www.bunkers.com

Hannah is shown beside the latest in the long line of fashion items! Ok, I know this isn’t E-bay and you are probably tired of seeing bunkers. But they were once so numerous (like spotted dairy cows in New York belonging to George and Julie), they still are the virtual icon of Albania today and Albania’s past. In fact, the party’s web page is, or should be, www.bunker.com (com for commies).

But like all great things, spotted owls and passenger pigeons alike, bunkers are rapidly disappearing. In the wake of rapid economic expansion, they are being pushed aside in the name of progress. Visitors are welcomed to the unsightly demise of bunkers rolled helplessly on their top like orphaned turtles, and some lay on their sides to roll and rock (or rock and roll -- whichever). The greatest tragedy is when three or four are bulldozed together into a cement-looking salad all set for vinaigrette.

I think, this particular bunker is safe though, out of harms way. This round beauty survived the new “auto strada” (four lane road) that expanded close by, an Italian noodle factory relocated from Egypt and hopefully a land dispute where it rests! (Only in Albania could you have three legal owners for the same piece of property.)

Look closely, with a smile like a concrete Mona Lisa, it’s already a museum piece. Don’t you agree?

Return to July 2001