Blogs from West, Albania, Europe - page 9

From Saranda in the south of Albania I planned to return north along the coast - this time with my new travel companion. Not only did we share the same name and passport we also shared the same birthday. Jon, was originally from Penang in Malaysia but had lived in the UK since he was 18 and had worked for the National Health Service as a radiographer for ten years. He was now a British passport holder and had moved to Alberta, Canada to work. This was Jon’s fourth time to the Balkans and we shared the same basic itinerary of Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia. He loved it, especially Slovenia which I had also loved having been on an activities trip in the Soča River a few years previously. The morning we headed to the ... read more

Mother Teresa, Enver Hoxha and George W Bush all in one blog entry The last leg of our trip in the Balkans was Albania. To be honest we actually began this journey in Albania because that is where our initial flight went to. But we then only spent one day in Tirana before we continued to Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So for us it is easier to write about this day in the Albanian capital here together with the rest of our stories from Albania. Tirana is a quiet place. Parts of the town are slightly run down but it is not a bad place to visit. But there is very little there to see and to do so in one day we pretty much saw everything worth seeing in Tirana. First we ... read more

W jajecznym rezorcie termalnym udalo nam się zjesc sniadanie. Chleb, maslo, lejąca dżemo-konfitura z niezidentyfikowanego owocu, przypominajacego zolte czeresnie i supermocna kawa. Wyjechalismy droga na Elbasan, po drodze dogadujac się w sprawie kupienia zmiotki, co wcale nie było proste. Musielismy liczyc kilometry, zeby odpowiednio skrecic, bo w planach była droga zolto-biala, niby na Kruje, ale po górach - zamiast dookoła po jakiejś potencjalnie lepszej nawierzchni. Udalo nam się skrecic z glownej drogi na miejscowość Gur i Zi, i było to ostatni drogowskaz jaki mielismy widziec przez następne 5 godzin. Zaczelo się od asfaltu - jakieś 15 km, a potem były już tylko jego resztki. Wspinalismy się po zboczu gory, wsrod lasow bukowych, coraz za zakretem otwierala się nowa panorama na bezkresne zielone szczyty. Tylko czasami mijal nas jakiś czlowiek na osiolku, może jeden czy dwa samocho ... read more

Na ten dzien, nie wiem, jaki konkretnie dzien tygodnia, bo na tym etapie wakacji to juz przestalo sie liczyc, mielismy zaplanowane zwiedzanie Beratu, winnice i odwiezienie H. do Gjirokaster na autobus, zeby mogla wrocic do Aten. Zaczelismy od sniadania w hostelu, gdzie pierwszy raz jadlam burka, ktory jest tradycyjnym balkanskim snakiem i jedza go wszyscy o kazdej porze dnia i nocy, a tu jest hymn pochwalny na jego czesc: Nad Beratem kroluje zamek Kala z XIV wieku, do ktorego prowadzi strome marmurowe podejscie: w upale 30 kilku stopni o 10.00 rano trzeba przemykac waskim cieniem; schodzac trzeba uwazac, zeby na sliskim nie pogubic zebow. Ubrane na czarno babcie cudem, albo rozklekotanym mercedesem, przenosza sie z gornego miasta na dol. A na gorze zycie toczy sie wlasnym rytmem. Piekarnia sprzedaje jeden rodzaj c... read more

Welcome to Albania, the quirkiest country in the world What a strange place. Brightly painted poverty, the worst roads in Europe and Mercedes-Benzes everywhere. Throughout the Balkans, I encountered squabbling people with petty disputes with their neighbors. The Slovenians didn’t trust the Croatians. The Croatians mistrusted the Bosnians. The Bosnians mistrusted the Serbs and the Montenegrins. But all of them agreed on one thing: Albania was the most dangerous, perilous and shadiest place in the world – or so they shared with me. None of them had ever been there. “There isn’t a dumpster in this town that some gypsy hasn’t laid claim to.” There are more cops than trees in Tirana and urban Albania. In fact the only quantity that compares is the number of scabby homeless dogs. The funny thing is that besides standing ... read more