http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Albania en-us Thu, 15 May 2008 13:46:00 BST Thu, 15 May 2008 13:46:00 BST We've moved Chris and I returned to the US for one week before shipping back out again this time for a two year three month stint in Albania We're serving in the Peace Corps which means that Chris will be assigned to work in a bashkia and his goals include Community Development while I will be implementing health programs within the Public Health Department. For the time being we're statio http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Elbasan/blog-267723.html The Iron Curtain is border that seperated the Soviet Union and the communist countries of Eastern Europe from the Western European countries. the first use of this word was in 1920 by Ethel Snowden in the book Through Bolshevik Russia. But this term was not largely used until 1945 when Winston Churchill made a speech. Cold War was important. And this is still important in many parts of Europe. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/East/Korce/blog-256506.html Venice was the Vacation of our Vacation. Here we met up with our friends Pete and Fallon who were honeymooning in Italy. In Venice we enjoyed the preLent festival of Carnevale. We spent the time strolling the streets shopping for masks admiring the amazing costumes and eating fantastic Venetian seafood. The festival ended with a huge reggee concert in St. Mark's Sq. Kirstin felt lik http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-248407.html We woke this morning with the intention of getting a croissant from the patisserie on our road however when we got there it was less of a patisserie and more of a bar.I wanted to see the Grand Park which is located right behind our hotel. From reading about it we believed it to be not too dissimilar to the park in Chisinau except we hoped it would better looked after. Inside the park we were co http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-222961.html Amazingly we both got up when the alarm went off and we found ourselves sitting in Pasticeri Francaise. We both had freshly squeezed orange juice and a Pain Aux Raisin which was might impressive. It looked almost too good to eat and though very yummy I couldn't eat it all.We began to walk to one of the many bus stations and during a picture stop we met a really friendly guy. He was from the town w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Kruje/blog-222959.html Last night was horrible and the journey took about four hours longer than it should have done fourteen hours in total. We drove through the outskirts of Tirana around sunrise which was breathtaking. Tirana is surrounded by mountains in every direction so the scenery is beautiful despite the houses being rather primitive. The bus dropped us near the national opera house which is in a square that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-222957.html MireAlbania is a hard country to peg having only been there four nights. The people are friendly but an expat Englishman I met in Sarande gave me his take on the people friendly but always looking to see how they can benefit from your friendship difficult to really know with a hard inner core. I suppose 500 years under the thumb of the Ottomans is bound to make you tough.The country itself http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-219036.html Woke up and then headed to find a minibus to KrujeKruje is the most touristy setup town so far I see in Albania There is this old bazzar that sold all these touristy gifts and stuff...some are coool....esp. the instrument here......but.....argh...didnt get it.The castle was another hilltop ruin.......not very interesting inside...but nice view...Besides this really not much haaaa. Theres a m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Kruje/blog-212565.html Stroll around Gjirokastra in the morning...walked into this big old house with an old lady and asked to get inside to see the interior......very Turkish style.....nice big house too bad its vacant and not carefully maintained.......lots of stray dogs in town and this one was jumping on us and bitting us ARGH so scary...and the bit actually hurts...Anyways then went down to take the bus.. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-212564.html Woke up early to catch a bus to Gjirokastra.On the map it wasn't far..but it was a 7 hours bus ride OMG.....so tired..Albania has some of the worst roads and they were all winding roads in the moutains I see a lot of construction going on so I guess the situation will improve.People are very helpful as well. You just stand at the bus station and ask someone for the destination and they w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-212560.html Arrived in Durres Albania the port was...........basically a flat piece of concretegot through customs and nothing there beside a bunch of cars calling themselves a taxi.So lost got ripped off and hopped on a taxi to find the bus to TiranaOnce on the bus it was all easy dropped right off at the train station and I just took the bigest road I saw until I got to the big Scanderbeg Square. ki http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-212554.html Tour what tourWell 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. Itrsquos 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-196969.html Our coastal driving of the adriatic sea continued down into the country of montenegro....the seaside stops to beat the heat continued here and it became tougher and tougher to find modes of communication or banks. we happened upon the huge lake skadarsko jazero. the small village on it's banks was too cute...the local fisherman hotel owner of the pelican hotel was so nice to take us on a tour of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-195914.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-191275.html Hi EverybodyWe 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 Orthod http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-190548.html Hi EverybodyIt 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 goi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-189861.html Well off me and Bridge went to Albania. I have to say that my experience in this country went by way too fast and now all feels like a dream or more like a fantasy This morning was a very long one. We have not slept in about a week and left this morning on a ferry to Saranda Albania. Despite the lack of sleep we arrived to Saranda and tried to find where we wanted to go... Who were we kiddin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-178883.html I really don't know where to begin how can i already be at a loss for words I should probably just bring you up to speed and you might understand..... The bus journey to Corfu from Athens was an experience in itself.....after strict instructions from your Greek bus driver that their will be no eating on the bus if someone has a plastic bag with food it goes UNDER THE BUS NOW I was slightly http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/South/Sarand-/blog-178876.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-160058.html Previously on Camo's Blog When is the next bus to Albania There is no bus you can't get to Albania from here The Blog continues I put my head in my hands. Everyone we had asked had said there would most likely be services from here. I guess most likely isn't good enough. A glimmer of hope breaks through when the man says BUT I look up like a dog in hope of receiving a treat. If you w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-143768.html This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test text blah blah blah This is some test te http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Kruje/blog-126085.html The overnight bus from Thessaloniki wasn't the most comfortable I've ever had. Midnight 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'v http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-107157.html After a pleasant flight from Koln to Tirana by Germanwings we arrived in the capital of Albania our one week holiday.During the flight we got in contact with Florian and his friends. This guy gave us the great tips of Tirana and when we took the taxi into down town we exchanged telephone number to arrange something for the next night.Our room was ok the location was perfect just in the middle http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/blog-99380.html 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 w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/West/Tirana/blog-81031.html Albania was just amazing God really did some amazing things the week we were in Albania. And this is the first year Jesus Revolution has toured in Albania. We started off with a couple of days off in Shkroda and had some fun at the lake where almost everyone but me got burned. This city also has a mosque that is said to have been built by Bin Laden.Then we had our first concert in Fiere. It was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Albania/North/Shkod-r/blog-65139.html