Albania has often been described as the most obscure country in Europe. Few westerners seem to know anything about the small country in the Balkans, even though it was brought to international attention by the Kosovan war. Before that, it was known mainly for having been ruled by King Zog in the 1930s before becoming a surreal communist state. It is one of the world's poorest nations, a problem made worse by recent conflicts and the subsequent influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees. The country is very mountainous and its altitude is twice as high as England's on average.
Albanian winters are cold and wet, fairly similar to England's, while the summers are dry and hot.
The capital city, and the venue for the game between England and Albania in March, is Tirana. Tirana has a population of about 500,000 and is a city of ramshackle industry and crumbling blocks of flats. There is little to visit in the city. There are still impressive buildings built during the communist regime but the huge statues of Lenin and Stalin that once stood on the main avanue have been pulled down. The centre of Albania's capital, Tirana Albania was a communist republic for 45 years up until 1992.