Thethi Village, Albania

At the northern edge of Albania, in what locals call the Albanian Alps, a dirt road snakes between unforgiving peaks before finally arriving at the tiny remote village of Thethi. You’ll need to rent a 4×4 or hire a trekking guide to get here. This country, one of Europe’s last frontiers, spent 100 isolated years under the thumb of communist rule. Little has changed in Thethi since that era ended. Residents still live in traditional stone houses with wood-shingled roofs characteristic of the rural Albanian north. And the stone “lock-in” tower, which once sheltered people in times of blood feud, remains unchanged. Never under Ottoman jurisdiction, this area developed its own set of traditional laws and passed them down from one generation to another. Most are still observed today.