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Tirana, The castle of Petrela
Unused 1988 card, bilingual Albanian/English captions, from the transitional period. Grade: 1
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Tirana, night view with fountains
Unused Aeditions card 456. Grade: 1
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Tirana, Skanderbeg statue and square
Unused Aeditions card 867. Grade: 1
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Tirana, overview, park
Unused Aeditions card 706. Grade: 1
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Tirana, The Park of the Youth
Unused card from 1989, the country’s transition period. Grade: 1
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Tirana, Museum of National History
This 1983 card shows a general view of the hall of the National Renaissance. It has most of the 1984 postmark. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the stamp is gone and the card has been very heavily handled over the years. To be honest, if you just want a space-filling card from Albania’s Communist era, this would be it. Grade: 5
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In the Great Park of Tirana
Unused card from 1988, what we are calling the transitional period. We look at the photo, and the people, and wonder: what were they thinking about? Two cards are available. One is unmarked (Grade: 1, $6) and the other has a 1988 message on the back (Grade: 3, $3).
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View of Tirana
Unused 1988 card, now a historical relic. Grade: 1.
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Tirana, snow
Looks like our item 20501013–same photo, different type font–but here it is again, Winter in Tirana on unused Arba card 338. Grade: 1
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Tirana, central
Unused Aeditions card 753. Grade: 1
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Tirana, overview 748
Aeditions card 748, mailed from Tirana in 2016 with two stamps, blue bilingual Me Aeroplan label, and postmark. Grade: 1
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Tirana, Twin Towers
Once again, the postcard’s captions told us nothing, but a quick online search took care of that. One source writes: “The Twin Towers, located in the center of Tirana, are considered the most luxurious buildings in the city. These two 15-story glass buildings are situated close to one other and have the same design and colors, which is the reason they are called “twins’.” Well, yes, we can understand that. As a bonus, the towers flank one of the brightly coloured buildings for which Tirana is also famous. Unused Aeditions card 570. Grade: 1
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Valbona Valley, National Park
Oh the clean air … Unused Aeditions card 820. Grade: 1
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Vlora beach
This is one of our favourite Vlora postcards, only because they managed to make this look like one of the least accessible beaches in the world. Who knows, it may be, because we didn’t get to see it. Unused Arba card 436. Grade: 1
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Vlora, view from seaside
Less the seaside and more the colourful buildings on it. Unused Aeditions card 441. Grade: 1
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Vlora, beach umbrellas
We probably shouldn’t judge the popularity of Albanian tourist atractions by the number of people appearing in the postcards. On this brilliant day, only two people? Remember the axiom: “if you build it, they will come”. Unused Aeditions card 861. Grade: 1
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Vlora by night
Unused Aeditions card 884. Grade: 1
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Vlora, resort view
Unused Aeditions card 883. Some aging. Grade: 2
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Vlora, flag in city
Unused, somewhat aging Aeditions card 882. Grade: 2
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Vlora, main road, aerial view 395
Unused Aeditions card 395. Grade: 1
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Panoramic view of Vlora
This unused Vlora postcard (Aeditions #813) inadvertently gives you a snapshot in time of an area undergoing rapid development. If you’re so inclined, check back a few years from now to see what the same place looks like. Grade: 1
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Vlora Beach
What we like most about this unused Aeditions card 613 are the captions, whose English does really say “Vlora Beach”. Then again, look hard enough, and you’ll see it. There even seems to be a blue beach umbrella, and if you wonder why we tell you this, you need to have seen our now-discontinued Blog. Grade: 1
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The Churches of Voskopoja (cen 17-18)
Unused Aeditions card 733. Grade: 1
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Vuno, multiple views
The exact location in the bilingual caption is Vunoi-Vlore. Unused Klea Kolor card 96/4283. Grade: 1
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Swans
We have two of these unused, slightly aging 1988 cards. No special caption, though the manufacturer’s name and “Tirane” are on the reverse. Let’s guess this scene is a park in Tirana. Grades: 1
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Gëzuar Uitin e Ri! (Happy New Year)
Older (1989) postcard from Tirana, cheerily promising better things to come. Unused. Grade: 1
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Shote Galica, People’s Heroine (Kristaq Rama)
Kristaq Rama was the sculptor of this statue/monument to Shote Galica, a Kachak of the Albanian insurgent national liberation. Unused card from Tirana dated 1982. Some smudging on the reverse. Grade: 2
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The Light of Knowledge (Arben Basha)
Unused 1982 card from Tirana, very heavily aged. Grade: 2
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Stop … Hap Krahun …
Happily the card has captions in Albanian and English (“Stop … Pull Over …”). Unused, Klea Kolor 96/3496. Grade: 1
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Tirana, Albanian Nature, night
Unused Arba card 473, 4-1/8″ x 7-7/8″. Grade: 1
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The Albanian Castles
Mostly in Europe, we understand items like this are (often) classified as “postcards” but Global Postcard Sales doesn’t normally list them since they are meant to be folded and somehow sealed together. The unfolded item is as you see in the scan, though we deleted some commercial information. If you were to flip that over, the reverse looks like the back of a normal postcard. Arba Editions 503, measuring 6-1/4″ x 8-3/4″ unfolded. Grade: 1
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Shkodra, nje gytet per t’u zbuluar
This is actually an ad card–from whom, we don’t know but it looks like a local initiative–and much of the message area is taken up with a caption in Albanian only. The legend in the header translates as “a city to be discovered”. We agree. Two of these unused cards are available. Grades: 1
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Shkodra, The Castle of Rozafa
Unused Aeditions card 264. This is one of the few in which the publisher actually identifies the scene. Grade: 1
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Shkodra, The Castle of Rozafa
This unused Aeditions postcard 1087 is one of our contemporary Albanian favourites because the design makes it look like it’s a 3D perspective, even though it is firmly 2D, Grade: 1
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Greetings from Shkodra, mu;ltiple views
Unused Arba Editions card 230. Captioned in Albanian and English. Grade: 1
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Shkodra, Pijaca, night view
Unused Aeditions card 592. Grade: 1
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Thethi, maize and lane
In the middle of a national park, this is one of the remotest places in the country, with breathtaking drives (preferably in 4WD vehicle) if you enter from Shkodra, or a longish trek over a mountain range if you enter from Valbona. It does attract quite a few folks who want to get away from it all, and wind up getting mostly on top of each other. But it is beautiful there. Unused Aeditions card 1033. Grade: 1
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Thethi, the church
Thethi is also known as Theth, which is fun to say quickly. That valley area is not large and one can spend a few days there, relaxing and walking around. It will be awhile before there’s a Starbucks, though. Unused Aeditions card 830. Grade: 1
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Tirana, overhead view
Unused Aeditions card 874. Grade: 1
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Tirana, night view
Tirana at night can be lively and bustling, with superb restaurants and coffee shops and so on. This card just makes it look a bit bleak. Not so. Unused Aeditions card 965. Grade: 1