Blogs from Albania, Europe - page 2

When I first told people that I was going to Albania, their first reaction was, “Albania? Why?” or “Where is Albania?” From a young age, I knew I was part Albanian. I new much about my Irish heritage, but very little about the Albanian side of my family. All I knew was that my paternal grandfather’s parents came to the U.S. from Albania in the early 1900’s. For the first 40 or so years of my life, I had very little information about the country. Seeing that it was a closed communist state until the early 1990’s, there was practically no information in my school encyclopedias about the nation and until fairly recently, it was hard to find much information online. While researching my family tree, I discovered that my great-grandparents came from the Korçë region ... read more

The father of the guesthouse owner in Drelaj showed me some photographs in a book that he had written about the Kosovo war, or more specifically the village's part in it. Amongst other things they showed all the houses burnt out and a cave in the mountainside where the villagers had hidden while the Serbian army swept through the village. Unfortunately the language barrier meant that we couldn't chat about it further but it did mean that he could get on with his job of cutting hay with a scythe and building a haystack in the traditional style that is seen throughout the Balkans. Seeing the photos put our problems into perspective but nevertheless a problem we had. Overnight Cathy had been ill and wasn't up to walking, so we had all taken an extra rest ... read more

YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT - RECOMMENDED - THEN GO BACK TO THE BLOG OR GO THROUGH THE 72 PHOTOS IN THAT ENLARGED FORMAT.- CLICK ON NEXT OR PREVIOUS OR ON A NUMBER BENEATH THE PHOTOS. I PUT LOTS OF INFORMATION IN THE PHOTO CAPTIONS SO YOU CAN SKIP THE NARRATIVE, JUST LOOK AT THE ENLARGED PHOTOS AND CAPTIONS AND YOU'LL STILL GET MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU EVER WANTED. TO RETURN TO THE BLOG ENTRY, CLICK YOUR BACK BUTTON OR ON THE NAME OF THE BLOG - BELOW THE NUMBERS ON THE LEFT. As you have probably figured out, these travel blogs are a way for Bernard and me to keep track of our adventures. I can't tell you how many times we've referred to one of our over 80 travel blogs ... read more

Bonjouratous, Ricou retaille la route, il est temps. Après quelques petites virées covidiennes franchouillardes, grecques ou espagnoles tranquilles depuis mon rapatriement en urgence d’Inde en mars 2020 (oui déjà !), la bougeotte me reprend. J’ai l’opportunité d’évasion d’une dizaine de jours. Je pense d’abord retourner en Grèce, me baser à Thessalonique dans le nord pour écrire, ce qui serait raisonnable. Ce serait du séjour, pas du voyage. En octobre ça devrait passer, la mer est encore chaude, les gens, sauf les vieux, au travail. Comme d’habitude, je me nourrit du projet, pas question de revenir en arrière, c’est bien ancré. Je regarde les cartes, les possibilités, les billets d’avion, les prix. Eviter de dépenser plus que le revenu de ma location. Et puis mon regard se porte sur la gauche, vers la mosaïque balkanique, les fragments ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Toujours en Albanie, et ce soir toujours pas de nouvelles du "pelesse". Avant que ça me soit conseillé, j'ai bien vérifié les indésirables, et j'ai même tenté une nouvelle demande, refusée, car adresse mail déjà enregistrée. Hier au soir je suis allé manger sur le port, 300m environ de l'hôtel, et en m'y rendant comme au retour, j'étais content que ma voiture soit gardée par la police du port. Des bandes gamins rom, les petits effrontés comme on en rencontre chez nous, ceux qui n'ont peur et qui ne reculent devant rien, ceux qu'on ne veut pas rencontrer le soir en rentrant, trainaient à l'entrée de la promenade. Les parents faisaient la manche, de manière assez agressive, les albanais ne font pas dans le détail, et les jettent physiquement. Le restaurant, plus tôt ... read more