Blogs from Shkodër, North, Albania, Europe - page 3

Lounaalle Albaniaan Muutaman Budvassa vietetyn päivän jälkeen oli taas aika lähteä vähän retkeilemään. Jo aikaisemmin oli suunniteltu, että Albaniassakin olisi ihan mukava käydä – ei siis viipyä mitenkään useita päiviä vaan ihan vaikka päivävisiitti lounaan merkeissä olisi riittävä tällä kertaa. Jo joskus nuorempana oli usein mielessä, että eipä olisi lainkaan hullumpi keksintö lähteä pistäytymään Albaniassa. Joskus 80-luvullahan maa oli vielä suljettu ja vaikeasti lähestyttävä mutta siten tietenkin sitäkin kiinnostavampi. Eipä kuitenkaan koskaan ollut riittävästi sinnikkyyttä lähteä kokeilemaan, että miten maahan olisi päässyt. Tirana taisi olla ainoa paikka mihin olisi edes voinut kuvitella lähtevänsä ja sekään ei olisi ollut helppoa. Mutta haaveeksi jäivät nämä suunnitelmat silloin vuosia sitten ja Albania oli siis edelleen meidän kannaltamme täysin neitseellinen maaper... read more

Still raining. Host beyond his call drove me to the bus, where I was almost embarrasingly the only passenger on the massive coach. The journey to Shkoder in Albania took an hour-and-a-half, including the border-control stop where I, without incident or payment (of any kind), received a slightly dissapointing passport stamp. I had been expecting a big Albanian eagle emblazoned over a whole page. We reached the town just as it got light, and I wandered back and forth in the rain trying to find the train station. I was certainly the only tourist there that day, and no - they don't speak English all over the world. Actually Kristoff spoke a little - he bailed me up in the street to practise, and we swore that we would meet up again one day in Australia. ... read more

We woke early to head up to Montenegro by early afternoon, after a disagreement about how we should get to the bus stop at 6 am (cat won) we walked up to the top of town, then sat backpacker hobo style on the side of the road hopping we were at the right place. A few wanders later to see if the stop was elsewhere a swanky new mini bus and some kiwis arrived and before long we were on our way up to Budva. We arrived in the north of Albania with a bump as the driver slammed on the brakes to avoid steel poles flying in through the windscreen, causing the car behind to smash into the back. Out the drivbers got after a quick exchange and a laugh they both happily got back ... read more

No buses run to Albania. In fact, when inquiring at the eyesore of a bus station in Pogdirica, Montenegro’s flat and characterless capital, I received the same reaction for going to Albania as I did for Moldova while in Odessa: “Why do you want to go there?” I took a look around and resisted the retort that Pogdirica was no gem, either. If Montenegro is to separate from Serbia (and we have seen how well the Serbs take it when that happens) Pogdirica will need a serious facelift to be taken seriously as a European capital. Unlike the thick line that indicates the route on local road maps, the twenty-eight kilometer taxi ride from the bus station started on a two-lane highway that soon enough was no more than a gravel path into the mountains. It ... read more

The suspense is now over; we have finally arrived and tomorrow we depart. As logic normally will tell you, though people rarely listen, is that the hype is usually nothing like the actual experience. It reminds me of the build-up to a GREAT New Year’s Eve party. Every time you have all the hype and all the expectation, it is never what you think it will be. In our case, we heard a lot of negative things about Albania before we finally ventured across the border from Ulcinj, Montenegro: “Don’t go there. It’s nothing but beggars”; “Why would you go to Albania?”, or “Don’t believe a word that any Albanian tells you”. These were just a small sample of what we heard just from our short stay in Montenegro. It’s always useful to inquire about the ... read more