A journey to the land of the ancestors

Ermal BEGA

A JORNEY TO THE LAND OF THE ANCESTORS*

(Special Report)

He has grown up in an Arab environment, surrounded by Arab traditions. He knew about his Albanian background because his name indicated it and he had heard this from his parents, but he had never thought that he would one day step on the land of his ancestors. He hadn’t been able to learn from his parents or relatives about the exact place of his origin, but this didn’t stop him from wanting to travel to any Albanian land that he could. These were the words of Amer Arnaout, an Albanian from Lebanon, who has been living in Germany together with his family for 10 years.

This very special family of Albanians visited Albania between the dates of 12 and 15 July, 2010. Amer, together with his wife, Nadja Arnaout, and their three children, Muhammad, Jusuf, and Sara, landed for the first time in Albania.

After receiving the Arnaout family in Shkodra, where they came by car from Germany, we accompanied them to Tirana, and on the way we would describe for them the places we’d see so they could have a general idea about the areas they were seeing. When we arrived in Tirana, we let them settle down at a hotel, and that evening we all went out for dinner and coffee.

The following day, we went to get them at the hotel early in the morning. We had planned that during the first day of their three-day stay, we would visit the old city of Kruja, where we visited the old Bazaar and Mosque at the center of the city (the bazaar, mosque, and aqueduct where all built during the Islamic civilization erected during the Ottoman Empire which has left many traces in Kruja and other Albanian cities). Then we traveled to Durres where we had lunch and coffee by the seaside. There we saw the big mosque of Durrës at the center of the city, on top of a small hill. It is interesting to note that during the Ottoman Empire, and during the entire Islamic Civilization in general, every city had a large mosque and a bazaar at the center of the city, alongside the other governmental institutions located there, and the same thing occurred in Albania as well.

After our long stay by the beach of Durrës spent in interesting conversations, we left for Tirana before Maghrib time. We went to the center mosque of Et’hem Bey, where we prayed Maghrib. We then accompanied our guests to their hotel so they could rest, and we met again for dinner. After dinner we went for a coffee at one of the nice Cafes on the Dajti mountain, so our guests could enjoy the quiet and pictorial nature of Tirana in the evening. Late in the evening we returned home to rest, so we could meet the following day in the morning.

We met at around 8 am in the morning and decided to go get breakfast at a fast-food place owned by a Syrian friend, where we enjoyed the famous Syrian shawarma. While having breakfast we discussed the idea of going to visit Kosova, but we felt that we would get delayed and tired from the journey, and considering the short period of their trip, we decided not to go, and so we spent the day touring Tirana instead, and seeing things up close. During our conversations we discussed the origin of the Arnaout in the Orient, and their lives there and in Albania.

The following day in the morning the Arnaout family had to get ready to leave Tirana and Albania and travel a long way to Beirut, Lebanon, where their relatives were expecting them. They now had something to tell their relatives about Albania and the Albanians, because they had now “touched” them by hand. They expressed the fact that visiting Albania had been their most happy moment during their very long trip.

At the moment of departure, they expressed their desire that during the summer vacations of the following year, they would like to visit Albania again for a longer period, so we could all go and visit the Albanian lands in Kosova and Macedonia.

Their first visit to Albania was a great and important step so that in the future many more Arnaouts (Albanians) who live in the Orient can come and visit us.

Translated from Albanian:

Armir TARAJ

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* This article in published in “URA” magazine, no. 5, Autumn/Winter, 2010, Tirana-Albania. This magazine is published by Albanian Center for Oriental Studies in Tirana-Albania.

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