Colourful and whacky Albania

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WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER - ROAD TO ROME

Up bright and early this morning to get the 8am bus to Palermo. I left myself plenty of time but still only made it by about 5-10 minutes as I kept having to ask people where the SAIS bus station was. All the bus stations have their own… and their own ticket office. Somewhat confusing when they aren’t signposted very well. But I managed to get a ticket and get on the 8am ok. From there it was just under three hours to Palermo.

I was quite lucky when I got to Palermo as I saw the airport shuttle bus loading passengers, so I made a bee-line for that and got on that one, saving me a half hour wait until the next one. It meant I got out to the airport at noon, perfect for check-in for my flight to Rome. Killed a bit of time in the airport, grabbed some food, then boarded the flight, arriving into Rome just before 4pm. Got the train into the main train station and then the Metro and a short walk to the hostel. By the time I got to the hostel though it was about 6pm.

After going through my bag I headed to a nearby laundry where I wasted a few hours doing some much needed washing. Then it was dinner-time (pizza) before bed.

THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER 2009 - OFF TO ALBANIA

Another travel day today. Took my time getting up and ready as everyone else in my hostel room seemed to be in a hurry to shower and hog the bathroom. Did a quick dash to the supermarket to buy some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast before killing an hour on the internet before walking to the Metro, then getting a train back to the airport.

Got there about 15 minutes before my flight opened for check-in, and then had two hours to kill again. Took a while to get through passport control and then security. Bought a magazine and some food (slice of pizza) before boarding my flight.

Got into Mother Teresa Airport (Tirana International Airport) just before 4pm. The passport control line was a bit tedious, but the bags were nice and prompt. Found an ATM, got asked by every single taxi driver if I wanted a taxi, and then went outside to see the local bus I wanted about to leave, but he waited (which was great as it only leaves once an hour). The bus ride into town cost less than two euros - I love eastern Europe!!

Dropped us just before 5pm at the main square in Tirana, where it was only a short 5-10 minute walk to the hostel I had booked. After checking in I dumped all my stuff and went for what ended up being about a two hour walk. I only meant to have a brief walk but in true ‘Amanda-style’ got myself slightly disorientated so that by the time I got back I was exhausted. Great city though. I love the place.

One of the main shopping streets I was walking down is obviously quite new. All the shops look new and modern, yet you can look behind them down a side street which is a massive contrast. Half the shops claim to be American, and advertise on their windows American brands. They seem quite infatuated with Americans, I guess similar to Kosovo in that way!! I mean, they even named a street after US President George Bush after he visited.

Even the hostel that I am staying in (very nice by the way and only a two-bed ‘dorm’ which is even better!!) but the walk here from the main city square really demonstrates where the city is going. On one side of the street is a brand new apartment block - complete with cafes and restaurants on the ground level. All very new and modern. Across the unsealed road a man sat on a ratty plastic chair in front of a wooden structure that looked like it was barely standing. It is obviously undergoing a lot of developments, but many of the roads and footpaths are in poor condition, as are a lot of the older apartment buildings. It makes it very interesting though to walk around - as you never know what the next corner will bring. One of the funniest billboards I saw though was for Fosters. Yep - Fosters. It said FOSTERS - Australia’s famous beer, and then has a picture of a couple sitting on a beach, one of them holding a Fosters, with ’surfs up’ written across the photo. I found it highly amusing to see Fosters advertised like this in Albania of all places.

The other thing I noticed when I was wandering around was complete randomness in the shops. I mean - I walked down what were obviously the main shopping drags - and you would walk past a few bar/ cafes, followed by some clothes shop, then there would be a shop selling doors. Keep walking past bars, clothes, pharmacies, there would be a shop selling chairs - like stools, or kitchens, or lounge suites or fridges. It was pretty odd but I guess that is partly because I am used to going to a larger shop that sells items like furniture, rather than strolling down the high street and all of a sudden thinking - why don’t I buy myself a new chair to sit on this evening.

Anyway I grabbed some food while wandering around, got back to the hostel a bit after 7pm, and chilled for the remainder of the evening watching some English TV (House of all things). It was raining anyway after 8pm so not very pleasant outside - I think I was lucky I didn’t get caught in it when I went for my extended walk as it had obviously been raining earlier in the day too.

At about 10pm or so the power went out completely. I ended up spending the next two hours sitting by candlelight in the entrance area with some others from the hostel chatting because no one could really do anything unless you wanted to sleep. Power didn’t come back on until just after midnight. Didn’t seem to be a reason for the power cut - although from my understanding this used to be quite common years ago but doesn’t happen as much anymore.

FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER 2009 - TIRANA, ALBANIA

Got up at a reasonable hour this morning and headed off to explore Tirana. I started in Sheshi Skenderbeg which is the main square of Tirana and right around the corner from Freddy’s. The square is home to their Opera House, the National History Museum, the Et’hem Bey Mosque and the clock tower. In the middle of the square, if you can get past all of the traffic (the square was supposed to be closed to cars but as yet it still hasn’t been!), is the equestrian stature of Skanderbeg. I went into the mosque as well, which was spared from destruction during the athesism campaign of the 60s because of its status as a cultural monuments, although felt very uncomfortable as there was a group of men inside praying when I went in for a look.

My plan had then been to climb the clock tower, but on entering the base some workmen told me it was very dirty and I couldn’t go in. I said dirt didn’t matter and that I would like to go up anyway, and after some discussion they said something about electrical wires and to come back in the afternoon. The tower wasn’t particularly high but figured it was worth a look over the square.

From there I headed down the Boulevard Deshmoret e Kombit which is a bouevard that was built for facist parades, passed all of the brightly coloured government buildings. Behind one of the buildings (I couldn’t work out which one though) was the home of the Sigurimi, communist Albania’s answer to the KGB.

Further down the road was one of the ugliest buildings I think I saw in Tirana. It is essentially a pyramid, and was once the Enver Hoxha Museum. It is now used as a disco and conference centre, although who would want to hold conferences there is beyond me as it looked ugly and rundown and closed. Apparently it is the most expensive building in Tirana as well.

From there I basically kept wandering down to Mother Teresa Square, past the Congress Building and the Prime Minister’s Residence, which didn’t look particularly impressive to me. The river was also disappointing - dirty, small and all concreted in.

From there I had a wander around the very colourful streets of Blloku where I grabbed some lunch (byrek - pastry with spinach and ricotta). Blloku was the former communist party hang-out and was closed to everyone else, although now it is home to lots of cafes, bars and restaurants.

The think that most travellers notice about Tirana, and it is quite hard not to, is the colours. The multi-coloured buildings were a project organised in 2000 by the then city mayor to brighten up the city. Essentially many of the old grey communist-style buildings are now painted with bright colours, some with patterns, some with different colours. Much of this is fading, although there are some that look freshly painted. Even some of the rubbish bins and park benches have been painted bright colours.

In the mid afternoon the grey clouds started coming in so I headed back to the hostel. Within about half an hour of getting back it started raining very heavily. I hung out at the hostel for a while before heading out in the pouring rain again at about 5pm to get some photos of the city in a different light. Ended up drenched. The roads and pavements were even more treacherous than normal as well. Potholes, which you had to avoid unless you wanted to break an ankle, now needed to be avoided as other you would end up with quite wet shoes and legs. At times I even had to cross the road as one side of the road and pavement was flooded too much!!

Got back to the hostel at around 7pm or so and met my room-mates - two English girls living in Kosovo (internships with the UN). We ended up heading out at around 9pm - first stop was the Sky Bar/ Restaurant which was a revolving restaurant with good views over the city. It is one of the highest buildings in the city. From there it was onto an Albanian/Italian restaurant for a quick bite to eat, before an after dinner drink at a jazz bar. Then it was onto a club called Living Room Bar for another drink and some dancing.

SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER 2009 - DAY TRP TO BERAT

After only a few hours sleep I was up again and got a local bus up to the southern bus station to catch a furgon to Berat. The furgons are essentially minibuses that run between cities in Albania. They don’t necessarily leave at set times - they leave when they have enough passengers. I was the second one in the furgon and we ended up overfilling - had 8 when we left Tirana but soon after had 10. Even picked up an 11th person who sat in the boot area for quite some distance. Can’t imagine that was too comfortable!! Anyway I napped for part of the three hour trip.

The other thing which I did get the opportunity to see was some of the bunkers. All over the place there are these small concrete domes with slits in them. They tended to be mostly in fields between farm houses, although sometimes they were just in open fields, there was even a few in the outskirts of Tiran surrounded by houses. The bunkers were built over 35 years from 1950 to 1985 and are made out of concrete and iron. They are basically impossible to destroy - Enver Hoxha hired an engineer to design a super-resistant bunker. The engineer had to vouch for the bunker by standing in it when it was bombarded by a tank. After the engineer survived the ordeal, the bunkers were built. There are estimated to be 700,000 of these concrete look out posts. They were built when Albania decided hat they would have a self-reliant defence policy. While most of the bunkers I saw were obviously bunkers, many were in fields covered over with grass and vegetation. Apparently the locals make them try to blend in!!

Anyway, I got into Berat at about 11:30am or so. Berat is said to be one of Albania’s most beautiful towns. Its’ cathedrals and mosques were again saved during the atheism campaign. The town was essentially split into two by the Osum River and all the houses (white) are built into the hills on either side of the river. Looking up at them it looks like they are built on top of each other. With all of the windows facing the river and the houses on the other side, the town is sometimes called the ‘city of a thousand windows.’ One of the bridges over the river was quite pretty though - an 18th century arch bridge leading into the Christian Quarter.

So I walked through the town on both sides of the river, crossing at the arches bridge. Again, as with a lot of Albania, both sides of the river had large amounts of rubbish strewn about. It is upsetting to see as the country is quite pretty, but the natural scenery is often ruined by the rubbish and the pollution in the natural waterways.

I grabbed some lunch and ate it in the cleanest park I could find before being hassled by a gypsy kid wanting food/ money so had to move on.

At the top of the city is 14th century citadel which I had heard was closed, so I didn’t bother to make the trek uphill. I appeared to be the only tourist in town that day, and figured that the likelihood of the citadel being closed was pretty high. It was slightly disappointing though as I had wanted to go into the Onufri Museum which is inside the citadel walls - the museum is said to display some great artwork.

I had a brief look inside the mosques (but again feeling slightly out of place so they were quick looks!) before a look in the Cathedral. Had a drink in a café (mostly so I could use the WC) before getting a bus back into Tirana. Opted for the bus this time as it was slightly cheaper (less than one euro cheaper) but a LOT more comfortable. Mind you, it also took a bit longer as it stopped to pick more people up and drop a lot of people off along the way. Nonetheless, I managed to see plenty more of the countryside as well as get a bit more sleep.

Got back to the bus station in Tirana around 5:30pm or so and walked back to the hostel rather than hassling with a local bus again. Once back I chilled for a little while before heading out for dinner with the two English girls. Went to an Albanian restaurant where they didn’t have an English menu. We ordered some local wine and then had to get the waiter to explain in his best English what everything was.

The restaurant was quite interesting in that you wouldn’t actually know it was there unless someone told you. There were bridge lights but it was tucked away down a bit of a side street away from the main areas. The place was essentially a house - so there were about four tables in each of the rooms. To get the waiters attentions you rang a bell that was beside the table, which of course we didn’t know at first so wondered why it took so long for us to get served!!!

On the menu there were a lot of things like intestines, lambs head and other animal ‘interiors.’ We steered away from all of that and ended up ordering some dishes to share - some meat, two pies (like pyrek - pastry with leeks and spinach, etc) and some grilled vegetables. When the food came out (in true Albanian style - food comes out as it is ready so not altogether) it was quite tasty. Even the meat - which was lamb and which I usually wouldn’t like - was tasty.

After dinner we headed to the Whisky Bar for a cocktail (very cheap) before heading back to the hostel.

SUNDAY 25th OCTOBER 2009 - TIRANA TO SARANDA

Having felt like I had seen a bit of Tirana, today I was heading to Saranda, which is incredibly close to the Greek Island of Corfu, and about an eight hour bus ride from Tirana. After a bit of hassling with local buses, I managed to find the main bus station and got what I thought was the 9:30am bus to Saranda. It got into Saranda at what I thought was about 5pm. I discovered a few hours later that all of the clocks had changed (daylight savings?) so I in fact arrived at 4pm.

The scenery on the wall was quite impressive though - lots of hills which meant that I don’t think that the bus went any faster than about 40km/h. What did surprise me again though is the sheer amount of garbage about the place. It looks like they collect it, then find a ditch off the side of the road, and drop it into the ditch. So every couple of corners off of the side of the mountain would have a pile of rubbish. Quite unpleasant. Next to the sides of the roads as well there was a lot of plastic bottles and other rubbish as well which just made the place look incredibly messy. An incredible shame if you ask me.

Had a bit of hassling finding the hostel as it had recently moved and there was no signage. In the end I went back to the place that it used to be and a very nice local and the very nice lady who worked at the mini market rang Tony who about half an hour later showed up and managed to find me. It turned out that I had been at the right place, but because hardly anyone speaks English, and because the hostel is in the middle of moving - no one knew what I was talking about!! Frustrating.

Anyway - there was only one other person staying there - an American girl. Hostel was slightly disappointing as some of the reasons I had booked it was its close proximity to the bus station (but since it moved it was further away now, although still closer than the other one), free internet and wifi (which they don’t have yet), laundry (which isn’t set up yet) and things like bike hire, etc, which they don’t have yet. But it is only for two nights so I can survive.

Anyway, the guy that runs the hostel then left us and we arranged to go up the Old Castle of Lekures at ’Qafa e Gjashtes’ (the Pass of Six) with him at 7pm. That meant that after settling in, we headed to the internet café briefly before Tony managed to find us a lift up the hill with someone he knew. Very glad we got a lift at the hill was huge - I would not have wanted to walk up there. At the top of the hill there was a restaurant and bar so we had a glass of wine and admired the view. Tony then rang his Dad to come and pick up up and we headed back to the hostel. I grabbed some food and chilled for the remainder of the evening.

MONDAY 26th OCTOBER 2009

Had a leisurely morning this morning. Got up when the sun started shining horribly in the window and the dogs outside (there are a lot of wild dogs in Albania) started barking loudly and fighting, etc.

Had a shower and spent a good hour writing my travel blog for the last few days before making an attempt to repack my bag somewhat and then heading out for a walk with the American girl (Liz). First stop was the fresh food markets for some fruit, then it was onto the promenade area where we got a very rich hot chocolate (like most European countries - when you ask for hot chocolate you get exactly that - melted hot chocolate).

From there we decided to walk around the hill to where Liz had seen a bunker the previous day - since neither of us had seen one up close and Liz thought that we might have been able to walk down and see this one. It was a bit longer of a walk than either of us expected - but the bunker was accessible to get some photos. It kind of looked liked it might have been lived in or used for storage or something as it was surrounded by a lot of junk and there was a dog tied on a leash to it (a pup really - very excited too!). Was quite a lot bigger up close than they look when you drive past them too!

Anyway after getting all the photos we wanted we rushed back into town as Liz was getting a 12:45pm ferry to Corfu and I was planning on going out to Butrint. When I got back to the hostel though I realised that the next bus to Butrint wasn’t until 3pm, which gave me plenty of time to grab some lunch and have a look around town. Apart from the walk along the promenade which we had already done, there wasn’t a lot to see really!! There were the remains of an old synagogue and plenty of shops which would be buzzing in peak season but which were pretty quiet at this time of year. But the weather held out ok so I just wandered around for a bit.

At 3pm I got on one of the local buses out to Butrint, which is 18km south of Saranda, and is known for its ancient ruins. Even though it is only 18km, in true Albania-style - it took about 45 minutes to get there. Combination of shocking roads and the bus stopping every two minutes to let people on and off (half the time the bus just slows down somewhat and people hop on and off).

Now a UNESCO world heritage site, Butrint was an ancient city throughout Greek, Roman, and Byzantine times. The city was abandoned probably in the middle ages, probably because of the surrounding marshes and malaria epidemic. The ruins are now a 29 sq-km national park - but at one time was a fortified city with an acropolis. Because of the rain over the last few days, the site was a complete swamp and there were heaps of mosquitoes around. As it got later in the day, they seemed the double in number and for once they also seemed to take a liking to me (apparently there is no malaria anymore though - and even though I thought felt some bite - no bites came up the next day - odd).

Anyway, inside the site there is a 3rd century BC Greek Theatre (which could seat about 2500 people), a Roman temple with mosaics buried underneath sand (apparently - I dug a little as there was no one else around but couldn‘t see anything!), a 6th century baptistery and basilica and a Cyclopean wall. I wandered around the area for about an hour or so. Because we had a time change it got dark quite quickly and I had seen no other tourists since I entered the grounds. The light in the late afternoon though was quite nice until it started getting too dark to see because of all of the trees.

I made it up to the castle and the museum area at just before 5pm and the security guard let me in for a quick look before escorting me out of the grounds. At this stage it was pretty dark and it did slightly concern me that maybe the bus timetable I had was incorrect (the last bus was supposed to be at 6pm). Since the area outside of the park was in complete darkness I wandered up to a nearby hotel and sat out the front, as the bus had stopped there on the way down and I figured they would be more likely to see me sitting there. Sure enough, just after 5:30pm, the bus pulled in and I ended up back at the hostel at around 6:30pm.

Grabbed some dinner and some food for the bus ride the following day, finished repacking my bags and went to bed. No one else in the hostel this evening.

TUESDAY 27th OCTOBER

Another travel day today. Got the 8:30am bus to Tirana, but got off the bus at what the driver said was Durres (where the port was that I was getting a ferry that evening). I walked in the direction of the port according to my map until I discovered that I was on the very outskirts of Durres and not at the main bus station where I though. So I ended up getting a bus to Durres Train Station where it took me some time to find the port area as it is not very well signposted and few people speak English. However, I did have a few people offer help which was quite sweet.

Found the port and since it was only about 5pm grabbed a quick bite to eat in the area before heading out to find European Seaways check-in counter. I had bought a ticket online with them but knew I had to check-in at least two hours before. The ferry was at 10pm so I was down there before 7pm. All of the other check-in desks were open, so after waiting about half an hour I asked a security guard who told me that European Seaways didn’t have a ship going to Italy that evening. I ended up having to buy a new ticket from another company which was a pain, but at least I got a ticket. And because of the hassle he also kindly upgraded me to a cabin (I think this was partly because he didn’t think it would be a good idea for a girl to be on the deck! But hey - I wasn’t going to complain!).

Got through Customs ok and onto the ferry by about 8pm. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have a random room-mate so I took the top bunk and basically went straight to sleep. A random roommate never showed up but I still had quite a disjointed sleep - until eventually getting up at about 6:30am.

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