Blogs from Albania, Europe - page 2

We get up for breakfast at 9am which is an egg, some toast and watermelon so nothing to write home about. We walk along the beach and then check out the buses, they are still going at 2 so we head for a coffee in a cute little coffee shop along the front. After that we head back to the hostel, pay, check out and when he realises I’m going to himare, the owner asks me to take a phone that a girl left behind. I add her on Instagram and message that I will be bringing it. She is staying at sun bakers same as me so that’s pretty convenient. We wait in park at the bus station and take it in turns to get money from credins bank. I go to check on the ... read more

I am up stretched and showered in plenty of time thanks to the sun waking me again. I head down the hill to Friends. The owner is helping with breakfast and a Dutch guy is checking out so I offer him room in my lift. The owner asks if we can fit another girl in, I say I don’t mind but I’m sure she is travelling with someone and the car only fits three and sure enough I’m right. Plus she has three cases. He ends up doing two runs but the Dutch guy and I go first. At the bus station we find the bus, put our bags on and then go for coffee which he very kindly buys for me towards the lift. The bus leaves on time. It is an air conditioned, posh ... read more

I am up before my alarm, showered, packed and feet dressed. I head downstairs at around twenty to and leave my bags with reception while I go get money out. Then I head into breakfast the minute it opens at 7. I eat as much as I can manage mainly yogurt and bread and ask for takeaway containers which I fill with bacon, sausage, burek, cake and bread plus I put as much fruit in my bag as will fit. At 5 past I see my taxi pull up so I head out. Its meant to be a 40 minute walk to the bus station but I reckon it would gave taken twice that and I am so glad I took the taxi. At the bus station I find the saranda bus, confirm it also goes ... read more

4th July Spent the day in various forms of transport to get back to Tirana. First a minivan we had booked when we arrived to Shkroder, a quick coffee then a big bus to the city bus terminal and finally a taxi to the hotel. Took most of the day. Had a good meal at Oda restaurant round the corner from the hotel  very popular, traditional Turkish. Staying at Lot hotel in the city centre. 5th July Visited the National Historic Museum. Some interesting parts, filled a couple of hours. The early parts have English information but after the middle ages it's sporradic. Looked up afterwards about Alexander the Great, didn't realise there were two and both Albanian! They claim the birthplace of the original one and their national hero from the 1500s, who fought off ... read more

29th June Another early start and another huge packed breakfast that was enough for lunch too. Took the 7am minivan from Shkoder to Theth in the Albanian Alps. It took 3 hours but we had many stops for the driver to pick up laundry, bread and the biggest roll of kitchen paper, then deliver them and have a coffee break! At least there is a new tarmac road,  it must have been an awful journey before, up over the mountains and down into a valley. Much cooler here, pleasant. This is clearly a new and expanding settlement full of guest houses and restaurants for the passing trade of people coming to do the hikes that radiate from here. The most popular is over a pass to Valbona. It's possible to carry on by car from there ... read more