Hotel Denis is immediately behind Hotel Adria, which faces the street. Next to Denis is what appears to be the completed concrete skeleton of another hotel. There are no signs of any sort of recent construction efforts. This reminds me of Turkey in 1998, where all along the Çanakkale peninsula we saw the skeletons of highrises apparently begun when there was some easy building credit, later abandoned when the economy tightened.
At reception there is an eclectic little collection of books in Albanian, English, and German. On the left the flag of Kosovo and the flag of Albania. To the right the flag of Albania and the US flag. I find this an interesting choice, the hotel standing as it does in the capital of Kosovo.
There is no one at reception and other than the receptionist who greeted me and a cleaning lady I have seen no one else at the hotel, either employee or guest. The receptionist speaks as much English as I do Russian (my Albanian is non-existent), however „please“ and „yes“ allowed her to navigate me to my room, making a point to walk behind me, nudging or grasping me by the shoulder and pointing me to the elevator and then down the hall when we reached my floor. There are five floors. On the ground floor is a large dining room where tables covered with cloths are pushed against one wall for storage. Perhaps this hotel caters to groups, none of which are present at the moment, as the woman in my cavernous empty Split hotel had claimed?
Checking out I meet a different receptionist, a young Egyptian man. He apologized for his English and I said that was alright, I don’t speak any Albanian. He doesn’t speak Albanian either, he said. He is studying Albanian at the university here. I ask about the flags, and he says to think of Albanian as an identity rather than a country, as people all over the Middle East think of themselves as Arabic but don’t identify with Saudi Arabia.
At breakfast in the restaurant next to the hotel there are five middle-aged Scandinavian men who appear to be technicians. There had been two similar men at my hotel in Skopje. Three German men do not have a technical air, but are more likely involved in guaranteeing someone’s security. I try to overhear their conversation but with little success. There is laughter and talk about massages. I had been impressed with the advertisements for massage establishments down the street.
