Photo Gallery: Cement Palaces for Backpackers

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Albania's bunkers: Communist dictator Enver Hoxha had around 750,000 of these igloo-shaped bunkers constructed here in the 1970s and 1980s.

Foto: Franziska Mamitzsch

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Future interior designers at work: In the coastal town of Tale, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Albanian capital of Tirana, 10 German and 10 Albanian university students are converting a former bunker into a hostel.

Foto: Stefanie Pretnar

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Rustic living space (drawing): The concrete dome will provide space for up to eight people, with a kitchenette and mattresses for lounging.

Foto: Niklas Keller

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Hostel under construction: The first step is to seal the bunker from the outside. The most expensive detail in the project is the addition of a window, measuring two meters by two meters (6.5 feet by 6.5 feet).

Foto: Franziska Mamitzsch

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Designs for the students' tourism project: In her degree dissertation, Iva Shtrepi presents a way for Albania to benefit from its bunkers -- by converting them into hotels.

Foto: Stefanie Pretnar

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"It's a wonderful country," says Markus Pretnar, professor of interior design at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, in Germany. He has particularly high praise for Albania's unspoiled nature. Yes, many sections of the Adriatic coast

Foto: © Arben Celi / Reuters/ REUTERS

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are overrun with tourists. "But you can still find beaches that are kilometers long, with no buildings or parking lots," Pretnar says.

Foto: © STR New / Reuters/ REUTERS

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The goal of the research project is to demonstrate a way of offering unusual accommodation in Albania without requiring significant investment.

Foto: Stefanie Pretnar

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Just 5,000 has gone into renovating the bunker, funding provided by the German government. "We have a couple people involved who are very handy with tools," Pretnar says.

Foto: Franziska Mamitzsch

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The physical work is tiring but fun for the students. Here, they've been laying wood flooring to make the hostel as cozy as possible.

Foto: Stefanie Pretnar

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Constructed like an orange: The bunker hostel in the coastal town of Tale is a prototype, scheduled for completion in late September. Project director Pretnar hopes the hostel will appeal to solo travelers. "There are bunkers all over the country," he says, adding that others interested in the project can adapt the idea and design bunker hostels of their own.

Foto: Renata Halabis

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"It's sure to be a better night's sleep than staying in a tent," says Artur Schock from Berlin, who will be packing his backpack in a few days and heading for the Balkans with two friends. They will be the hostel's first guests.

Foto: Stefanie Pretnar

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"Fortunately, the bunkers were never needed," Shock says. "It's super that they can be put to a different purpose now."

Foto: Franziska Mamitzsch

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German-Albanian collaboration: This Balkan nation was long completely isolated, and the bunkers reflect the unparalleled paranoia of former dictator Enver Hoxha.

Foto: Franziska Mamitzsch