During the first month of this new year, we were on a business trip in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia to participate with a stand on two different fairs. The first fair (GO International Travel Trade Fair) was in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, from the 16th until the 19th of January. We were amazed by how many people had been to Albania or wanted to come to Albania, because Albania is “the new destination in Europe to go to”. People came to our stand to talk about their experiences and to tell us how hospitable the Albanians are, how good the food is, how beautiful the nature is and how stunning the coastline is. People were also really interested to see a map of Albania, to see pictures of Albania and to hear stories about tours and what to visit; we of course, provided them with as much information as possible.

On Saturday the 14th of December, the organization called CNVP (Connecting Natural Values & People Foundation) organized the “Celebrating forest products from the Balkan countries” fair at the pedestrian area in Shkodra. This fair was also promoted by the website of slowfood.com and seemed interesting for us to go to and to try the locally produced products from the region. The advertisement on the website said that there would be food exhibitions, technical workshops, cultural music and sport events with games focusing in food production.

After a long ban by the imposed atheism of the communist regime, in the recent years Albania has been reviving the tradition of celebrating Christmas, although New Year still remains the number one celebrated festival for Albanians.

People love to celebrate Christmas and New Year in the company of their entire family usually gathered around a dinner table at home or in a restaurant. The main dish is Turkey and the dessert is Bakllava.