LORD BYRON & ALBANIA

Posted February 26, 2015

His break-through poem, the largely autobiographical ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’, recounts a number of his encounters in this country. Byron in particular seems to have had a fondness for the people and their traditional garb. Commenting on a typical outfit of ‘a long white kilt, gold worked cloak, [and] crimson velvet gold laced jacket’, the poet wrote that this clothing was ‘the most magnificent in the world’. In 1813, Byron’s love for Albanian clothing was captured by English artist Thomas Phillips when he painted the poet wearing his Albanian outfit.

‘Land of Albania! let me bend mine eyes
On thee, thou rugged nurse of savage men!
The cross descends, thy minarets arise,
And the pale crescent sparkles in the glen…’

Byron’s encounter with Ali Pasha of Tepelena offers one of the most intriguing insight into the traveller’s Albanian adventure. Well aware of the Pasha’s notoriety and penchant for violence, Byron is surprised to find that the Pascha receives him with complete warmth. Ali Pasha encourages Byron to ‘consider him as a father’ and provides the poet with luxurious accommodation, guards and horses from which Byron could see the rest of Albania.

It is the unexpected that seems to have captivated Byron most about Albania, and the rest of his encounters seem to show a similar wonder at this part of the unexplored world.

The fortress where Ali Pasha first met Byron is among one of the places visited in our ‘Albanian Odyssey’ tour, click below to find out about some of the other adventures that this unspoiled country has to offer...