Albania, a dusty affair

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Tirana, Albania’s capital, is a loud, dusty city. After a 16-hour overnight bus trip from Athens we contemplated exploring this city until we stepped foot off the bus and were immediately hustled by a number of Albanians. We hadn’t even picked up our luggage off the bus or decided whether we were going to stay or head towards the Montenegrin border further north before one guy was already on his mobile calling his mate to tell me in English over the phone that the cab fare to the train station would cost 5 euro. His insistence and unwillingness of the others around us to answer our questions made me want to get the hell out of there - fast. I thought Istanbul’s unscrupulous merchants were dodgy, but Albanians take hustling to a whole new level which can be difficult to stomach.
We asked a shopkeeper where the train station was, and apparently, it was only 2 minute walk from where we were. “Eight dollars for a 2 min cab ride, hey?” I said. It was amazing to see how quickly their English improved. One of them, who spoke fluently, proceeded to tell me that he couldn’t interfere in another man’s business.
There is nothing much to explore in Tirana. No amount of drum paints can cover-up their dull, grey, ugly and tired communist tower blocks. This is literally how they have tried to improve the look of the city – with a splash of colour. There is one main street, Blvd Zogu I, running through the square and here is where you can find cafes, cheap 90 leke burek stands, stolen or fake goods for sale on dirty, pot-holed roads, rubbish everywhere and again, really nothing much else. The badly-maintained infrastructure is in a desperate need of repair and I won’t be surprised if their decrepit buses and trains break down very soon. I tried all night not to watch our bus driver’s failed attempts to overtake two trucks (at the same time) in front of us. We had a close call with oncoming traffic, but only twice!! I made Pete watch a movie with me just to distract him as well. Albania has a high traffic accident rate and the most serious risk is on the roads.
When you arrive in Tirana all you get is a cacophony of loud, screeching horns as cars try to shove their way through the chaos. It’s a constant daily battle for pedestrians and vehicles alike.
We caught another run-down bus to Shkoder, which only cost us 2.50 euro by the way (and our cab driver wanted to charge double that to drive me down the street) and 90 minutes later we discovered there was nothing much more to see here either. We were less hassled by the Albanians in the north, but unless you enjoy being on the receiving-end of old men sitting around in cafes staring at you, leave as there is nothing else to do. A tourist, going in the direction we had just come from, advised me not to head to Ulcinj, where he had come from. I asked, “why not?” and he said because it’s, “touristy and it’s much nicer here. Stay here”. I looked at him blankly and thought to myself, “I like ‘touristy’…I want to see mountains, ocean, and sun. I am a tourist, after all.” I let him go on his way, to explore less touristy things like pot-holes and hot concrete roads in 31 degree heat since that is what he was after. Outside Tirana, Albanian shop-keepers were much more pleasant and the view got better too.
Central and southern Albania is meant to be more interesting, but after 1 month in Turkey and Greece, we saw no need to explore more Ottoman houses, minarets or Byzantine city walls.
Bring on Montenegro!

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