Albania

The national currency is the lek ALL. There are 138.30 lek to the euro 9 February 2010.

Notice that some Albanians write prices with an extra zero. They are not trying to charge you 10 times the going rate; they are merely using the old currency.

Hundreds of new ATMs have been installed in most major cities. Use the MasterCard ATM Locator (http://www.mastercard.com...) or Visa ATM Locator (http://visa.via.infonow.n...) to find them. The ATMs accept most international VISA and Mastercard Credit/Debit cards.

Many rural convenience stores will not accept any other method of payment other than cash currently in Albanian lek. However supermarkets, the better bookstores and the better boutique stores will accept Credit or Debit Cards. The most widely accepted cards are VISA, Mastercard, and Diner's Club.

In all the Albanian cities you can find numerous shops, which offer different goods, of well known brands, Glasses, antique objects, etc. Of great interest for the tourists are the traditional bazaars of Kruja, Korca, Shkodra, Gjirokastra dhe Tirana, where you can find the artisan works produced by Albanian people during th years. You can buy woody carved objects, ceramics, embroiders with popular motifs dhe also cooper objects. Albanian shops are open at 09:00-20:00 usually, and until 22:00 at summer. Most of the shopes stay open on Sunday.

Today many, if not all, Albanians accept the Euro

Souvenirs: raki, alabaster bunker ashtrays