to do nail stamping, live streamed DJ sets, and enjoyed some quiet time with Fabiola. After the lockdown we were able to do small trips inside Catalonia.

If you're a vegetarian/vegan travelling to Barcelona, here is some advice.

As much as I love Barcelona, I recognize the place is far from Germany or the Netherlands in terms of veg-friendliness, but it is an easier place than the rest of Spain and most of France. There are tons of vegetarian/vegan restaurants, you can check the very reliable Happy Cow Barcelona for a quite extensive list.

If you are a vegetarian, at most regular restaurants you have to say that you don't eat meat AND you don't eat fish, even if you ask for a green salad. In many places, the green salad has tuna. Say that you are a vegan (vegano), if they don't get it, try strict vegetarian (vegetariano estricto).

If you go for tapas, the vegan tapas are:

• Patatas bravas, and the all-i-oli sauce that looks like mayonaise is actually vegan in many places, it is just garlic and oil. You have to ask if the sauce has eggs (huevos).
• Pa amb tomaquet, or bread and tomato.
• Pimientos del padrón, which are delicious green peppers
• Setas or alcachofas fritas, mushrooms or fried artichokes, which are rare tapas, sometimes available in some places

There are some nice fast-food restaurants and bars in Ciutat Vella, the old part of Barcelona, which are very yummy. My favorites are Gopal which has burger take-away and a couple of tables to eat there, and Cat Bar which is an English-speaking vegetarian/vegan bar with lots of local beers to taste. In another neighborhood, Gracia, there is this very small juice bar, Quinoa Bar, which also has great sandwiches. Also in Gracia, a good friend of us has a delicious take-away vegan shop called Vegetart, which has vegan versions of traditional Catalan food.

If you are up for a restaurant, I like Teresa Carles and Biocenter, both are nice and casual. For Indian food, VegWorld is a great choice.

If your travel partners insist on a traditional Catalan restaurant, the least bad alternative in my opinion is the Mussol; I once had nice grilled avocados there, you can have a veggie grill, and if you're lucky you can get to try the grilled soft scallions called "calçots" which are delicious.

If you're up for a short trip outside Barcelona, in winter, there are two Catalan towns who have their traditional "fiesta" around two delicious local products which are vegan. Artichoke lovers should not miss the Carxofada de Sant Boi, while those who like calçots can enjoy the Calçotada de Valls.

Enjoy Barcelona!

Somebody told us you can find fresh vegetables and plants in Qatar directly from a producer that has lots of greenhouses. It is possible.

The place is worth a visit for a chance of seeing so much vegetation in such a dry place. Plants here are much cheaper than the price of the ones you find in the shopping malls. There is also a small selection of vegetables (the minimum you have to buy is one kilogram) that varies with the season.

We went on a Saturday morning and they closed around 12:30. I don't know what are the opening times in other days. You can only pay in cash.

How to get there:

The place is named "Arab Qatari Agricultural Co." the entrance is at these coordinates: 25.36681, 51.24544.

View Larger Map

Take Al Rayyan road towards the west. Continue on the highway to Dukhan past Education City on your left. Then you will pass a palace on your left, the Amiri guard on your left, then a large roundabout with a stadium (Al Rayyan Sports Club) on your right.

The next roundabout (a few kilometers ahead) is marked with signs for the Camel Racing tracks. Exit on that roundabout and immediately turn right, entering a road that goes back to Doha parallel to the highway and very close to it. Pass a Woqod petrol station on your left. Then you will find on your left the Arab Qatari place. There is a barrier there.

Ask them if they sell plants, they will say yes and open the barrier. Go inside, buy your plants and veggies, keep the receipts (they will ask for them on the way back), and enjoy!

Fotos: Foursquare, Fabiola.