Albania

Located at the gateway to Europe and cut off from the world for more than four decades by the continent’s most severe dictatorship, Albania was for a long time surrounded by an aura of mystery.

Yet it was not always isolated and experienced several occupations. Strongly marked by the Ottoman occupation that lasted five centuries, Albania was also occupied by the Illyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and the Republic of Venice before gaining its independence in 1912.

In an almost untouched nature, Albania preserves an exceptional heritage, evocative of ancient remains and medieval monuments. Not to lose sight of Tirana, the vibrant capital of this country that never ceases to reinvent itself and which hosts for the first time the international festival of contemporary dance.

All this just an eagle’s flight away from Brussels.