Blogs from Tirana, West, Albania, Europe - page 6

Well I had only a few days left in Albania before I headed to the coast of Montenegro. So after our trip to the Blue Eyed spring, Jhonny, Axiel and I jumped on a bus to Gjirokastra. there were no seats but we sat on the floor, and I made friends with the people around me, and managed to a get a nectarine and contacts to meet up with when I went back to Tirana. So was a pleasant journey, considering the seating arrangement. I had only a short period before I had to head back to Saranda, as the buses do not run very late, and was returning to check our sick Quebeca friend Jen. With the time I had we walked briefly around the town, or more like tried not to get hopeless lost ... read more

Wednesday 8th July 2009 Wake up this morning at 6am... had not slept well AT ALL due to the streetlights shining straight into the sail boat cabin which has no door plus I had woken up at 4am with a coughing fit, so it felt like I had only just got back to sleep when it was time to get up and get ready. We had to pack up our stuff and clean the boat and have breakfast this morning before the boat inspection at 6.45am. It has to pass the inspection or we will be charged 40Euro, gulp. Yesterday we had already done the front decks and cleaned out one of the inside cabinets where we had stored the water. This morning it is all the other surfaces and with 6 of us on the ... read more

Wow, Albania. Absolutely crazy place. Are we still in Europe? Firstly, the trip from Bar, Montenegro to Albania was a nightmare as expected. Once again, we were travelling on a Sunday (we gotta mix up our schedule a bit). The first leg of the trip was a bus from Bar to Ulcinj, a town closer to the Albanian border where we hoped we could get a bus to Shkodra in Albania. Of course the only bus that day left at 6:00am and we missed it by a long shot. There are always taxi drivers hanging around the bus stations offering rides to stranded travellers but until now we always ignored them. We were approached by a guy who offered to taxi us straight to Shkodra. I knew it was illegal to taxi across the border but ... read more

It's fair to say that Albania suffers from an image problem. Communist for so long and isolated because of its refusal to become part of Yugoslavia in 1948, plus the breaking up of relations with Russia and China, it suffered more than anyone when the old regime collapsed in 1991. The country's economy collapsed, the capital Tirana was swamped with migrants now free to travel there, and infrastructure was found totally wanting. Five years ago we would probably have shyed away from this poverty-stricken nation, but things have changed. Money has been invested from abroad and the capital city has been transformed. We arrived at 5am on Monday morning and were taken to our apartment by the sleepy owner who was late meeting us because of his very human mistake of overusing the snooze button on ... read more

I feel guilty to say this but when I lived in Tirana, in a way I felt a bit bored and understimulated. I didn't see alot of culture or arts in play. The city's residents seemed a bit conformist to me and the entertainment options seemed limited. Now, on this trip, I see a new Tirana. The residents are going through a transformation where there is more diversity, more demand for culture, arts, style, entertainment, etc. The city's visual appearance is changing to become more modern, bigger, and more prosperous. There is more activity everywhere. Today, I walking from the apartment and I saw the clear blue skies and the mountains behind the city. I just felt taken by the city and its march to a brighter future. But I still some signs of the rough ... read more