My last night in Tirana was pretty chill. Just a long walk looking for dinner. I ended up at an Italian place to fill a Carbonara craving. Albania’s proximity to Italy has rubbed off. Tons of Italian restaurants beyond the cheap pizzas that are available in even non Italian restaurants. I stuck to Pizza and Kebabs for most of my lunches and dinners. I don’t find Albanian food all that interesting. And maybe because I can’t get cheap Pizza and delicious Kebabs here in the USA. Priorities. But I was happy to be sitting in a proper, albeit empty, Italian restaurant. Granted, I eat dinner when the trendy folks are just finishing lunch. Eating in empty restaurants is pretty common for me. The Carbonara was good and I think they were happy to give the cooks something to do while waiting for the real dinner rush.
By my last night in Tirana. I had pretty much had my fill of walking around. And didn’t want to sit in some smokey bar killing time so I headed back to the apartment and got ready for my flight in the morning. Before I get leave Albania, I want to reiterate. Getting a nice apartment in a good location is cheap. Albania is a low cost effort. I think I paid $30 for one night. It probably would have been cheaper if I stayed longer.
Except for the smoking, Albania is GREAT.
I woke up to a heavy rain and I delayed my effort to get to the airport as long as I could. It lightened up just in time for me to head to the 5 euro bus to the airport. I stopped for one last Byrek. A cheesy phyllo dough built for walking and eating. It is pretty good for a dollar, at the most.
My first stop was in Vienna. I have been to Vienna and street food prices were high, I can only assume airport prices for corporate food were no better and probably way worse. I decide to eat in Albania one last time to hold me over til Spain. Tirana’s airport is under major construction and all of the fast food places were closed and I don’t have the patience for sit down. I meandered around the construction for a long way to find some food to hold me over for the 10 hours. Outside of the airport, in a rental car parking lot, I found another Byrek place. Just a shack with a service window but it hit the spot.
As I am sitting here one month out. I can only remember flying over Vienna on the approach. I can’t remember anything about the airport and I don’t even take drugs for a happy flight. Maybe they are all the same anymore.
I was pretty happy to finally see Mallorca below me as the plane came in for a landing. The next to last effort to going home was here. I wasn’t in Mallorca just because I like it there. It is a really nice place. I luckily have friends who live there in Palma and were happy to have me watch over their low maintenance cats while they were off doing some cheap European traveling.
They are English teachers so are not rolling in Jet Setting Euro dough. Their apartment is in what the US would call the working class neighborhood. Just outside the tourist area. It is where the immigrants and service industry folks can still afford a place to live. From the look of it, I don’t think they should get to settled. Palma like many other cities in Spain is getting crowded and the cost of living is rising for the locals. Something is going to have to give.
Even with the crowds, I do like Palma for the people watching. Lots of Cruise ship tourists on their day excursions. It was Easter week so there were a lot of Euro Spring breakers. The city was crammed people walking with little purpose other than to eat drink and buy refrigerator magnets. Plus the King and Queen were in town for Easter Mass. After a long day of walking around town, I was happy to be in my quiet little non touristy part of town. Food from all over the world. People living real lives. And a no commercial Netflix subscription.
I still don’t have going to the beach figured out.
I was in Mallorca back in 2017 and did a lot more exploring of the Island. There are beaches and mountains. Lots of little towns along the way all connected by busses and even a train. Like then, I am at the end of my trip. It was an effort to get off the sofa to go see stuff. Now I had a sofa and Netflix so I was tempted to get caught up on streaming and napping. But restlessness and calmer winds got the better of me. The weather was perfect. I spent the sunny days just rambling around the city checking out the tourist shops, neighborhoods and the yachts at the marinas. When I ran out of city to look at, I caught a bus to the north of Town and walked the along the coast back to town. Stopping at the sandy beaches to take in the turquoise Mediterranean waters. Its a good way to end a long winter trip.
It was a bit of a budget shock being back in the Euro currency again. I really recommend going to the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Ibiza, and Menorca. Just bring lots of money. I was going to go over early and hang out on Menorca for a week. Then I saw the cheapest rental was $2500 a week. That will buy me a really good water filtration system for the cabin if I was going to buy a really good water filtration system.
The biggest worry about Mallorca is getting there and away. High winds cause frequent delays or even canceled flights. I came in a couple days early just to be sure I was on time for the cats. I got a relatively cheap place on the beach. They weren’t kidding about the winds though. It was a bumpy landing and the winds were howling my entire time at the beach. It was great for the wind and kite surfers but us landlubbers were just getting battered.
Getting off the island and back to the states was no easy feat either. Flights were in the thousands and my frequent flyer miles included overnight stays in 2 other cities plus a few hundred dollar fee if I left when my friends got back. It was pretty easy if I left a couple of days early. Luckily the normal cat sitter was available to cover the slack.
The only reasonable flight I could find left from Barcelona. I had to leave a day early in case of Mallorca weather delays. Barcelona is pretty easy to get around. Unless of course you have luggage. These days, tourists are evil incarnate there. Rooms weren’t cheap either. For the price of one night in a walkin closet sized room in a glorified hostel, I could have gotten a full apartment in Albania for a week. I wanted to go see the pretty much finished Familia Segrada after 2 attempts in the previous 30 years to take a picture without scaffolding, By the time I got to the room, I was done for the day and just went right to bed. The Familia Segrada and anti-tourist protesters would have to wait until next time.
I do like Spain though. I am looking forward to seeing it in less tourist cramped towns someday. But in the meantime, this adventure is winding down and I am looking forward to getting home to get busy. But first a long long long boring flight to Dallas and then a long long boring flight to Seattle. I am not sure how many more of these I have in me. But knowing the end is near, the boredom is tolerable.
But the end justifies the means, Its good to be back home.
This year’s photos are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/KAZjURN2pHsq7vhh8
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