COVER N.154 - ALBANIA

Postmark: Zyta Post -  Tiranë 11.08.2022
Posted on 11th August; received on the 19th August 2022
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Albania... Shqiperia, once the most secluded country in Europe, sort of the North Korea of the Western Hemisphere, and now a candidate to becoming a EU member, which ranks high on my list of "want to go and see" places. 

Thank you so much for making it possible for me to add another country to the List, Eric. I was very pleased with it.

The theme for the EUROPA stamp emissions of 1995 was Peace and Freedom, and I'm sure it touched deeply in Albania which was just some 4 years away from having become a multi-party republic and yet but two from the civil war that would erupt in the wake of economic disaster. Luckily these days are now history and Albania has been climbing the ladder, as its jump from position 85 in 2000 to position 69 in 2019 in the Human Development index clearly indicates.

On 10AUG1995, Albanian Post issued 2 stamps (50, 100 Leke) and an imperforated souvenir sheet (150 Leke) as the country's EUROPA stamps issue, the souvenir sheet being the one Eric used on my cover.

The stylised image of a person with open arms welcoming Peace and Freedom, which is written in the legend. dominates the stamp.

The other two stamps were designed around the same idea, with stylised hands welcoming an olive branch (50 Leke) and a white dove (100 Leke), both well acknowledged symbols of Peace and Freedom.

The Postmark indicates that the cover was mailed from the country's capital Tirana.