Albania has a total area of 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi). It shares a 172 km (107 mi) border with Montenegro to the northwest, a 115 km (71 mi) border with Kosovo to the northeast, a 151 km (94 mi) border with Macedonia to the north and east, and a 282 km (175 mi) border with Greece to the south and southeast.
The preferred alcoholic hard drink is raki that is locally produced in small towns as well as in many homes in the countryside; in some instances you may run across men washing down breakfast with a few shots.
For a long time, roughly half-a-century, celebrating a religious festivity was a pure act of rebellion in Albania. Former dictator Enver Hoxha in his attempt to create the homo-sovieticus had banned anything from Christmas to Carnivals. Any challenge to the rule and you could be drop-shipped to the gulags as priority mail.