ABANDONED Buildings Consume This Country! (Durrës, Albania)
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- Abandoned buildings are fascinating. Why would someone pick up their stuff and just leave? What happens to a place long forgotten and left to the elements? Why abandon your home, life and country? Most importantly how does this become an epidemic that sweeps across a country? That's the question I explore in this video.
After only a couple of hours in Albania I quickly discovered that the country had a history of abandoned buildings. I figured it was because of the collapse of communism, I was wrong. The real answer was much more complex. As I explored these abandoned neighbourhoods, my travels quickly delved into dark tourism.
Join me as I tell the story of how a country produced so many abandoned buildings and what the future holds for Albania. If you like these videos exploring the untold history and culture of countries around the world consider subscribing!
#darktourism #abandoned #abandonedplaces #darkhistory #untoldstory #travel #albania #travelstories
Sources: ec.europa.eu/c...
www.unodc.org/...
Who Am I:
Just a Canadian traveller trying to find the lesser known places and stories.
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Excellent video!!! Looking forward to hearing more:)
I definitely have more to tell!!
500 years of backward Ottoman Rule, 50 years of North Korea level communisms, then when communism fell GDP retracted by 30%, a few years later when things started to improve BOOM total anarchy and civil war due to fall of Pyramid Schemes in 1997. The 90s were lost years for Albania which has been functioning as a country without hiccups for only 25 years. It's actually a miracle the state Albania is actually in now. Tirana went from the biggest slum in Europe to a decent modern city in just 20 years.
This part of your journey spent in Albania is fascinating. Your are definitely off the beaten path. Kudos to you!
Yeah trying my best to have the raw and real experience. Cheers!
Great observation and analysis of the current situation in my country. Those 2 floor or 3 floor half build houses are houses that belong to Albanians who are living and working abroad. As they continue working abroad they save some money, come back to Albania and continue building their unfinished houses until they complete them. An earthquake hit Durres in 2019 and a lot of buildings were damaged to a point where people were killed and those who survived had to move out and live elsewhere. Unfortunately, the whole country is in a state of development and it will take time to become like the rest of Europe. Yes, it has a bright future if things are done right but that may happen when the youth generation of Albanians take over and hopefully turn our country into a true democracy. By the way food is not "good" in my country but it is "excellent" depending though how much you know and value food. Reason being is that during communist rule GMO's could not reach our country. Unfortunately, now they are but you can still find the good old goodies mostly in the countryside.
I really appreciate your kind words, it was a hard topic to research but I’m glad I did a good job to an Albanian standard! Surprisingly I never came across the earthquake in my research but I know now and wish I could’ve included it. I truly think Albania will become like the rest of Europe and I’m glad I got to see it before it does! 😃
a very interesting story, love Lida
Glad you like it!
my dad who lived during the communism and experienced the shift from state controlled country to capitalism said that a lot of people would build houses and claim that they are the owners of these lands since their house was build there and I have to mention the lack of documentation made it more difficult to prove ownership, hence you see a lot of like half constructed houses with like 3 floors and only one floor being the actual house the rest would be only the foundation since they didnt have enough financial resources to complete them. this factor could also explain these abandoned buildings maybe it is not applicable for everyone but it did happen in some cases.
That makes a ton of sense, I’m sure during the change the bureaucracy was a absolute nightmare. I’m sure in years to come much of this stuff will get sorted out but most people (myself included) don’t realize how long it really takes to shed communism and make the change. Thanks for the insight! 😃
As far as I remember, Albania was even in the communist aera the most undevelopped countries of Europe.
Definitely possible, it has so much potential though!
It's a country that was under Ottoman occupation for 5 centuries and once it came out of it it became a battle ground for WWI and then WWII. All those armies and rulers just destroyed everything, with the exception of Mussolini who did some serious building in it. The people escaped to the mountains to live where the occupiers could not follow. When the communism took over it had to start all from zero with literacy, electrification, bonification etc. etc.. Of course it did not help that the leadership was not able to form lasting relationships neither with the west nor with the east. It was in full self isolation for most of the 45 years of communist regime.
@@mendjelire8392 since arriving here I’ve learned so much about the history and it’s pretty deep history especially compared to other European countries. In all honesty, after knowing the history, Albania is farther along than it probably should be. I really think it’s because the people here truly care about their country! I can see it being a really popular place one day!
One of the reasons why apartment buildings have empty floors, is these are being kept as downpayment for the investors, they hope to one day sell them themselves.
Ahhhh, do they ever make any money?
@@gofortheunknown I have no idea, but I noticed it myself when I was in Durres and asked why they did it.
I think the future looks bright for Albania and that one day, they will make profit out of it.
I 100% agree. To many good things are happening there for people to not!
what an amazing prespective love it. but the biggest problem albania has when it come to building is the buildining in 7:08 for example, being an ex communist country where all the land was taken from the people and belonged to the state. after communism fell in the -90 a lot of people went and build in someone else properties and now they have to find prove from 1945 or early who the land belongs and these thing never end so the building or the appartaments cant be sold or anything and it stays like that for years and years
I’ve since realized this, it’s really unfortunate I didn’t come across this as I was researching for this video because it’s such an important layer of why these buildings are abandoned. Thanks for mentioning it though, hopefully in the next couple decades it will all get sorted out and the Albanians can move on! 😃
O shoku paske shku aty Ku bej plazh gjithmone, mezi Po pres te shikoj ndryshimet qe Po behen, shpresoj deri ne gusht te kene perfunduar, 🖐
Clearly lots of change, Durrës really has so much potential, would love to come back again to see what it becomes!
50% of those building you showed are being rebuild after the earthquake in 2019 , 20-30 % have paperwork issues
That’s quite interesting, didn’t realize just how much is being rebuilt!