Having finally reached Tirana, I was taken around by Alba, and was pleasantly surprised at the city's progress since last year.
The city's new mayor is an artist, who considers the city as his canvass.
His recipe for raising city morale is to paint it in bright colours.
Red and yellow are his particular favourites.
Not even the government ministries have escaped.
The Albanian national hero is a 15th century warlord known as Skenderbeg.
Mother Theresa was ethnically-Albanian, so the Sisters of Charity order is quite strong here.
The central park has received a facelift, and the illegal kiosks have been removed.
Tirana remains a small town, and the countryside is not far away.
The relics of Albania's Stalinist past still stand - this is the National Museum.
This used to be the Museum of Enver Hoxha, containing everything the Albanian dictator ever touched. Now it is a youth-centre, and where the drugs-dealers hang out.
Even the pro-atheism campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s didn't have the heart to destroy this beautiful 15th century mosque.
