Not nearly enough time in Albania

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Allo All (thats what hello is in Albanian - easy, but confusing cause how can you tell if someone is speaking English or not?).
I'm impressed at how well I'm doing at staying at top of these things. In fact I'm feeling very organised right now as I've pretty much booked all accommodation, necessary transport and dealt with money stuff right through to July.
When I last wrote I was heading over the border into Albania after leaving Ulcinj. We entered Albania and headed towards Shkodra which is right on the border. Driving into Shkodra I couldn't believe the contrast between the amazing scenery and the piles of garbage on the side of the road. But despite the obvious poverty the place was amazingly beautiful and I think I fell in love with Albania right then. There was an impressive castle sitting on top of a nearby hill and a striking river running past just next to the hill. I hadn't organised accommodation in Shkodra before arriving and was a little bit stressed that I would have to spend the night there (as I wasn't sure that they would have any accommodation as it is a very poor area). However when I was getting off the bus the driver asked if I was heading to Tirana and when I told him that I was he directed me to another furgon (what the minibuses are called) that was shortly leaving for Tirana. I would've loved to have had a little bit more time in Shkodra but at the same time I was relieved as I knew I could find somewhere to stay in Tirana.
Tirana is one of the most unique cities I've ever seen, the closest comparison I can think of was when I visited Tobermoray in Scotland. Tirana used to be feel of horrible, grey communist architecture which of course gave the city a depressing feel, and so when they became democratic they painted all the buildings really bright and bold colours which makes the city very beautiful and exciting. However the city also has a lot of garbage in the streets, which was particularly noticeable for me as I had just spent so long in Croatia which by far has the cleanest streets I've ever seen. I got off the bus and was getting my directions to the Tirana Backpackers Hostel out of my bag but taxis kept stopping and asking if I wanted a lift. However because I hadn't had a chance to learn any words yet I was just shaking my head and saying No. However for some reason that kept making them slow down and ask again, only getting the point when I didn't pick up my bag and walk over to them. Eventually I suddenly remembered what I had read before coming, that Albanian people nod for no and shake their head for yes. However when the next taxi tried and I nodded my head he slowed down, so then I shook my head, he started to look really confused and before long I think my head was probably just travelling in circles (needless to say I quickly learnt what that No is "Jo" but unfortunately that is quite similar to yes which is "Po" so I'm not sure it ever really worked). I was really hungry because it was late afternoon and I hadn't eaten since breakfast, however I decided to get rid of my bag before I ate and then I could really relax. However the way to the backpackers required walking through Skenderbeg square which is the main square of the city.
As I was walking through and looking at my map, one of the guys that sold recycled mobiles in the square came up to me and asked me if I needed any help finding my way. I said I was fine and was pretty sure I was heading the right way. But then he asked where I was from, and we started having a chat about various things. After talking for about 10 minutes I think he could tell that my shoulders were about to drop off from the weight of my backpack so he invited me to have coffee at a nearby restaurant. Apparently the restaurant is right next to the headquarters for the Communist party and the leader went there occasionally (although he whispered that he was a democrat and probably shouldn't drink in there). Anyway he spoke great English and mainly just wanted to practice (I think he probably took quite a few passing travellers for coffee - when they actually stopped and chatted to him). I think his name was Ilya but I have no idea of spelling or if I misheard. He thought it was great that I wasn't afraid of travelling through Albania by
myself because many people he had talked to on the few occasions that he had travelled had said that they would never endanger themselves by travelling in Albania. To be honest I know that the civil war only ended 10 years ago (and Ilya said that everybody still owns guns) but because the people were so friendly I felt much safer than I did in places like London or Paris (which I think probably have much higher rates of crime). In the end he bought me a beer instead of coffee and we shared a bag of crisps (I was so hungry by this point that I wanted to scoff them but I made sure that I took my time). I offered to pay but he insisted (and I didn't want to push it as it might be offensive). We said goodbye and I headed to the hostel and dropped my bag. Just inside the gate at the hostel was a really cute puppy and whilst I don't know the developmental stages that dogs go through, this dog was definitely in the bitting stage (I definitely preferred when he chewed my shoelaces then when he went for my leg or arm). I put my stuff in my room, and headed out to explore Tirana. I looked around, changed some money into Leke, bought myself some much needed (and ridiculously cheap food) and just enjoyed the city. I returned to the hostel and chatted to a group of 6 Americans who were in Albania to film a documentary and a Swedish girl who was travelling by herself. The eight of us headed out for food and me and the Swedish girl decided to let the Americans lead (big mistake!!) as they had been there longer and seemed to know what they wanted. They didn't! After about 10 minutes of the group arguing about each place and then moving on, one of them confessed that they did that every night and could never make a decision. She also said that they all knew that they were obnoxious Americans (they were annoyingly loud, but they were also really nice), but that they were much worse when they started talking over the top of each other. We got a demonstration shortly after. You see they all talked faster than I thought was humanly possible, and then when they argued they just talked over each other and got louder and louder until all 6 of them were almost shouting and none of them were listening to the others. Eventually they gave up and headed to a fast food stand which sold some of the dodgiest food ever, and as the Swedish girl was a vegetarian she couldn't eat any of it. So we branched off and went to get our own food, and chatted for a while (about such important issues as why all Swedish singers sing in English). That night I went on the Internet (which was only 1 Euro for the day) and wrote the previous blog, and then headed to bed early.
The next day I headed out to see Tirana and all the sights, well actually there aren't that many sights so to speak in Tirana its more a place to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. I climbed the clock tower (I seem to do that a lot!!) which had great views of the city. Although the cleaners came while I was up there and mopped all of the steps to get down! So afraid of slipping I was forced to very slowly walk down the stairs, especially as I wasn't sure Tirana was going to have the best medical facilities. As I was walking around it started to drizzle and then started to pour. Typically this was one of the few days I hadn't bought an umbrella out, despite the fact it hadn't rained since my second day in Dubrovnik. So I headed to a nearby restaurant which was in the middle of a park and looked really expensive (I think by Albanian standards it probably was expensive, but by everywhere else standards it was one of the cheapest meals I'd eaten in a restaurant whilst travelling. I bought a penne dish and sat reading my book until the rain eased and then I headed back to the hostel. I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to the other people in the hostel and reading my book on the balcony and then went out to dinner with a couple of American guys and yet another Aussie girl (in fact, yet another Melbournian). The guy in charge of the hostel took us to a restaurant where it was a fixed price of 800 leke for the meal (prob about 5-6 Euros). We got free refills on our beers, and lots of different meals. I have to say I was most excited about the salad. Unfortunately I was tucking into one meal which was a meat dish, when one of the other people mentioned they though it was veal. Needless to say I felt pretty guilty and stopped eating it (but I figure I wasn't to know and decided not to beat myself up about it). There was heaps of courses and I left absolutely stuffed and then everyone headed back for early nights (I just realised I've been doing a lot of that since I left Dubrovnik!).
The next morning I got up at 3:30 am, grabbed my bags and headed back to Skenderbeg square to catch the 5am bus. Eventually we took off and headed towards Thessaloniki in Greece for an exciting 10 hour bus trip that ended up taking 13 hours and which I'll include in my next blog.
Cya

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Comments

[Ledia]

Great
It is wonderful to see that people are visiting Albania and are having a good time. I am Albanian but live in the US. haven't been home for about 6 years, but I will go soon. I also lived in Thessaloniki for 1.5 years, about 10 years ago. Great city! I hope you have a good time!