Tirana International Hotel

Built in the 1970s with help of the Chinese, for years Tirana’s main landmark was the only high-rise in the country and one of only three hotels in town accepting foreigners (in bugged rooms of course), with propaganda slogans on the roof and escape tunnels for the elite. The international-standard rooms here are fine now, though the building is completely dwarfed by the gigantic new hotel under construction right behind it.