tattoos in albania

I got my first tattoo at the age of 22 in Tirana, Albania and the second a mere 3 days later. I’m going to tell you the story about those tattoos. 

The first came from a place of frustration. I had been backpacking Eastern Europe for two months at this point and was visiting the capital city of Albania. I arrived at an incredible hostel, filled with partying and laughter and friendship. It was shaping up to be maybe my favorite stay on this trip, until I went to bed. I was tossing and turning, I could not sleep, scratching and itching so I woke up and I looked to my left, and I see a bug on my pillow. Turns out that bug was a bed bug. I woke up, in a panic running to the lobby, begging to be placed in a new room. All my things were quickly removed from the room and I stayed up for the next few hours until dusk turn to daylight and I was able to take account of all my things. The hostel was kind enough to wash everything that I owned and my backpack. Thankfully, I was in a very hot place and learned that bedbugs hate the heat so everything was laid out to dry. I had an additional 48 hours in Tirana and through my frustration and pain and unsureness, I decided to get my first tattoo. The folks at the hostel were kind enough to take me to a popular spot that other travelers had used frequently. 

From a very young age, I knew that I wanted tattoos. Around 12 or 13 I started a Pinterest board called tattoos I want and on there I added in pin after pin of tattoo ideas. One that continuously stood out was a phrase and it was. ‘she is art’. 

Two hours later, I was sitting in the tattoo chair, a friend from the hostel holding my hand, and I got those words inscribed on my left arm. The tattoo was much less painful And quicker than I ever thought it would be. I am forever thankful to myself that that was my first tattoo. 

Well, at that same hostel, I met a beautiful girl named Rose, and she shared with me this incredible story about a tattoo artist who she was getting a tattoo from, and he lived in the northern part of Albania, conveniently located in a town I was already planning on heading to. His story is as follows. His name is Keq Marku and he is born and raised in Albania however, he traveled to America in the 2010’s and was arrested for armed robbery. While in jail here in the states, he learned to tattoo. When he finished his sentence and went back to Albania, he opened up a tattoo shop. Fun fact, Albania is not part of the EU so there are still lots and lots of Soviet era bunkers all over Albania. Keq turned one of them into a tattoo parlor.

Once hearing this incredible story, I messaged him on Instagram. I let him know that I was traveling in a few days to that area. I had just gotten my first tattoo and I wanted another one. He was so kind and agreed to give me my second tattoo. When the day came for me to get my tattoo, I messaged him and he told me that he is a popular attraction in that town and so if I went to the main square and let locals know where I was headed, they would be able to get me a car out there. Four girls from the hostel decided to come along on this adventure with me so we all traveled into town and started the process of finding a car. 

After speaking with a few locals who did not speak any English and showing them his Instagram page again and again, one person seemed to know and graciously flagged down a car for us. In the car was two people, one was the driver and the other was his acquaintance who spoke a minimal amount of English. We got in the vehicle, confirmed (as best as we could) that we were headed in the right direction and then we’re on our way. Of course we were unsure because he did not speak very much English and so, slightly panicked as we weren’t totally positive that we were going to where we needed to go. After approximately 20 minutes in the car- in the distance, we see a bunker and in big white letters it says TATTOOS. With a huge sigh of relief we get out of the car, thank our lovely drivers and walk over to the bunker. I try to open up the door and it is locked. Unsure of what to do, I called him several times and got no response. So we decided to wait. Approximately 10 minutes later, we see two motorcycles arriving in the distance. They pulled up with him and one of his children on one motorcycle and his wife and another one of their children on the other motorcycle. He opens up the door to his bunker. We all go inside. Say goodbye to his wife he gets started with the process of tattoos. 

I was the only one who was originally planning on going so he had a drawn up my design ready. He created a beautiful piece of art, which was a flower connected to a moon on the outside. It was a sunflower, which was my grandma‘s favorite flowers so it was very meaningful to me. While I was getting tattooed, two of the other girls decided to also get tattooed. One of them was her first tattoo and she chose a beautiful hand drawn piece of an anatomically correct heart in red on her shoulder. After approximately two hours of the girls getting tattooed he asked if we drank. Of course we said that we did. His cousin arrived a couple moments later with some beers for us and we drank and we laughed, and we listened to traditional Albanian music. Finally, after approximately five hours, everyone who wanted a tattoo got tattoo.

He graciously offered to give us a ride back to our hostel. I was on the road with him on his motorcycle, another girl rode with his cousin on his motorcycle, and the rest of the girls rode in a car of another friend of his. 

An unforgettable memory of my first 2 tattoos.