A major blessing of living in Tirana, the capital of Albania, is that there’s no need to own a car. Most of what I need is within walking distance. Buses abound and are cheap (0.40 lek $0.46). Taxis are everywhere and we have connected with Bejkush (bay coosh), my favorite, on-call, English-speaking taxi driver. I call him directly and let him know my schedule. He is usually able to take me whenever and wherever I want to go.
On those occasional times when he is otherwise occupied there are always taxis for hire at the end of our street. It’s rare that one of those taxi drivers speaks English, but there’s always someone nearby who gladly jumps in to interpret where I want to go. As backup, I always show up with the name of the place I am going to, the street it’s on, and the telephone number — all printed on a slip of paper. As a last resort, the driver can call my destination and get directions from an Albanian speaker.
Not owning a car means no more . . .
- Car insurance premiums
- Department of Motor Vehicles visits or annual renewal fees
- Circling the block looking for a parking space like I did in downtown Loveable, Livable, Lodi.
- Expensive car repairs like I had on our twenty-year-old, dearly loved, Lexus, which we gave to our son, Dan.
Most everything I need is on my street . . .
- grocery store
- meat market (that also has fresh eggs from local farmers, yum!)
- “dry goods” store (household cleaning supplies, toilet paper, kleenex, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.)
- hair and nail salon
- barber shop
- optometrist
- clothing store
- pizza/sandwich/soup restaurant (they offer the best vegetarian sandwich and only 150 lek ($1.65)
- four coffee shops
- one of the above mentioned coffee shops is Cafe Roma that also offers wine and beer where Barry and I go two evenings a week for date night, usually Tuesday and Saturday.
- hardware store, tiny but a good place for a ladder and extension cords
- seamstress who tailors beautiful clothes. So far I have just had her add a wide strip of material to the edge of new bedsheets so they would tuck under the oversized new king mattress we bought. Oh, and Barry had three pairs of cutoff jeans trimmed.
Our street (Pjeter Budi) ends perpendicular to a major thoroughfare (e Elbasanit). Go left and right on Elbasanit for many more shops and restaurants. Directly across Elbasanit from Pjeter Budi is a tiny bakery that has the best byreks in the city . . . hot from the oven, ultra flaky (I get the one with spinach filling, the other choices being meat or white cheese) Cost: a mere 0.80 lek ($0.92).
I walk a few steps to the adjacent park and eat the byrek there. There is nearly always a line at that bakery because there’s a bus stop right in front of the bakery. People pile off and many line up for a bakery goody. The byreks are a favorite and fly out of the display case as fast as they are loaded into it from a baking tray directly out of the oven.
Walking distance (1 mile or less)
- Toptani mall (over 645,000 square feet, eight floors, more expensive than if you can find what you need “on the street”)
- Union bank
- Family doctor at ABC Clinic
- Dentist (English speaking, full service)
- American Embassy (when we need to fulfill residency renewal requirements)
- Temu package pickup locations (remember there is no Amazon here)
- Post Office
- Appliance store (we finally have an air fryer and a hot pot!)
- Office supply store
- A Farmaci (or two) on every block
- Gelato shops (they are everywhere!)
- More coffee shops and restaurants
- Jewelry stores (three are side by side)
- Euro 1.3 stores (equivalent to US Dollar stores)
- Shoe stores
- and on and on
What’s not within walking distance
- American Hospital #3 (for periodic nephrologist checkups to track my kidney health, and cardiologist checkups when I need to renew my blood pressure prescriptions.)
- Becky Daja (from Michigan married to an Albanian) for my monthly therapeutic massage. 5000 lek plus 500 lek tip ($68)
- Ritual Spa https://ritual-spa-hammam.al/ for my monthly facial, 5000 lek plus 500 lek tip (umm, immense luxury!)
- Friday night http://ExPatsInAlbania.com meetups at rotating bar/restaurants located throughout the city. When it is held at Hops Bar, that one is walkable for us. Most of the other locations require a taxi ride.
- Out of town jaunts like the two we took this past summer, first to Duress about an hour’s drive, and second to Pogradec about a two and a half hour drive. Both wonderful beach towns. Bejkush drove us to both places and came back to pick us up when we were ready to come home. Barry’s ready to see Prizren in Kosovo.
More about Bejkush
If you read my August 19, 2025 blog post Jennifer’s Health Care Odessy you know I was going to the American Hospital #3 at least two times a week for nearly three months of physiotherapy for debilitating neck pain. (The therapy paid off. I am pain free.) Depending on traffic, it’s a 20-30 minute taxi ride to the hospital. I got to know Bejkush really well. He was not only my “chauffeur;” he helped me with the Albanian language and money system. He shared tidbits of Albanian customs and history. He grew up during the communist era that ran from 1944-1991. Those were very hard times for Albanians.
Plus, we have been his guests at an elaborate family dinner. We were driven to a special restaurant in the mountains. This is the place where there is a separate “barbecue house” to grill whole lambs!
Bejkush earned my trust when I had to go to the French hospital to see a dental specialist for my Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. The hospital was located in two separate gigantic buildings a bit of a distance from each other in the sprawling landscape. Bejkush double parked his taxi and walked me through both facilities looking for the right doctor and stayed with me until I was ushered into the doctor’s office where he introduced me in Albanian to be sure the doctor understood my issue. He then waited for me to come out of the office and escorted me back to his taxi, which, thankfully had not been towed.
Then there was the time I went looking for a massage therapist and esthetician. After checking out the web reviews on the available possibilities, I asked Bejkush to take me on a tour to find out where these establishments were located.
You may remember there are no individual addresses in Albania . . . only a street name and a mention of a recognizable landmark to get you in the general area. From there one needs to look at building signs to locate the desired vendor. When we got in the general vicinity Bejkush double parked the taxi, told me to stay put while he walked the area looking for, and finding, the correct office building.
In fact recently, when Bejkush was not available, I had a random taxi driver take me to a new dental office. (https://dodbibadental.al/) When he got on the right street but couldn’t locate the dental office, and would not call to ask for directions, he just stopped the taxi in front of a Farmaci and motioned for me to get out and ask the pharmacist for directions. O… K… I paid the fare, got out, and he drove off.
Fortunately the pharmacist spoke English and told me to walk back quite a ways, I’d guess maybe eight or ten blocks distance (there were no actual blocks just one long street with businesses on both sides). When I located the dental office I realized I was actually within walking distance from home! I won’t be needing that taxi (or any taxi) again.
In any case, Bejkush would never have left me on my own. He would have called the dentist’s office and asked for directions and made sure I got to the right place.
A happy dental ending…
BTW It turns out my tooth pain was caused by an infected 35-year-old root canal. This was a tooth with a fairly new crown I got about a month before we left Lodi. I think it was about $1300 or so. The dentist was concerned about drilling through the crown but she managed to do it without causing damage. It took three visits to clear the infection. On the final visit she filled the tooth and repaired the crown. Total cost was 10,000 lek ($115.00). Can you believe it?! What a bargain!
And so…
Given that I am 87 and Bejkush is 47, I expect he will be my treasured chauffeur for the rest of my life!
Thank you God!
ONWARD!
Jennifer, I trust you know what you’re doing. You’re laying the groundwork for an exodus of Americans to Albania. I find your pieces most enjoyable.
Harlan
Hi Harlan,
Your comment made me laugh out loud. And you do make a good point. So much of Europe has been overrun with expats who drive prices up and squeeze out the natives in the choice housing. Albania has not been on the radar until recently. It is in the midst of massive growing. 10 story apartments are rising everywhere here in the capital. As of now the Albanians have welcomed us with open arms. They appreciate our efforts at learning their language. I always get a smile when I answer a question in basic Albanian (thank you, you’re welcome, hello, goodbye, have a nice day and so on). Our lady that cleans our apartment each week (for a mere 3000 lek, $35) has adopted us as family. We will be spending New Year’s Day with her and her family. We don’t know what the celebration is about but I’m sure we will catch on pretty quick once we are there. They have a high school daughter who speaks English. She will be our interpreter. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year. Blessings, Jennifer
How convenient, safe and simply delightful! It would appear that you and Barry have discovered a charming place to call home. Enjoy your blog so much, i may surprise you with a visit!
Hi Theresa,
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate knowing you enjoyed this post. We’ll keep a light on for you when you come this way for a visit!
Jennifer
“Wow! Oh, Wow!” I kept exclaiming while reading this piece. All in all, it sounds like a little slice of heaven in your new homeland. I am so happy for you both.