SF Chronicle article on Berati

Came across this fun article con fotos trolling Google news. Click the link to read the whole article. Here's a teaser:

Five cool things about Albania

1 Bunkers, bunkers, bunkers: Albania still has tens of thousands of concrete bunkers sprouting like mushrooms across the country, remnants from the Cold War. Some have been uprooted, some painted with cheery murals and a few have been even been turned into bars.

2 God bless America: Due to the U.S. support of neighboring Kosovo and its ethnic Albanian population against the Serbs, Americans are quite popular in Albania. U.S. flags hang from shops and houses, and people on the street shake your hand and thank you. It's always nice not to have to pretend you're Canadian.

3 No means no - unless it means yes: Traditionally, Albanians shake their head side to side to signify agreement, which makes it look like they're telling you "no" when they mean "yes." But some Albanians have changed to do it like we do, so you're never sure what's going on. Which may not be cool, but it is amusing.

4 Dr. Evil's beaches: While the Albanian beach towns of Durres and Sarande are overdeveloped weekend spots, much of Albania's coastline used to be off limits because of military camps during the regime of Enver Hoxha, known as Albania's Dr. Evil. Now they just have mile after mile of uninhabited white-sand beaches. Club Med is in talks to develop a former submarine base into a resort.

5 King Zog: Cool only for his name. Born Ahmet Zogu, he was a clan chief who declared himself king of Albania in 1928 and ruled until the Italians annexed the country in 1939. He died in 1961 and Queen Zog died in 2002, but their grandson was chosen to be part of the Cabinet in 2007.

- Bill Fink

PS. Hellooooo to my SF e-friends!