The thing that's struck me about Tirana while I've stayed here is that the streets have never felt crowded to me. Even in the middle of the afternoon, you never have to vie for space as you sit at a table in Tirana's central park and share a drink with a friend. Tirana looks like a big city, and by most accounts it is a big city, but it feels smaller than it is. In fact, the only time I've ever felt crowded is on the city's public transportation, which is a relatively nice system, albeit a sometimes overburdened one.
Also contributing to this feeling is the fact that, by and large, everyone seems to know each other, especially in the neighborhoods and more enclosed streets with the smaller markets and other stores. Kids play around the city constantly, making it feel more like a suburb than anything else. While walking down the main streets, people stop suddenly when they recognize a friend and stop to clap hands and talk for a while.
Tirana is an amazing city with a friendly air. Add on top of this that the country and the city are not yet inundated with tourists yet—not like Rome or Athens, etc. The people of Tirana aren't fed up with the constant flow of tourists that plague so many other places and so they're much more welcoming to the ones they do happen across. In my time here, I've seen perhaps three or four other tourists. Not many tourists come to Albania; but it's their lost. Albania is a great place with many amazing things to see.
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