Blogs from West, Albania, Europe - page 7

Tour, what tour? Well this little previous communist country was probably one of the most amusing visits of the lot. After a very long day of driving to Albania, should only take a couple of hours but because of how dodgy the roads are it takes us all day. It’s a completely different world. So when we finally get into the Capital Tirana and meet up with a lady who is going to give us a bit of a tour around town I think, well here we go this will make it worth it. It turns out we drive down one street where she says this building this and that buildings that, go around a around about, shows us the equivalent to McDonalds, we turn right at the next set of traffic lights and she says, ... read more

Hi Everybody! We enjoyed our stay in Durres. Part of the blog that I wrote there did not print. While we were there, we saw a mosque and a Greek Orthodox Church. I don't know how much of the population is Muslim. We have seen a few women with modest scarves - no black burkas. Many of the older women are dressed completely in black with an occasional white head scarf. They must be Greek Orthodox. Late in the afternoon, they close the main street in Durres to automobile traffic. Families stroll up and down the street together. This morning, we walked to the bus terminal and got on a bus for Tirana. When it was about three fourths full, it left (30 min. early.) Another bus pulled into its place for the same destination. The ... read more

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. ... read more

The overnight bus from Thessaloniki wasn't the most comfortable I've ever had. Mid-night border crossing is not exactly the loveliest thing in the world as for some reason it seems that they always arrange the border to be at the perfect point to wake you up just when you were starting to have some real sleep. On the other hand, the assistant conductor had to be one of the most beautiful woman I've seen in a long time and she spoke french so I was not in the worst of company to spend a night without sleep. I had heard bad things about Albania's border officials. Apparently I'd get ripped off and they would attempt to get bribes out of me but none of that happened. I paid the 10 euros entrance fee (with a recipe) ... read more

Hello again readers, apologies for my laziness. Its been 3 months since my last blog and have been up to a great many adventures and seen a number of countries and cities. I'm now back in San Diego for a couple weeks on a 'holiday from my holiday' to recuperate and catch up with my friends here in Cali before heading back to Europe and then continuing on through Asia. Hopefully I'll be caught up with the blog by the time I leave here. Also, for my Australian friends, I should be back in January sometime. I will be in Perth for a month before moving to Melbourne to do my Masters. Hope life is treating everyone well, enjoy. One of the days in Montenegro Luke and I decided to take a short trip to Albania. ... read more

Or so the Albanians call their country themselves... Well I have been here for almost a week now and I kind of like the country... It's a little like Asia within Europe... The traffic is chaotic at best, the roads atrocious and the driving mad, with lots of honking and lots of shouting... You got to love it... Tirana is not as bad as I thought it might be, it has turned into quite a colourful city because the mayor who is a former painter ordered all the concrete soviet blocks to be painted in different colours and motives... I think it's a great idea, it really brightens up the place... Every town should have a painter or crazy artist as mayor! I did a load of day trips from Tirana... One day to Kruja where ... read more

Tirana June 11th Tirana is not my favorite city in terms of things to do and places to see for the quick traveler . That being said, it reminds me much of my 'hometown' of Cairo Egypt, with the pseudo-third world feel. This city is not one of outstanding beauty and great historical monuments, although there is much history to the region. We stayed at a little hostel/hotel near the center of the city, and it was by far one of the worst places we've stayed at so far, as well as one of the most expensive at 20€/person per night. For that we got two really, really lumpy uncomfortable beds and a shower situated directly over the toilet (which leaked the dirty bowl water from the base!) making it quite hard to shower. But I ... read more