Parking in Tirana has long been a mission for millionaires. This is known. But parking near the Lake has invented its own formula: it doesn't matter if you leave the car for 5 minutes or 3 hours. The fee is the same – 5000 old lekë.
When you ask for the receipt, it looks like you're asking for a big favor. But the receipt itself also reveals the little secret of this big business: the parking lot that collects money all day turns out to be registered as a small business, meaning it's VAT-free.
Meanwhile, the tax authorities and the municipality calmly watch as citizens pay in broad daylight. The bigger problem seems to be elsewhere: not letting any peasant selling onions or eggs pass by on the street, because their life will be taken away within five minutes.
