It has two main forms, Tosk and Gheg, which diverged about 1000 years ago. In 1972 the Congress of Orthography established a unified written language, which is now universally accepted for both languages. From 1967 to 1990 it was also the only officially atheist state in the world, and many churches were converted into cinemas and theatres. The spiritual vacuum left after the fall of communism has in part been filled by US evangelists, but new churches and mosques are springing up all over the country. Albanian food has been strongly influenced by Turkish food.
Lunch is the main meal, although eating out in the evening in Tirana is increasingly common.
If you're taken to a bar, always offer to pay. Your Albanian host will rarely let you, but your gesture gains your host 'face' in front of others. Recommended Reading Ismail Kadare's The Palace of Dreams is a vision of totalitarianism with echoes of Kafka and Borges. Agents of the Palace of Dreams control the empire by systematically collecting the dreams of its populace. Anton Logoreci's Albanians is a well balanced and readable account of Albanian history up to 1987.