Albania

The main goal of this trip was to check off the last of the European countries that I am welcome too. It seems to be a shrinking list as of late so the timing is good. The last country being Moldova. I don’t really have any objectives for Europe other than to maybe add “countries I have slept in” asterisks to the list of countries I have been to. So that was my new goal for this trip

Budva, Montenegro was ok. I was on the list of countries I have been to but not slept in so that was good. I was there for a rainy week but couldn’t figure out what there would be to do there without a job or something to take up the day. Still, I was a little torn when my week was up and heading to the Budva bus station the dismal weather I had from the day I got there. The day I was leaving was the beginning of a run of warm sunny days. It was was still early season so there was probably nothing going to be happening even in good weather. I decided to not worry about it and caught a bus to Albania.

Albanians smoke like a Texas BBQ shack, litter like there is a financial benefit and are VERY opportunistic car parkers. Albania is Hollywood’s whipping boy as a good source of international crime stories since Russia and China have too big of a movie ticket buying population to offend now. The funny thing is that the Albanians are about as nice as they come. Kind of surprising given that they aren’t too far removed from a brutal communist secret police monitoring state.

My first stop was a small city just over the border from Montenegro, Shkoder. A nice little 2200 year old town that is holding up pretty well. Its famous for its old market street although it looks pretty new. It has a lot of outdoor activities in the mountains and lakes around the city. I have neither the clothes nor the motivation at this point for such sportiness. It is a nice city and was even tempted to stick around an extra few days. A room in the heart of old town area was $20 a night and it was sunny and warm.

It was the first place so far that cash was king and plastic was the unwanted step child. I found this out the hard way after eating dinner and trying my first Aperol Spritz that I have been hearing so much about but not interested enough to spend the exorbitant trendy drink prices in more trend aware cities. $5 was an acceptable experiment cost to find out what all the hubbub is about but quietly hoping it sucked so I wouldn’t be tempted when I got to a trendy bar or restaurant. It was fine. It wasn’t too sweet like other mixed drinks that are trying to cover up the taste of alcohol. It would still be easy to drink a lot of them though. All in all  that was my last one I think.

When I went to pay the bill with my Bank of America no foreign currency transaction fee credit card, They said sorry. No plastic. Since I had just gotten to Albania that morning, I had not gotten any local money out of laziness I suppose. I did have some Euro but the restaurant’s exchange rate was like 50% of what a bank would give. Putting that Aperol Spritz in the trendy drink price category and I couldn’t have that. I left the money as collateral as I went searching for an ATM. I only use bank ATM’s regardless of where I am due to the high transaction fees. I definitely only use them in foreign countries because the off brand ATM’s (looking at you EuroNet) have bad exchange rates and fees. Took me a while but I finally found a reasonable ATM and returned to the restaurant to pay in real money.

It was only 7:30 and I was flush with Albanian Lek, I was tempted to see what else was happening in town. My ATM scramble gave me a good sense of what was going on in town; not much and what was busy was smoke filled. I decided to save my Lek for another day and went back to my room for a good sleep. I was the only guest in the 5 rooms there. It wasn’t really  just a floor in a commercial building with a common sitting area and kitchen. Nice and quiet and if walking all over town doesn’t wear you out, the climb to the 5th floor will. I slept pretty good until the 4:30am call to prayer from the Mosque next door filled the room. Than 5 times more through out the day. Up early and hard to get a good nap. No wonder the Muslims are so angry. A couple nights of that and any ideas of sticking around longer were dashed. I was more than ready to hop a cramped passenger van to Tirana a couple hours further south by cramped van. It’s about as cheap, has fewer mosques and the weather was just as nice.

I like Tirana. I don’t mind that there isn’t much to do but there is a whole lot more of not much to do than Shkoder. It is not overly touristy so it is just locals going about their day. Mostly drinking coffee and smoking in cafes all day. I cant smoke and drink coffee all day so I just walked around town. The mornings start cool but as the the day went on, i was roasting in my flannel shirt and hoodie. With the nice warm weather I was regretting that I only had my cold weather clothes to wear. I started a project to swap out my clothes for more climate appropriate stylings. Finding a box and packing tape to send them home in. I even found Albania’s version of H&M but with Walmart pricing that I could resupply my wardrobe without a laundry day. I guess this years summer fashion is linen because that is all they sold and something that would be useless around the camp so I held off on purchasing hoping for a store that sold more usable clothes. I am glad I waited. When I got to the post office, the clerk wanted $75 to ship a couple thermal shirts and a few odds and ends that I didn’t need anymore. Not surprisingly, I am still carrying all my cold weather clothes.

It’s probably just as well. The warm days were short lived. The cold wet weather settled in for the rest of my time in Tirana. There was even fresh snow in the surrounding mountains some mornings. It just poured rain for a week and there was very little to do.

For excitement. I ended up just going to the Dentist for a $40 cleaning. Then I did what would take 6 months in the states. Scheduled a very overdue skin cancer screening. Next day appointment for $40. Dermatologists are a dime a dozen here but most of them lean towards a long list of beauty treatments. Little surprise, I was the only man in the waiting room. They could pretty much tell right off that I was not beauty treatment kind of guy but 40 bucks is 40 bucks. I got a quick once over for $40 and a next day appointment to have some sketchy skin removed for $150. A few weeks later I got a clean bill of health and a nice scar for a souvenir.

I had the Tirana apartment for 2 weeks so I always have high hopes of cooking a bunch. My experience is that my hopes are always too high. Rental apartment kitchens are always a little wonky. limited utensils, no spices and flaking Teflon pans usually have me eating out anyway. In Tirana, it’s cheaper anyway. Full size Pizzas are $6, gyros are $3 and burgers are $4. There are plenty of fast food chains in a pinch but my bare handed burger builder at Burger King kind of put me off the option.

I decided that 2 weeks was plenty to be waiting for dry weather so I caught a bus south to the seaside town of Saranda.

Saranda shows up on lists for expat retirement spots. It is a beach life focused city jammed in between the mountains and the sea. It was still low season when I was there so the only thing going on was frantic construction preparing for the party crowds that pack the place in the summer. Lots of resort hotels and outdoor nightclubs. There is a long seaside promenade but the beach is thin and gravelly. I saw a few hardcore tanners but they had the beach to themselves. Probably not for much longer as the weather is starting to warm up. I can’t imagine what a retiree would do there except drink coffee and chain smoke. I had pretty good weather so I hiked around town and up into the mountains. I was a bit bored but enjoying the spring weather.

I took the ferry to Corfu Greece an hour away. It was a nice city but probably crammed with tourists in the summer season. I think the main attraction are the beaches around the island. I am not much of a beach person so I had no reason to explore beyond the city. It is pretty cool if you like to get lost in winding narrow streets of old towns. All that cobblestone does wear you out and most of the tourist places were closed so I only stayed a couple of nights before heading back to Saranda.

I could have stayed another day in Saranda after I got off the ferry but the van to Vlore was loading up and heading out so I hopped on. Vlore is a similar seaside town closer to Tirana. It’s only a couple of hours drive so an easier get away then Saranda. It has a really long promenade lined with beach bars and restaurants. I admit that I have not looked but I doubt that any of Albania’s beaches are going to make any best beach list. I think they would be hard pressed to get honorable mention on a good beach list. They are more about the nightlife, I think. Operative word being THINK because I really wouldn’t know. I am more of an evening life kind of guy these days. And with limited clothing options, any sort of life that comes with the smell of cigarettes sticks around until the next laundry day.

I still had a couple weeks before I needed to start heading home so had to figure out some way to spend my days. The weather was still chilly and wet so my option was to get a nice big cheap apartment and get caught up on my computer chores and watch Youtube all day. Or I could get a bus ticket for a cramped uncomfortable passenger van for hours at a time. Of course I chose the van. I ended up in Korce.

Korce is near the Greek border and famous for its beer but that is about all. It seems to be a place where Tirana residents come from and maybe visit on their way to Greece. There just isn’t much to do. Maybe go there for a beerfest but the beer is just not worth stopping for. It is as unremarkable as it is cheap.

I stayed a couple of days because my room was non refundable but I caught the first bus out as soon as I could. I ended up at the lakeside town of Pogradec, an hour back towards Tirana. It was worth a couple of days exploring and walking along the lakeside Promenade. There wasn’t much to do in town. I think the attraction is hiking in the surrounding mountains. Without a car, it can get pretty boring I am sure.

Pogradec shares to lake with North Macedonia. A country I have been to but never slept in. It has a lakeside town called Ohrid that comes highly recommended as a chill place to cool your jets if you are making your way through the Balkans. I figured that I was due for a chill so decided to go there. It is only 20 miles by road and a couple miles by boat. Neither of which are viable. Since there is a border, a taxi only takes you to the border than you have to hope there is another one on the other side. The boats stop at a monastery near the border but don’t run off season and I don’t think they even take 1 way travelers.The only way I had was to take a bus half way back towards to Tirana then catch another bus back to Skopje, North Macedonia getting off at a town near Ohrid, but not all that near.

All over Albania, there are these little concrete domes scattered around. Thousands of them. It took some research but I learned that like all good commies, the cold war Albanians had a paranoid streak a mile wide.They built these bunkers to protect themselves from the evil capitalists. Most are in pretty bad shape by now but the folks around Pogradec have turned them into advertising or just outdoor art.

I hopped on a van back towards Tirana getting off at the large-ish city of Elbasan. Got a cheap room for the night and caught another bus to North Macedonia in the morning. I had the opportunity to walk around Elbasan and I left with a good impression of it. I don’t know what tourists would do there but it is a busy city so an interesting place to walk around for a bit. I think it is more of a jump off spot for getting out into the Albanian mountains.

Even though I hate taking the same road twice when I am in a new place, the road up over and through the mountians back to North Macedonia wasn’t too bad. Even with the construction slow downs. I was on a Flix Bus and they tend to be pretty comfortable but you pay extra for it. When I told the driver I wanted to get out at Struga for the final leg to Ohrid, he was a little surprised. The Elbasan bus clerk charged me for the whole trip to Skopje. I was tempted to get my money’s worth and just settle in. I was in Skopje a few years ago. The reason I still have to check North Macedonia off as “a country I slept in” is because it looked like a dump and caught the first bus to Kosovo. I have since heard that I should have looked a little more into it because its pretty nice. But I was done with busses and ate the fare to Skopje.

Struga is on the same lake as Ohrid. Seems nice but Ohrid has better marketing and I started making my way towards Ohrid. I found my way to the bus stop with the help of lady cop with good English. Usually I don’t ask directions because I have learned that people really have no idea how to get places. But she was helpful and I soon found myself in a crowded bus stop waiting to get onto crowded bus after crowded bus.  After a few busses left with out any break in the crowded conditions, I gave up. Ohrid was a flat 10 miles away and I hadn’t gotten my steps in for the day. I set out walking. I got a couple of miles down the lake before my timing matched with a bus stop as a half empty bus pulled up. For 40 cents, I rode the rest of the way into Ohrid.

Ohrid has a small center but is pretty spread out. There isn’t much reason to venture too far out of the center because it looked pretty residential. The center is nice. Very touristy with shops and restaurants. the lake front has boat tours around the lake. A few were taking customers but they were just glorified pontoon boats and I didn’t have the cold weather clothes for that. A lot of walking around to the historic sites but not much excitement to be had. I liked it but was ready to catch the bus back over the mountains to Tirana.

The bus dropped me at a nice Modern Mall/bus station. It was Sunday night and it was packed. Malls are very much alive and well over here. From Poland to Albania, everyone I have been in on this trip has been very busy. I got a room at a hotel attached to the Mall because I didn’t have the energy to find a place for the night in the city. I people watched around the mall for the evening before heading back to the room for a good night’s sleep to be ready for the all you can eat breakfast they served. Not just yogurt, DIY waffles and water down orange juice. A proper buffet of hot and cold food. Meat, Eggs, fruit and danish. fancy coffee drinks. It was the nicest breakfast I have had all trip. Check out was near and I needed to figure out my final week in Albania.

I elected for another beach trip. Durres is an hour bus ride away from Tirana. I had been before and was pretty underwhelmed by the beach. Lots of seaweed, litter and probably some sewage. I tried a beach community that I didn’t get to last time. I was pleasantly surprised even with the off season beautification projects closing off large parts of the beach and promenade. Once they get it all done, its going to be pretty nice. It looked like the beach might even be made of sand. The apartment I rented was big and $25 a night. The kitchen again did not fail to leave me bemused. No cups or plates. A couple of bowls and a full set of silverware. I ended up going to their version of a Dollar Store (they are all dollar stores here) to supply the kitchen a bit.

I spent my days walking up and down the promenade and nights looking for dinner. Mostly ending up with a shawarma wrap before heading back to the room. An uneventful but it was what I was looking for. I was hoping to see the lights of Italy across the sea but was usually back at the apartment long before the sky was dark enough. Oh well. I can’t do everything.

I was ready to catch the bus to Tirana when my week was up. I got one more night there. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do on my last night. I think I covered everything and Tirana night life is best left a smokey mystery I think. Went out for one last walk and got my luggage repacked for the flight in the morning.

As usual Pictures are at   https://photos.app.goo.gl/KAZjURN2pHsq7vhh8