Albania

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Albania

I cycled through Albania in about 4 days and 3nights and thought travelling through this country was like going back in time, with shitty roads, road-side abattoirs and unfenced oil-drilling rigs.
The roads were really shit, the people were great, really friendly and hospitable yet very financially poor, the term salt of the earth rings home. I battled the roads and cycled through oil fields and saw cows hanging from trees, I was given a ride when my bike broke and shared beers with restaurant owners and evangelical christians, and the latter was so generous he even chased after me to give me a bag of food.
The tourist spots I liked were Gjirokastra, a small hillside town in the south and the burial site of Skanderbeg with plaques to show off his victorious battles.

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Photos

The Welcome sign
I had arrived

The Paranoid Dictator
There were many of these concrete defense posts

The Paranoid Dictator
Cycling through the valley on way to Gjirokastra

Gjirokastra
A Unesco world heritage site

First campsite in Albania
Next to the river 5 miles from Gjirokastra

Shitty Roads
The average road for the first 2 days

Pretty Countryside
The view just before the town of Tepelene

Shitty Roads
A really annoying one

So Surreal
An abattoir on the roadside I cycled passed

So Surreal
He used a bike pump to seperate the skin from the body

The Oil Lake
Close to Patos

The Oil Lake
Black and smelly

An Oil Rig
Close to Patos

Such Friendly People
These Guys ran out of their restaurant and invited me to a beer

A Petrol Station
A great idea - it had a bar in it

I Got A Ride
I needed a new inner tube and got a ride to the capital in a truck

Tirane
The main plaza

Tirane
The mosque on the main plaza

Albanian Flakes
Whilst leaving Tirane

The Evangelical Christian
Such a generous man with a bag of food for me

Skanderbeg's Tomb
Plaques for his victorious battles