Delicious seafood意外的美味海鲜
May 4, 2026
We had already visited most of the major attractions in the city and planned to spend today going up the mountain by cable car. According to Google Maps, the cable car had been closed for maintenance until the previous day. To make sure it had reopened, we asked the hotel front desk to call and confirm. The receptionist confidently told us it was operating again and even mentioned that another guest’s friend had gone there the day before.
Trusting the information, we called a taxi and headed to the cable car station — only to discover that it was closed again today for repairs. What a disappointment.
Since we were already nearby, we decided instead to visit Bunk’Art 1. Our taxi driver kindly drove us through the tunnel closer to the entrance, saving us a few minutes of uphill walking.
Bunk’Art 1 is a massive underground nuclear bunker museum on the outskirts of Tirana, much larger than Bunk’Art 2. Originally built during the rule of Enver Hoxha, it served as a secret shelter for top political leaders and military officials in the event of nuclear war. The enormous underground complex feels almost like a hidden city beneath the mountain, with endless corridors, rooms, and command areas. Compared with Bunk’Art 2, the museum presents a much broader history of Albania during the communist period, the Cold War era and before.
After leaving the museum, we walked along the sloping road looking for somewhere to eat. Soon we noticed a seafood restaurant displaying trays of fresh fish and shrimp inside. There was no menu, and nobody spoke English. Fortunately, a friend of theirs helped us make an order.
With her assistance, we ordered one kilogram of shrimp, three fish, and fish soup. The sparkling water came from a drink shop across the street, while the wine was brought over for a table next to us from the pizza place next door. It almost felt as if the entire neighborhood worked together to help the restaurant operate. The seafood was incredibly fresh and probably the best seafood meal we had during this entire trip.
When we finished eating, a taxi happened to be waiting outside the restaurant, so we took it back toward the city center. We had planned to visit the House of Leaves, another museum focused on Albania’s secret police history and located inside the former headquarters of the secret service. However, during the ride we checked Google Maps and saw that it was supposedly closed for the day, so we decided to return to the hotel and rest instead.
After taking a short break, I went out alone for a walk and discovered that the museum was actually open after all. I quickly called the rest of our group to let them know.
We eventually visited the House of Leaves together, though by then the experience no longer felt especially exciting or engaging. After several days of visiting museums and learning about communist history, secret police operations, and wartime suffering throughout the Balkans, we were beginning to feel emotionally exhausted.
At that point, we were finally ready to go home.
2026年5月4日
我们已经参观了地拉那市区大部分主要景点，今天原本计划搭乘缆车上山看看风景。根据 Google Maps 的信息，缆车前一天刚结束维修恢复开放。为了确认情况，我们还特地请酒店前台帮忙打电话确认。前台非常肯定地告诉我们缆车今天正常营业，甚至还有位房客说昨天才刚去过。
于是我们放心地叫了出租车前往缆车站，结果到了之后才发现昨天开了一天，今天缆车又关闭维修。真是让人失望。
我们便改去参观 Bunk’Art 1。出租车司机很热心，直接把车穿过隧道，送到票房门口，让我们少走了几分钟上坡路。
Bunk’Art 1 是位于地拉那郊外的另一座巨大地下核掩体博物馆，规模远比昨天在市中心参观的Bunk’Art 2 大。它最初建于恩维尔·霍查（Enver Hoxha）统治时期，作为核战争爆发时供政府高层和军方领导人避难的秘密设施。整个地下空间庞大得像一座隐藏在山体中的地下城市，到处都是长长的走廊、房间和指挥区域。与 Bunk’Art 2 相比，这里展示的内容更加全面，涵盖了阿尔巴尼亚共产主义时期以及冷战时代的军事历史。
离开博物馆后，我们沿着倾斜的山路慢慢往下走，寻找吃饭的地方。没多久便看到一家小小的海鲜店，店铺里摆放着新鲜的鱼和虾，敞开的小厨房里烧着鱼汤。店里没有菜单，也没人会说英语。幸运的是，店员找来一位朋友帮忙翻译。我们点了一公斤虾、三条鱼以及鱼汤。店员在小店门放个桌子，铺上纸就算是我们的餐桌了。鱼和虾是当场在店里的小厨房烤的，气泡水是从马路对面的饮料店拿来的，而葡萄酒则是隔壁披萨店提供的。看起来整个街区彼此之间都在互相帮忙经营生意，感觉非常有趣。这顿海鲜非常新鲜美味，完全是意外的惊喜，很可能是我们这趟旅行中吃到最棒的一餐海鲜之一。
吃完饭后，刚好有一辆出租车停在餐厅门口，于是我们直接搭车返回市区。原本我们还计划去参观“树叶之家”（House of Leaves），那也是一座与阿尔巴尼亚秘密警察历史有关的博物馆，地点就在当年秘密警察总部旧址。不过在路上查看 Google Maps 时，发现它显示当天已经关闭，于是我们决定先回酒店休息。
短暂休息之后，我一个人出去散步，结果发现博物馆其实仍然开放。赶紧通知在酒店休息的三位，大家一起参观了“树叶之家”。不过此时大家对这类展览已经没有太多新鲜感了。连续多天在巴尔干地区参观关于过去的那些黑暗历史、秘密警察以及战争苦难的博物馆后，我们的情绪多少都有些低落，人也很疲惫。
到了这个时候，我们已经开始想回家了。