The Ducks of Elbasan

In most Turkish towns, dogs clean the streets by eating scraps of food. But in Elbasan, ducks do the job. There are hundreds, even thousands, of ducks wandering around the streets. They don’t belong to anyone but eat the trash that is thrown into the alleyways. This is because drainage systems are expensive, and the Albanians manage without them. The smells in the Eastern bazaars, which are often described as exotic, are not as charming in the hot weather as people might think.

The shops in the bazaar don’t have windows; instead, the shops are just open spaces with no glass. The shop owners sit in the middle, hammering copper pots or sharpening daggers. Every man carries a dagger—usually two. The women wear black cloaks and keep their heads down. If a man dares to look at one of these women, her family will kill him. If she looks back with a soft gaze, both of them will be killed. I didn’t try this myself, but I was told that Elbasan is the most dangerous place in Europe to try flirting Istanbul Tour Guide.

The Silk of Elbasan

But the people of Elbasan don’t just quarrel. Some of the finest silk in Europe is made here. The fields around the town are full of mulberry trees, where silkworms are raised. The silk isn’t produced in big factories. Instead, the women in the homes weave the silk by hand. The weaving is done by passing the shuttle from one hand to the other. The silk isn’t as tightly woven as the silk made by modern machines in France, and it’s usually no wider than 36 inches.

But Albanian silk has a special quality and feel that you can’t find in more modern silks. I don’t know how much it would sell for in a European market, but in Elbasan, I bought the finest silk for about two shillings a yard, and I suspect I paid twice as much as an Albanian would have paid. The trade in silk with other countries is broken up into many steps. A merchant might take a load of silk to sell in Monastir or Durazzo. After a series of traders make their profit—first in Monastir, then Trieste, then Vienna—the price of the silk increases greatly. In the end, a lady who wants a dress made from Albanian silk will pay a lot more than I did in Elbasan.