Culture, Environment, Projects

Vjosa n’Fest Second Edition

The Vjosa n'Fest festival was held on April 28, 29 and 30, 2023 in the city of Përmet from 9:00 a.m. until the early hours of the morning where hundreds of visitors who had traveled from various cities of Albania and other countries participated.
An all-encompassing festival with diverse activities such as music concerts with popular bands and DJs, sports activities and craft fairs.
Promotion of local businesses had a special focus, therefore a database was created for each category included in the festival such as Rafting, Hiking, Trekking etc. of the city. A database was also created with all accommodation structures located in the city and surrounding villages.
The declaration of the Vjosa River as a "National Park" has made the protection of the environment a priority. Consequently, tourism has become a unifying goal, with the potential to position the area as a competitive tourist destination, with value in the national, regional and global market.

The main activities that were held during the Festival are:
- Folk music concerts, live, DJ.

- Craft and culinary fair.

- Children's area with popular games, balloon making and many other fun activities.

- Outdoor sports and activities such as rafting on the Vjosa river,

- Daily guide, cultural trekking in the 18th century church of Leusa, hiking in the Thermal Waters of Benja, hiking in the Bredhi i Hotova national park.

- HotAir Baloons, the big gas balloon, was positioned in the city center and gave the attendees the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the city of Përmet, during the controlled take-off and landing.

- Horse riding for horse enthusiasts.

- Mountain Bike Fest.

 For more information visit the website of Vjosa n'Fest .

Articles The Balkanista

Academy of Film & Multimedia Marubi

Abspirit



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Culture, Environment

Hoja Hostel

Hoja Hostel is a new space near the center of Tirana, near the New Market, designed especially for people who want a place to stay while enjoying the city.

Hoja Hostel is a reasonably priced hostel that offers basic and shared accommodation. It features a large room with separate beds and a shared bathroom. The rooms offer bunk beds and also the hostel has a terrace with a wonderful view, where you can spend a pleasant evening. For people who prefer an affordable price to stay while exploring the city, Hoja Hostel is the perfect place.

Hoja Hostel has a space dedicated to art, the Art Residency Room, which welcomes artists and art lovers, turning it into a cultural space. We sincerely believe in the value and importance of the shared experience of personal, professional and artistic discovery that occurs within a supportive environment. The residency is open to musicians, painters, photographers, artisans and writers. Hoja Hostel offers a connection with a network of artists through meetings and visits to various art spaces in the city of Tirana. A place to stay and work away from the distractions of everyday life.

For more travel inspiration, click the link " https://www.momondo.de/city-guides/discover-tirana.49437.guide.ksp " > momondo’s Tirana Guide. 

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Environment

HANI Ishëm -Eco Centre and Guesthouse

Hani Ishemcover4HANI ISHËM

Hani Ishëm has a lot of natural and cultural beauties, although it is not on the touristic maps of Albania. Nature is almost virgin though, there is generally a desire for awareness regarding the protection of habit. Agricultural products can be found more in quantity taking into account the fact that the natives Production themselves. Fishing is actually deteriorating marine habitats.

 More enabled tourism is now abusive and unable to preserve / protect culture and trade opportunity. The area is always underdeveloped and thereI can be used more opportunities to work harder for young people, to exercise more opportunities to leave the area for a better service in Tirana or abroad. The area has been plagued by inadequate infrastructure and service delivery for tourism. There is little investment and employment. Residents are discouraged and look at the lack of shopping prospects.

 Tourism development leads to more jobs and directly impacts  families and services. Tirana Ekspres has been working in the municipality of Ishem for 2 years. In April 2013, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the municipality of Ishem. Throughout that period of time the Ishem festival was organized for the first time – a traditional music festival which aimed to make an annual celebration. In 2013, Tirana Ekspres with the ADA Agency Center (Austrian Development Agency) established the Eco and Services Center as a project coordination center given to Ishem.

The purpose of this project is to explain the creation and initial activities of the Eco Camp “Atlantid Beach”. The long-term goal of the activities taking place in Atlantid, is to develop a sustainable model of tourism in Ishëm. Involving locals in projects, this model aspires to increase employment in the area. If natural resources are to be managed efficiently and they will continue to apply traditional methods to improve the financial situation, this area will be a sustainable development plan.

Implementers: Tirana Ekspres in partnership with Ishëm commune

Target group: Domestic and foreign tourists

Tirana Ekspres built an ecological beach “Eco-Camp Atlantid Beach”. The purpose of Eco Camp was to create tourist services on Atlantid beach, located on the shores of Ishëm commune. The architecture of the eco camp was modest and functional.

Services offered  included: bar, restaurant, tent accommodation and camping site for caravans / vehicles. The tents accommodated up to 60 people. The restaurant provided food for at least 45 people and the food was always prepared fresh, from local products. This enabled  the mobilization of local producers. The menu included simple recipes and traditional food from the area. There was also  vegetarian food, in order to suit every request of tourists.

Furthermore, Eco-Camp offerd some additional activities:

  • Concerts
  • Yoga classes
  • Walks along the coast and Skanderbeg Castle
  • Diving to see the ruins of the old Illyrian civilization.
  • Fishing etc.

Eco-Camp development was trying to replicate 2013 model. Through the integration of residents in this project we tried to create an economic impact, increasing employment and supply for more local products. This program improved locals’ perception of potential and self-employment. The introduction of new jobs pushed the development of a sustainable economy especially for youth employment which represents a major struggle.The experience of 2013 helped us understand the characteristics of the market, the will of the people and a better foundation.

 

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Culture, Environment, Main Category, Music, Past Events

Firstwave to Soundwave

11377265_852536934796115_4904620028380548662_nDear Friends,

we would like to welcome you to the season-opening of our beautiful ATLANTID Beach Camp! The weekend of 27th and 28th June is reserved for Kepi i Rodonit and should be marked red in your calendar! The opening holds a very special event for you: FIRSTWAVE to SOUNDWAVE. The waves will go from Kepi i Rodonit to Drymades Beach. This is a pre-event to the offical Soundwave Festival.

Program:

27th June Start: 19:00
MiniMim (Pepper On)
Leg off (Ks)
Dj Cuc (Tr)

28th June

Beach party
Tatu (Pepper On)
Uran B. (Ks)

The beach offers food and camping, music and drinks, paddeling, chill out, great people and a wonderful beach!

 

 

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Environment, Main Category, Past Events

RODON CAPE GUARDS – SPRING CLEAN-UP

RODON CAPE GUARDS – SPRING CLEAN-UP – April 12th, 9.00 am

Following the cleanup campaign in Rodon Cape, as touristic season approaches, we invite you to be part of our upcoming action. Join us in support of this natural resource ,on April 12th , Saturday at 09 :00 AM .

Your contribution in time and effort, or financial support will enable us to make a difference in the local quality of life and ecological tourism in Albania.

For further details, please contact [email protected]

This action is  supported and coordinated by Tirana Ekspres and Rodon Cape Guards

Please feel free to share this Invitation!

Details concerning the area and situation :

Rodon Cape Guards is a citizen group that works since 2012 to prevent further degradation of the Cape and restore the polluted areas surrounding . The  ongoing project  builds the idea of restoring, preserving and promoting Rodon Cape on the basis of voluntarism by encouraging people to visit the area for various environment and cultural activities with a special focus on a final solution. The most problematic area is river Ishëm which  plays  an essential role in the ecosystem. Each of the many confluents of Ishëm carries along to the sea the pollution that is generated by the city, county, village or business on its way. The pollution is slowly but surely accumulated on the delta of the river and many times it goes into the Adriatic where the currents take it to neighboring countries. Many complaints and offers to help resolve this issue have been addressed to media, organizations and institution, but so far nothing has been done. The pollution of Ishëm is chemical and microbiological. Many compounds based on heavy metals and plastic materials have a hard time to disintegrate and their stock in the ground or the groundwater is synonym to long-lasting pollution. We believe that the time for action is now. Pollution is an exacerbating problem for every human being. We are confident that we posses all human qualities and human resources needed to sweep this area clean of all the damaging waste.

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Environment, Main Category

ECO CENTRE ISHEM

Eco Centre in Ishem is the coordination point for environmental protection and regional promotion projects of Tirana Ekspres.

Our Ishem Eco Centre is a new 2013/14 sustainable environmental project organised by Tirana Ekspres.
The goal of the Ishem Eco House project is to confront and tackle the damage caused to the Rodon Cape from human waste and abuse. There are three stages we are looking to develop with the Rodon Cape conservation work.

1) Document and describe the kind of damage that exists along the Rodon Cape.
2) Develop a strategy/funding proposal for conservation and protection of the Rodon Cape.
3) Implement & maintain the conservation strategy.
Volunteers working on the project will be housed at our Ishem Eco Centre. The home currently has a basic kitchen, dorms, and shower/toilet. The garden space is its best feature, with incredible views of the valley and coastline, surrounded by grape vines, pomegranate trees and orange groves.
During the volunteers’ free time at the Eco house, you can explore some of the walking trails, catch a bus to one of the secluded beaches, or mingle with the locals.

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Environment, Main Category, Past Events

MAKE SENSE

Wednesday, 18th December 2013, 19.00 @ Tirana Ekspres: Let’s make our city a more social and green place!

Message to all people making change in Tirana

Do you want to make Tirana a more social and green place? Do you want to find out more about Social Entrepreneurs? Do you want to help them?

I’m Joris, a world traveller of MakeSense. I’m passing by in Tirana as part of my Green Sense Tour on my way to hitchhiking to Morocco and West-Africa. On this tour I’m travelling during 10 months to meet and help green entrepreneurs and changemakers. I would like to meet you guys to share my travel experiences, my enthusiasm on social entrepreneurship and the energy of the MakeSense community!

I am conducting my Green Sense Tour with support of MakeSense, a powerful community of over 800 young change makers around the world who are passionate about helping social entrepreneurs. While travelling, I meet changemakers and social entrepreneurs.

I hope to see you guys!

DETAILS!?
What? informal come together
When? 7.30pm, Wednesday 18 December
Where? Tirana (exact location to be announced soon)
Who? Everyone who wants to make a difference
Price? Free!


SENSEDRINKS are drinks organized by the MakeSense community. We invite professionnals, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, students and curious minds to join, to connect and share about entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable development and celebrate change initiatives happening in the world among changemakers.

The MAKESENSE open community is about supporting social entrepreneurs, and sensitizing society at large about the concept of social business. To do so, we train people to become “gangsters” facilitating brainstorming – creativity sessions that we call Hold-ups – in order to “steal” ideas from supporting “SenseMakers” and solve the challenges faced by socio-entrepreneurs. We basically apply open innovation to crowdsource ideas that help these social businesses moving forward.

In less than 3 years, the 850 members of MakeSense has mobilized 10,000 SenseMakers in more than 80 cities worldwide, helping more than 300 socio-entrepreneurs. Our goal is to involve 300,000 people by 2017.

Find out more on MakeSense here http://jorisdepouillon.blogspot.com/p/makesense.html

On my GREEN SENSE TOUR I’m travelling for 10 months, meeting with green changemakers and most importantly helping sustainable entrepreneurs. I’ve decided to go on this Tour to realize my mission: set up a sustainable business. By meeting with, talking to and working for green entrepreneurs and changemakers, I gain precious experience for my own business.

So far I have been working for Yesilist, the green platform in Turkey as a consultant and I have been starting a MakeSense community in Istanbul. Now I’m heading to Morocco and West-Africa to meet and help green entrepreneurs there.

Find out more on my Green Sense Tour here: http://jorisdepouillon.blogspot.com/green sense tour

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