the boys are going to st anthony church up in the hills behind lauch it was destroyed during the communist era and wasn't rebuilt until the early 1990 s. after the ban on religion was lifted. the area. every year in june the franciscan monastery attracts thousands of pilgrims. but there are visitors here all year round they come to pray to saint anthony who is supposed to help those who have lost things such as their faith. i've. hear it doesn't matter which religion

a belong to. there's a chunk of one of the things that special about the church is that it's visited by people of different religions by muslims catholics orthodox. saw go it's a catholic church the people of other religions come and pray here as well and like candles for their relatives or for themselves i pray for my family and for myself and for all of my relatives as well as for all people in need like the homeless the elderly the shame of the 1st i pray for everyone who needs help so that god may help. but i also pray for my future so that i can become a good person and above all a good football that's my dream there's that i. it's a dream that many albanian boys share with layla and lady on. to make it come true the brothers several times a year. from here the train

continues further south. than. nearly 50 percent of albania's working population are involved in agriculture. thanks. they mostly work without heavy equipment and rely on the help of donkeys goats and sheep. in the flats coastal plain west of lauch is a sanctuary for rare birds such as domination pelicans and flamingos.

you. after the fall of communism the shooting of birds and other wildlife skyrocketed. was only in 2014 the government imposed a strict ban on hunting since then wildlife populations have been slowly recovering . in the early evening we return to duty as. rail travel in albania comes to a halt at 6 in the evening. service

doesn't resume until the next morning. the station is right next to albania as the largest commercial port do this is sometimes called the gateway to the mediterranean. italy is not far away. this morning the 1st train departed shortly before 7 it is headed for elba in central albania. is only 80 kilometers from doris but the train journey takes 3 and a half hours. the eastern route is considered the most beautiful in the country it used to go further to the north macedonia border but the section beyond sun was closed 5 years ago. anyone who wishes to travel further now has to go by car or hike.

am. bloody and his colleagues are sad that some routes have been closed and. it. was reported for but edition i don't want to get into politics but the fact is that all previous governments are to blame for the current situation. you should be getting out of the us since $991.00 there have been no repairs to the tracks causes or no investments except for a few railway crossing cities of the bigger list and this is the result like the shrinking railway network. it's the only reason. we still have the trains we had under communism that's a fact also what if it. all

bridges and railway tracks run alongside newly paved roads to the right and left our historic buildings. to trailer castle is part of a defense of complex built by scandal back in the 15th century. ruled over an area stretching from sun to to donna today the castle is popular with daytrippers. the trailer overlooks the heirs and valley. further south the tracks one parallel to the school being never. it is one of the largest and most important waterways in the country and has always formed a sort of border between the north and south of albania in cultural religious and

also in linguistic terms. before the train arrives and. leader and her colleagues clean the compartments. the water at one of the small stops we were. told. a lot of dirt is blown into the carriages through the broken windows so compartments toilets and corner doors are mopped and cleaned every day lida also lays out covers

a newspaper on the seats for each trip are laid out on i'm cleaning this carriage ready for my colleagues when i take over tomorrow. the train will do the same journey to i mean we don't have any cleaning staff at the moment so we do the job ourselves. and right now there aren't any passengers in this carriage and i do both jobs clean and i manage the train and i check the tickets ok and all that is my responsibility that's why we're in a hurry to clean up because soon we'll be reaching the next station how. are melinda mom doesn't normally travel by train she is here for her work the 28 year old botanist wants to compare the vegetation along the busy and unused railway lines.

and many very well known for its. biodiversity a wild landscape which i think we need to preserve and a lot of highways and roads are are posing fragmentation as a high threat to our current door slammed by diversity and biodiversity so when it comes to fragmentation the railway themselves very nicely put into the wild landscape of painting it's kind of a pain cash landscape we like it but at the same time it helps to keep the bio corridor and the success in a plant. and melinda is meeting a colleague in elba sun from there they will continue one foot. will start from doris and then 12 of us than when we stop and we will move on from one of us on the older browsers to pray us up to where that's the border to see how it

has developed. shortly before elder son road and rail traffic run parallel through a wide valley an extension of the coastal plain the entry aleksey is only 60 kilometers away. at 1036 the train arrives punctually in el bus on. wildlife specialist and his lordship is waiting he too wants to take a closer look at the area east of sun. were next to the show being river runs the via you cannot see are built by the romans in ancient times it formed an important trade route that connected rome with constantinople. the last train passed

through here 5 years ago. nature has since reclaimed the area. near the small town of li but asked the valley of school bean is surrounded by the yap limits a mountain range. it doesn't take long for at melinda to spot plants which she had not seen alongside the trucks still in operation. for example this is me again larvae says this is one of my favorite flowers that is

very beautiful it is ruder but even the environment was under frequent pressure from the plant it wouldn't be here is the train runs through have only. one plant which will flourish in. in a falling seize up like in spring and they will not go they will not be like here are under the train but just around it and as they were very disturbed they will not have the force to create new up no conditions for no other plans to come so almost everything that we see here we will not find in other places. and it's not just plants that benefit from the disused railway tracks in many of the tunnels swallows and rare bats have taken up residence. albania is known as the land of the bats of the 55 species protected in the e.u.

more than 30 to live here back to expert v.z. knows them all. for this for us and the indigenous gymnastic when here in the field apart from the swallows nest which we saw at the entrance i saw at least 2 types of back in the tunnel them to lawyer at the local t.v. lot as age at the do young folk are protected species under law and threatened with extinction just show up at one another what they're doing and that makes this tunnel a very interesting site in which we must preserve one look they're broken while the spirits launch it again and i hope the trains will not pass through it again thank god r.c.s. shall. do it the 4th even though of course that means it's a blow to the railway network going on wish my mission was but daughter. although biologists consider the train to be the lesser of 2 evils compared to road

traffic they also know that nature can develop best when there is no human interference. as can be seen in the sparsely populated east. bay i. live. in. a war. the people here are poor almost all families in the region live from agriculture and the official unemployment level is 14 percent although unofficial estimates suggest it is twice that. it was still. a sole lot of wood to hit your. neighborhood.

back in elba sun city is the 4th largest in albania with almost 130000 inhabitants and it has a colorful past thanks to its favorable location it became a prosperous trading town during the ottoman empire era. nowadays the city is known for steel production and is home to albania as biggest metal plant every day freight trains come to the old factory which opened in the 1960 s. during the communist era. local residents and authours today still suffer the negative consequences environmental protection measures for the plant are said to be inadequate many farmers believe that air pollution is having a negative impact on their vegetable and fruit harvest and that the soil is

contaminated. one of those who opposes the factory is chef named bash molly he says it has become increasingly difficult for him to find good quality fruit and vegetables in recent years. examines the products that the local market very carefully. pierce out everybody has what even if you don't stop shop for every one of the farmers from the area around the plant used to solve and i know you have a chip on your book for next people we can't use this produce anymore if it's from here especially the high end leaves have suffered which we used for a special local dish called up the team or if i use now they are 2 contaminated by nearly great fruits and ground vegetables are all spoiled because of the massive soil and air pollution. so i'm against the plant as a chef and as a citizen if. 9 wants to make tough.

and tough a course see 2 local dishes they are lamb with herb's and unripe plums and yogurt cake with. boat they will be eaten at the feast of sacrifice celebrated at the end of ramadan. in the yogurt cake with goat the whole animal is used head brain and eyes are regional specialities. besides being a chef 9 also teaches at the university an elder son this means he only cooks in his free time on special occasions out of. the whole family celebrates by a dom in his father's house across the river not far from eldest son center.

yet. no names father yaho bus molly who worked as a cook for 40 years when he was young trains even travelled to albania as remote areas. fresh eggs and flour make up the basis of the main course stuff a corsi yogurt cake with goat. and one of you. meanwhile molly prepares to have a make lamb with herb's and on the right plums. ok

. the family meets at 9 parents' home every weekend on. a miserable i'm a very. rich you know more finer now you know it was also evidence that they will be meeting again tomorrow for a bio when they will sacrifice a goat. the animal seems to sense it's a looming fate. on route to the south of the country there are always 2 drivers in the cab today that's a lot he and a colleague while lotty keeps an eye on the track and the safety of the passers by his colleague drives the locomotive towards fear of the car. the train used to go

on to florida but that section was also deemed unprofitable today the coastal town can only be reached by road. the train passes through all of plantations and vegetable fields fear the last station on this route is located in the 1st tile mussa chip plane this used to be swamp land but it was drained a few decades ago. the train passes numerous small villages. politically here. on the budget next week usually it's dangerous we have a lot of problems on this route because of the crossings. to stall stall.

in a very dark he was riding his bicycle. he's got on forget it he's gone. to heaven for sure would be a bad day. people in the countryside don't have their wits about them but we gladly travel so slowly. my gawd if the train went at a normal speed that would be a disaster if it wasn't. would it be should you go there. but that won't happen because the tracks are in such a poor state that we have to travel slowly of the hotel. really a bit but it's dangerous. for. sure there are too many crossings because you know the goal isn't it never.

there is just one train a day going south. the small stations just before fear seem deserted. when. a little further south lies the coastal town florida which used to be the last stop on the southern railway line the service was discontinued 3 years ago. the town and the nearby not-i lagoon are popular summer vacation destinations. south of here the albanian riviera begins. in.

the region is known at home and abroad for its mediterranean climate and long often deserted beaches. the old railway station in the central florida is falling into decline who knows when or if a train will ever stop here again. after an hour's stop it's time to begin the journey back north.

for lita it might be the last time she travels this route. she will be retiring in just a few days' time. among many that sometimes i. even cry and when you're in the mornings when i'm getting ready i often think but then i pull myself together loving it i'm sorry it's a whole lifetime since i was 24 years old and now it's over i guess everybody goes through this. maybe i will start another job why not i'm used to being on the road for 38 or 39 years i was always on the move while the thought of staying at home feel strange but it will pass it will be difficult but then i'm sure i will feel better. but back together.

which at national level i love to travelling by train although these days they don't care about the railway system as you can see. malouf being on a train anyway even if the rocking motion is a bit tiring. but i still like it very much. not everyone can say that after 38 years in the same job. after 2 and a half hours the train has travelled to 80 kilometers back to do this it's the end of the line for leda and the passengers. every evening the old locomotive is uncoupled from the carriages and driven to the

nearby depot where it stays overnight. leaving the old. elite. most of the time it's a lobby for checks. the locomotive before heading home as a mechanic he is also responsible for maintaining the engine. this is one of the 62 year old's favorite moments of the day. the young i fell in love with trains because i was able to raise my children thanks to them along with feel it's my passion and i feel like i'm at home with them.

i'm so happy here it's hard to describe. this engine was there when i raised my children when i got engaged and married if you know i mean that's why i'm so passionate about trains and i can't separate from them i don't know what i'll do when i retire but bill just threw that i was there. so. he has 2 more years to think about that then he too will retire. it's still unclear whether the diesel locomotives will still run without him. but albania is always good for a surprise maybe the trains will run longer than most people expect.

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future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of those who stay behind. displaced starts october 16th on g.w. . this is news and these are our top stories u.s. president donald trump has a left of the military hospital where he spent 3 days being treated for cold feet 19 he was driven into a waiting helicopter for the short flight back to the white house president had earlier tweeted that ho be quote back on the campaign trail soon. this year's nobel prize for medicine has been awarded to 3. harvey alter michael hart and charles reiss.