Braving Albania

LAST WEEK the Foreign Office published a new warning for anybody planning to visit Albania ('health risks . . . fuel shortages . . . don't travel outside Tirana without a guide'). One has, therefore, to applaud the stylish confidence of the first Blue Guide to Albania (Black, pounds 12.99), by Balkans expert James Pettifer and published this week. The guide provides a comprehensive account of the country's splendid archaeological sites and Ottoman heritage, as well as less obvious points of interest (such as political prisons turned into museums). Albania clearly needs tourists. But for the time being Mr Pettifer recommends seeing it only on a guided tour.