Blogs from Tirana, West, Albania, Europe - page 8

The overnight bus from Thessaloniki wasn't the most comfortable I've ever had. Mid-night 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've seen in a long time and she spoke french so I was not in the worst of company to spend a night without sleep. I had heard bad things about Albania's border officials. Apparently I'd get ripped off and they would attempt to get bribes out of me but none of that happened. I paid the 10 euros entrance fee (with a recipe) ... read more

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 with the blog by the time I leave here. Also, for my Australian friends, I should be back in January sometime. I will be in Perth for a month before moving to Melbourne to do my Masters. Hope life is treating everyone well, enjoy. One of the days in Montenegro Luke and I decided to take a short trip to Albania. ... read more

Tirana June 11th Tirana is not my favorite city in terms of things to do and places to see for the quick traveler . That being said, it reminds me much of my 'hometown' of Cairo Egypt, with the pseudo-third world feel. This city is not one of outstanding beauty and great historical monuments, although there is much history to the region. We stayed at a little hostel/hotel near the center of the city, and it was by far one of the worst places we've stayed at so far, as well as one of the most expensive at 20€/person per night. For that we got two really, really lumpy uncomfortable beds and a shower situated directly over the toilet (which leaked the dirty bowl water from the base!) making it quite hard to shower. But I ... read more

Some European cities beg to be explored. The less quiet, romantic, and dimly lit back streets of Lisbon and Budapest come to mind. Others cities, however, instill a deep desire to remain in your hotel room with the door locked and all windows shut tight. Tirana pertains to the latter. Albania’s capital does very little to diminish the already horrendous first impression the northern city of Shkodër delivered. Hot and layered with a coating of chalky grime, Tirana only confirms that Albania is a third-world country in an otherwise modern Europe. Overcrowded and polluted with an endless blaring of horns from backed-up traffic, only a rare cool and rainy day in summer provides relief from the loads of fermenting trash at every street corner that overflows from neglected dumpsters. No matter what the weather, there is ... read more

Tirana, the capital of Albania, can only be characterized as a bustling, out of control city, where organization of the infrastructure and people just does not seem to exist. Example: When crossing the street, whether in a crosswalk or otherwise, you do so at your own risk because drivers have absolutely no regard for pedestrians. You are forced to quickly bob-and-weave in between moving cars that have had to slow down only because the roads are so bad that they cannot drive faster. Honestly, at some points you would think that you were passing through a war zone due mainly to the conditions of the sidewalks and the roads. I would say also that drivers in Tirana employ horns as one of their most useful tools. It’s even possible that most drivers use their horns more ... read more