“It's been 12 years since I came to Puka and I invested. I was prejudiced especially by my friends. What are you asking for in Puka? You are crazy! But now I'm proud of this decision! "

This is the story of Xhim Begeja, an entrepreneur who is investing in the alpine town for more than a decade.

The second phase for the urban requalification of Puka is near completion. This project is implemented by the Albanian Development Fund on behalf of the Albanian government and Council of Europe Development Bank. It foresees interventions in the connecting roads of the hospital, buildings' insulation and other objects near the squares,reinforcement of lake protection and additional interventions in the park near the former Hotel Tourism.

"We have made progress in terms of increasing the number of visitors, especially last year. The challenge is how to make people stay here. In Puka one night is not enough while two are too many” says Jimmy Begeja laughing.

Puka despite its modest marketing has much to offer. There are no mountains peaks, but the pine landscape invites you to spend a few days of relax together with your family.

 

Discover Puka with the "patriots" of tourism

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”, the famous phrase form the ceremony of inauguration of John.F.Kennedy as the 35th President of the United States , January 20, 1961 must have been an inspiration for Vullnet Kuçi and his friends when they decided to promote the beauties of their hometown.

"All started from the conversations about the beauties of Puka and the fact that had been forgotten for many years. It was unbelievable how others didn’t see the amazing opportunities of this place: countless opportunities to develop natural, sports, and health tourism. So we decided to present Puka through our eyes,” says Vullnet.

We decided to create a website to promote the beauties of Puka together with Enklajd and Emiljan. In 2016 everyone was studying in Tirana. Our friends in university didn’t know too much about the beauties of Puka, thus we decided to call the website “Discover Puka”. It is an invitation for everyone who loves to discover a place that once was considered the favorite summer destination from the large families of the north but neglected over the years. Discover Puka will be transformed into an agency that offers packages for tourists who wants to visit the north. Later Xhovana and Jonida joined the group of Discover Puka. Through our saving and the support of the local businesses we have identified 5 trails, marked them and inserted the data in an easily accessible application.

“Puka had been neglected for many years. If you want tourists to come back again, we need good infrastructure and clean environments because nature and fresh air are not enough.”

Investments undertaken in the last 4 years on behalf of the Albanian government and Council of Europe Development Bank have transformed Puka. Urban interventions near the small lake, interventions in the park near the former Hotel Tourism and in front of the municipality, interventions in the pedestrian road combined with past interventions such as the construction of rural roads in Qelez, Fushe-Arrez, Iballe etc. There are at least 10 projects aimed at developing rural areas and connecting them to tourist destinations and border points. You can reach Puka from Tirana through Vau i Dejes in Shkoder and from ‘Rruga e Kombit’ through Fushe-Arrez-Reps axis .

Vullnet says that he wasn’t very confident when he saw the project for the urban requalification of Puka. “I didn’t believe that the implementation would be 100% as was described in the project. Works started on the small lake proceeding with the square near the former Hotel Tourism, the facades and roofs of buildings”“The reconstructions of roofs and facades have affected the citizens’ life. Citizens now can save money because home heating is easier now that facades and roofs are reconstructed. The number of tourists increases every year,”says Vullnet.

Tourists groups are composed by Albanian, German, French and Polish tourists. The latter prefer climbs on Mount Terbun and Munella, visits in the village of Qelez and exploring Lake Koman.

“Last year in Albania we had 15-20 thousand French tourists. We already have bookings for the next year mainly families.Puka has much to offer. For example Thana fruit is a product that does not exist in France. In Europe this fruit is unknown, so you have the opportunity to present it as a unique product. Products like gliko, which are very tasty, are considered a perfect gift by tourists”, says Berenger Tibbot (a tourism consultant) in an interview. For several years he brings French tourists to visit Puka and the surrounding area.

 

"From kitchen to production factory"

You can understand why Puka is known as "porcini factory" if you climb the hill together with your family or a group of friends.

Besides the various species of mushrooms you can find depending on the season; blueberries, nuts, berries or chestnuts, which you can collect yourself to consume there. Or in return you can give it to your friends and saying - "I brought special things..."

The ladies in this town knowing the importance of this work collect fruits and produce different kind of jams. They started working from their homes and now they work for agro-processing companies. The latter beside gathering fruits learn the tradition from these ladies in Puka. They know all secrets of preparing these delicious jams starting from the amount of sugar to the preparation time

““We started producing homemade jams in small groups, mostly families. It is a longtime tradition of ours. With time investments grew and so did the interest on our products. We are now organized in structured groups. We are more involved in production. Each area produces a unique flavor of jams,marmalades and organic juice. We use glass to package our products as it preserves the product better than plastic.” - says one of the ladies.

Many other projects will be implemented in Puka aiming to transform it into a place where tourists stay, enjoy and leave with the desire to come back again.