Durres, Albania

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Hi Everybody!
It feels great that we have finally reached one of our targeted destinations. We didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to get around in E. Europe. If we could have entered from farther north, we might have been able to rent a car. There are no rental cars here, no trains between here and Montenegro or Croatia, & no ferry to Croatia (not sure about Montenegro). We are going to investigate buses next. We broke one of our travel rules last night when we arrived here at midnight. It was complete chaos trying to get our luggage. Cars were parked so close that they touched the suitcases. We left the ferry and got in line to have our passports checked. The power went off while we were in line. I have read that power failures are frequent in all E. European countries. It took a while for us to get processed. Then, we had to walk through a large vacant lot in the dark to get to the main street. Luckily on the ferry, I had asked the employee in charge of passports, to help me with hotel information. He gave me the names of two and drew a map for me. We walked about two blocks to the hotel and were very pleased with it. It is a quality hotel for 40 Euros. Today, we have been exploring the town of Durres. It has only been free of Soviet control since, me sitting at outdoor cafes enjoying coffee and beer, portable generators running outside many small shops, stalls with paper cones of sunflower seeds. The shop owners don't want to barter very much. On the ferry, I sat with an Albanian guy who works in Italy as a nurse. He told me that the natives would charge us 3 to 5 times what they would charge natives for water, taxi, other goods. He said that we should buy items with set prices or just say, "No," to inflated prices. He spoke a little broken English. I am going to try to insert a picture of a local church in the gallery.
Hope things are well at home for you,
E

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Comments

[Lila Hamilton]

Your trip
Sounds like you two are having an adventuresome trip!! Hang in, have fun, and be safe.

[Everette]

Photos for Van
Llila, Did Van get the photos that I sent? I believe that I sent 3 last week of interesting motorcycles. I just wondered if you received them. Thanks, E