Hi dear steemers,
As a super jazz fan, I want to talk to you today about a lovely event that takes place in Albania every spring now. It's called the Jazz Train and it is organized by Hemingway Bar (from Tirana) with its very interesting, art-loving crew!
Hundreds of people dressed up like in the 20s, or 40s (depending from the year's code) gather together and hop on an old train where there are talented bands playing live jazz and a lot of qualitative rum for your enjoyment. This is how I looked like last spring:
(Photo credits: dear boyfriend)
I was really so happy every second of that day! All of it is such a joyful time to share with friends, or new friends. All the time dancing, or hugging, or waving at the walkers as we pass by beautiful nature and villages of Albania. The train rides quite slowly which makes the journey even more enjoyable! Just like in the old days!
The train departs in Tirana (capital of Albania) to stop in Shkodra (city north of Albania) where a jazz concert with special bands from Albania and abroad awaits us. There we go then! We finish the day with a lovely evening at one of the national theaters dancing the night to jazz music.
After that, most people choose to stay in Shkodra for the night and spend the next day in one of the best cities in the country. Shkodra, apart from its historical values and beautiful castle, it offers great cafes and is well known for being since forever the most bike-friendly city of Albania. So there are a lot of small street and sites to explore.
Here is a picture with my beloved boyfriend:
The people being part of the event are becoming more and more international now. I think it will soon become like a touristic attraction or something ;-). As for me, I strongly recommend it to everybody out there. It makes for a great way to get to have some real Albanian experience because through it you get to know not only the sites and cities, but you are having lovely conversations with locals and with internationals who have chosen to live in Albania for good. So, yes, visit me guys :-).
Herein below I am inserting some more pictures which I took from the official Facebook pages of Hemingway Fan Club Albania and the talented photographer Elvin Shytaj:
I hope you enjoyed it Steemers.
