Steeped in history but crumbling Albania’s ‘slanted city’

The Lolomani dwelling, formerly the home of the Ottoman period family of that name, was once an impressive sight in the mountainside town of Gjirokastra in southern Albania.

Now the house lies in ruins, like dozens of others in the "City of Stone," defined by its castle, steep cobblestone roads and silvery-coloured limestone structures with views of the Drino Valley near the border with Greece.

Many of the centuries-old, fortified buildings, which won the town a place on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005, are a tourist attraction but are at risk of disappearing.

Some are deserted or have not been maintained for years, others underwent changes that have destroyed their historic value, or have too many owners to agree on the necessary work or they are simply too poor to afford the repairs.

Authorities in the Balkan nation don't have the means to restore them either.

"I feel pain for every stone, every wall that is getting damaged," sighs Email Nacaj, a 58-year-old house painter, who remembers the collapse of the Lolomani house in winter 2016.

Below, the roof of his own house has half fallen in.

"I'm scared here, but my mother does not want to leave," he says.

Even if he had the money, he couldn't do anything – his cousin, who lives in the capital, Tirana, and is a co-owner, refuses.

Out of 615 monuments in the town's historic centre "more than half are subjected to illegal or out-of-context constructions, while 169 are in critical condition or at risk of collapse," warned Europa Nostra, a pan-European federation of heritage NGOs, early this year.

Once upon a time

Most of the buildings date from the 17th and 18th centuries, although the town's origins go back further and its walls were built in the 3rd century.

Albania's most famous writer Ismail Kadare famously described his native Gjirokastra as the "slanted city, set at a sharper angle than perhaps any other city on earth."

"It was surely the only place in the world where, if you slipped and fell in the street, you might well land on the roof of a house," he wrote in his 1971 novel "Chronicle In Stone."

Massive emigration has compounded the buildings' fate, as Gjirokastra has not been immune to the trend plaguing Albania.

The town's population has dropped from 34,000 in 2011 to less than 25,000, according to Engjell Seriani, head of tourism at the town hall.

Its houses are named after their original owners, dignitaries of the Ottoman Empire such as Lolomani, Karaulli, Fico, Zeko, Babameto, whose power was measured by the number of chimneys on their homes.

Today, Sokol Karaulli, a descendant of one of those noble families, says his way of life is a far cry from the ostentation of his home's substantial five chimneys.

A former soldier but not yet eligible for his pension, he says they only survive thanks to the salary of his pastry chef wife.

"The day when we will say 'Once upon a time there was Gjirokastra' can happen," the 60-year-old warned.

Karaulli cut off the electricity on the first floor and placed plastic washing-up bowls to collect the leaking water that had already rotted the wooden frame of his crumbling house.

Worsening daily

Around the town's bazaar, the clean facades are down to a three-million-euro ($3.5-million) restoration footed by an Albanian-US association and the World Bank.

Small stalls tout souvenirs to tourists, 77,000 of whom visited the citadel last year. Their numbers grow 10 to 15 percent annually.

"However Gjirokastra is not only the bazaar and those emblematic places," said architect Lejla Hadzic, of the NGO Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB).

Elsewhere, "the situation ... is getting worse day by day," she said.

In 2014, the NGO had warned of the "rapid destruction" of the historic districts of the town, where Albania's former communist dictator Enver Hoxha grew up.

Of the 650 buildings it took into account, CHwB said 40 were in a very poor condition, 34 were in ruins, while 15 were on the verge of collapse.

Now, the number in ruins has gone up to 47, it says.

'Only one Gjirokastra in the world'

Today about 80 houses are uninhabited, raising the possibility that a leaky roof will affect the wooden structure.

"Every day, I see something that is wrong, as if the building is whispering to me to do something," said deputy mayor Vangjel Muco.

But with a total overall budget of 2.5-3 million euros, his municipality cannot tackle the issue properly.

Albanian Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro insists the town "is no longer in danger" and that the government has taken the problem in hand.

Since 2013 structural changes to Gjirokastra houses have been banned. She also has high hopes for a newly passed law on cultural foundations, as well as for tourism after the conversion of about 20 houses into hotels.

But the CHwB believes that Gjirokastra can hope for "no more than 10,000 euros" from the national budget.

And renovating the Babameto house alone cost 160,000 euros which came from Sweden.

Just to reinforce all the ruins would take another 1.2 million euros, according to Hadzic.

"All the actors dealing with cultural heritage should really take it seriously and intervene as fast as possible because there's only one Gjirokastra in the world," she warned.

Source: AFP

ASTANA, The City of Peace, Turns 20

Words Veeramalla Anjaiah  Photos Courtesy of Embassy of Kazakhstan JakartaKazakhstan citizens in Indonesia joyfully celebrated the 20th anniversary of Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, in Jakarta on Wednesday at Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta.

Astana, one of the youngest cities in the world, is a beautiful and modern city in Central Asia. It took just 10 years for world famous architects like Norman Foster and many others to built such a marvelous city. With a population of more than one million people, Astana has been growing very rapidly, as is evident from the tremendous growth in its gross domestic product (GDP).

According to The Astana Times, the GDP of Astana city has gone up to US$16 billion in 2017 from just $3.2 billion in 2007, a record jump of more than 500 percent.

With modern buildings and beautiful towers like the Presidential Palace, Golden Towers, Singing Fountains, Bayterek Tower, Nur-Astana Mosque, Opera House and the tent shaped Khan Shatyr shopping mall, Astana is a very interesting place to visit.

Kazakhstan and the people of Astana are proud about the growth of Astana.

“Astana is the creation of the whole Kazakhstan. We have created a miracle in the 21th century. In the history of manking, no such city has been built in 20 years. But we did it! Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said recently in Astana.

Echoing a similar view Kazakhstan Ambassador to Indonesia Askhat Orazbay, said Astana was not just a capital city but a point of pride for all Kazakhstan people.

“Astana is not only a dynamically developing megapolis with eye-catching architecture, it is the sacred center of the country, our pride and the result of the efforts of the entire nation,” Ambassador Orazbay said at a reception to celebrate Astana’s 20^th anniversary.

Amazing Astana, in a short period of time, has emerged as major hub for diplomatic, economic and cultural activities.

In 2010, Astana according to Orazbay, became the host of the historic summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Last year, Astana hosted the world’s biggest trade exhibition called Expo 22017. It also hosted the first Summit of the Organization of Islamci Cooperation (OIC) on Science and Technology and adopted a forward-looking document – the Astana Declaration on Science, Technology, Innovation and Modernization in the Islamic World, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla attended the OIC Summit in Astana.

According to Orazbay, Astana was awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999 the title “City of Peace”.

“Astana has been the host to nine rounds of Syrian peace talks, which began last year. All the parties involved in the conflict guarantors and international organizations are involved in the these talks, which are aimed at ending the conflict in Syria,” Orazbay told The Jakarta Post.

Kazakhstan is also currently a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

As a peace loving country, Kazakhstan launched a new initiative called the Congress of leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana several years back with the exclusive aim of promoting peace and harmony in the world.

Astana, Orzabay said, would host the VI Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions from Oct 10-11 with the theme of “Religious leaders for a safe world”.[Sources: The Jakarta Post, Friday, July 20, 2018]

The Other Side of KOREA Art, food & history

Come over: A South Korean market vendor (right) waits for customers at her food stall at Namdaemun market in Seoul. (AFP/Park Ji-hwan)

A group of Indonesian journalists, including The Jakarta Post, was invited by the Korea Tourism Organization to join a familiarization trip to South Korea. A number of Asian journalists and bloggers from Malaysia, Singapore, China and Japan also took part in the three-day trip.

It was raining on the day we arrived in Seoul, South Korea — a typhoon was approaching and a festival meant to welcome autumn was canceled.

In many other cities, such a situation would turn a perfectly planned holiday into an expensive misfortune. But not in Seoul, a city so vibrant that not even bad weather could spoil its charm.

If anything — especially if you’re a pluviophile or do not mind getting a little wet in the rain — it actually makes the city even more charming.

In the past few years, Seoul has expanded its charm beyond its pretty parks and fancy shopping malls. It has actually been promoting its traditional markets as one of its tourist attractions.

At a glance, the idea may seem odd. Seoul, like other major Asian cities, is highly modern and urbanized. Only after visiting the markets did I find the idea plausible, if not brilliant — something that perhaps only Koreans could pull off.

The argument for the tourism strategy is quite simple. South Korea is known for many things, with K-pop and K-drama now being its biggest cultural exports. It is not uncommon for tourists (read: feverish K-pop fanboys and fangirls) to come to Seoul just to see their K-pop idols.

But Korea, an ancient civilization that has survived wars and destruction, is much bigger than boy band BTS and other K-pop sensations.

And one of the cheapest, fastest and most fun ways to learn about Korean history and culture is, of course, by visiting its remaining traditional markets.

South Korea has many historic traditional markets. In Seoul alone, there are three traditional markets that you may want to visit while you are there: Namdaemun Market, Tongin Market and Mangwon Market.

Namdaemun Market, opened in 1414, is the largest traditional market in the country, attracting more than 300,000 visitors every day. There you can find Korean art, clothes, cuisine and many other things in a single location.

If you’re looking for Korean souvenirs, Namdaemun is the place. But if you like to eat but do not feel like going to a fancy restaurant or are simply on a tight budget, then Tongin Market is the place you are looking for.

Memories: A sculpture pays tribute to Korean drama series Winter Sonata in Chuncheon, Gangwon province, in South Korea. The romantic drama’s huge success brought in tourists to the country. (The Jakarta Post/Ary Hermawan)

The market is an alley of small shops offering traditional Korean food like bibimbap (mixed rice with meat and assorted vegetables), kimchi (fermented vegetables), gimbap (rice roll) and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles).

There you can get a tray and buy food using traditional Korean coins called yeopjeon — a simple feature that makes you feel like you are traveling back to the old days in Korea.

Other than traditional markets, South Korea has given tourists another reason to visit the country: its vibrant theater scene, especially in October, when the city’s cultural center Daehak-ro holds its annual Daehak-ro festival.

The Korean performing arts scene had developed way before K-pop and K-drama grabbed global attention, producing many talents that have made Seoul one of the leading art and cultural centers in Asia today.

During our trip, we had the chance to watch two plays in Daehak-ro: Only You, a popular musical filled with 1990s Korean hits, and Finding Mr. Destiny, which was adapted into a rom-com in 2010. We also had the chance to watch the epic play 1446 at Theater Yong at the National Museum of Korea.

Wait, are you wondering if I speak Korean? No, I do not. Some theaters in Seoul provided English, Chinese and Japanese translations for foreign audience members.

Hot and spicy: Korean dish bibimbap, which literally means “mixed rice”, is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sautéed vegetables, gochujang (Korean chili pepper paste) and soy sauce with raw or fried egg and slices of meat. (www.souschef.co.uk/file)

While the subtitles might not capture the nuances of the dialogue, they still let you follow the important parts of the play even if you do not understand the language. It also gives you some of the funniest lines, though not all of them, since at some parts you could hear the rest of the audience laughing without you.

On the last two days of our trip in Seoul, the sky was clear. We took a city tour with the Artee Riders Club, which takes tourists on a rickshaw ride into the popular attractions in Seoul, including its historical villages and alleys.

The 60-minute tour ended at Gyeongbok Palace, where many Koreans could be seen strolling in their beautiful traditional dress, called hanbok. A rickshaw tour is perhaps shorter than a bus tour, but it could give you a more intimate picture of Seoul, as told by an English-speaking driver who knows the city’s history.

A city tour in Seoul is nice. But if you are a food or musical lover, the city is certainly best experienced in many of its traditional markets and theater halls.

Daehak-ro Street the mecca of plays

Together: A scene from Finding Mr. Destiny, one of the most popular musicals shown in Daehak-ro in Seoul

Daehak-ro Street is widely known as “the mecca of performance arts”, “Korea’s Broadway” and a “symbol of Korean youth and culture”.

For decades, it has served as Seoul’s cultural center. In Korean, Daehak-ro means “College Street”. It was given the moniker as it used to be the headquarters of Seoul National University — which included its College of Liberal Arts and Science and College of Law — before the university relocated its campuses.

The area is now home to 160 performance halls. It holds, according to the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO), four times the number of theaters than New York’s Broadway and three times that of London’s West End.

For Indonesian tourists, the area would perhaps remind them of Jakarta’s own cultural center, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM). It is more or less the same as TIM, only bigger and way more vibrant with many shows throughout the year.

October, however, is the best time to visit Daehak-ro. Throughout the month, the KTO organizes Welcome Daehak-ro, a festival in which foreign tourists can enjoy a number of musicals and plays with English subtitles.

Some of the most popular musicals are Finding Mr. Destiny, Love Comes with the Rain, Oh! While You Were Sleeping, Only You, Laundry and 1446. The ticket prices range from 15,000 won (US$13.22) to 60,000 won.

Some performances, such as Finding Mr. Destiny and Only You, are shown in small theater halls where the artists can interact with the audience.

During these shows, you cannot help but envy the local audience, because there is improvised dialogue without subtitles that always draws laughter.

Outside the halls, at Marronnier Park, some amateur artists, mostly musicians or hip-hop dancers, usually perform for free. During Welcome Daehak-ro festival, some non-verbal performances are also shown at the park.

No subtitles are provided for outdoor performances, of course, but they are still enjoyable. After all, millions of people around the world have been drawn to K-pop, even if they only know one or two Korean words.

Choose your traditional Korean markets

Traditional markets can be found in all provinces in Korea. The Korean Tourism Organization has listed at least 17 top traditional markets that you can choose to visit while in the country.

Among them are Cunccheon Jungang (Nangman) Market in Gangwon-do, Suwon Nammun Market in Gyeonggido, Singi Market in Incheon, Seomun Market in Daegu and 1913 Songjeong Station Market in Gwangju.

Each market has its own unique features. Singi Market, for instance, operates a unique payment system where buyers can use special coins called singi tongboto pay for certain merchandise.

Korean style: A South Korean shop tailor checks fabric at the hanbok (traditional dress) market in Gwangju city, South Korea. (AFP/Kim Jae-Hwan)

Seomun Market is one of the largest and most historic markets in Korea. It goes back to the age of the Joseon dynasty.

The market’s main products are textile goods and hanbok traditional costumes, but it has recently been known for its night market, which offers treats like napjakmandu (flat dumplings) and tteokbooki (spicy stir-fried rice cakes).

Nangman market, meanwhile, is known for its romantic atmosphere. Chuncheon itself is known as the “City of Romance”. The city is especially known for being the filming location of the 2002 K-drama classic Winter Sonata and the city’s romance theme can be found even in one of its traditional markets.

We had the chance to visit Nangman Market on the second day of our trip. Located just one hour away from Seoul, the market has stores that are decorated with drawings that lend a fun twist, preventing the space from feeling somber. If you explore deeper into the market, you will find various sculptures and wall murals, adding to the creative vibe of the place.

But do not forget that Nangman Market is still a market where you can find various products ranging from daily necessities to hanbok, bags, shoes, clothes, electronic appliances, jewelry and food.

A wide range of people, whether locals or foreign tourists, go there to shop.