Albania: This secretly built Cold War era tunnel is a major tourist spot now

A covert tunnel, constructed during the cold war era in Albania has now turned into a major tourist hub. The 1,500-meter long tunnel was built in the year 1960s by the then communist state’s dictator Enver Hoxha. Back in the day, Hoxha had convinced Albanians that foreign powers were conspiring to overthrow their communist state.

Bunkerisation project

He then commissioned a massive bunker station project, secretly constructing over 17,0000 military bunkers which aimed at fortifying the hermit state. The giant tunnel, which was relentlessly constructed under utmost secrecy, was built as a part of it. The tunnel has 80 rooms and is dubbed as the 'Cold War tunnel'.

Although it remained hidden from the locals for a long time, it was rediscovered after the fall of communism in 1992 . It has become a tourist draw since then. Not only the site in Gjirokastra is a UNESCO world heritage site but also one of the major tourist attractions of the 'city of stone'.

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In the 60s, Albania's bunkers were mostly abandoned, while some larger sites fell victim to looters. However, this tunnel was preserved by the authorities and today is site that the country boasts off. In recent years some of the shelters have been converted into funky cafes, warehouses, while some have been housing for the homeless.

Tourism affected 

While the Balkan nation’s tourism has largely been affected by COVID-19, the tunnel still atracts a handful of tourists. According to the country’s tourism ministry, there has been a 64 per cent decrease in visitors from January to July, with 1,690,000 fewer foreign visitors compared to 2019. Gjirokstra city saw 22,000 arrivals to the end of August compared with 120,000 last year.

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(Story image credits: visit-gjirokastra.com/Promo image: visitgjirokastr/Twitter)