Blogs from Albania, Europe - page 31

Our trip around Greece has finally come to an end. We managed to get to Corfu with some difficulty, having to go over to the mainland and then a 2hr boat ride from Igounomitsa. We arrived at Corfu town late, and our choice of where we were going to go on the island was pretty much made up for us as there was only one bus after 5pm and that was to Sidari. We did have vague notions of getting jobs here, but to be honest we had some real problems with our accommodation - they thought we wanted to stay 3 nights, we only wanted one (was an awful place!) and so effectively, we got chucked out. Decided therefore to go somewhere a bit quieter, and ended up at Cassiopi on the northern tip of ... read more

Venice was the "Vacation of our Vacation." Here we met up with our friends, Pete and Fallon, who were honeymooning in Italy. In Venice, we enjoyed the pre-Lent festival of Carnevale. We spent the time strolling the streets, shopping for masks, admiring the amazing costumes, and eating fantastic Venetian seafood. The festival ended with a huge reggee concert in St. Mark's Sq. (Kirstin felt like she was back at the Bob Marley festival in Ethiopia!) Saying goodbye to Fallon and Pete and Venice, we took the train back to Ljubljana, where we continued on to Zagreb, Croatia. After having a blast in Venice, being tired from Carnevale, experiencing the "don't care attitude" of the people (aka "The Croatian Shrug"), the too high prices, and the lack of unique attractions...unfortunately, we were rather unimpressed and disappointed in ... read more

Amazingly we both got up when the alarm went off and we found ourselves sitting in Pasticeri Francaise. We both had freshly squeezed orange juice and a Pain Aux Raisin which was might impressive. It looked almost too good to eat and though very yummy I couldn't eat it all. We began to walk to one of the many bus stations and during a picture stop we met a really friendly guy. He was from the town we were going to visit, Kruja. One thing I really like about Albania is that people assume you are American but when you tell them you're English they think it is fantastic. He walked with us down to the station where he went off to do something whilst we were left to try and find a bus going to ... read more

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. ... read more

Stroll around Gjirokastra in the morning...walked into this big old house, with an old lady and asked to get inside to see the interior......very Turkish style.....nice big house, too bad its vacant and not carefully maintained....... lots of stray dogs in town and this one was jumping on us and bitting us!! ARGH!!! so scary...and the bit actually hurts...+( Anyways, then went down to take the bus....asked around and a minibus said he goes to Berat! so I hopped on and went.........it stopped at Fier! and asked me to take a taxi to Berat!!! too expensive...so I took the minibus from there......by the time I got to Berat, it was like 3pm! very beautiful town!!!! regret not staying the night at first sight!!!! The castle was too high up so I just walked around town. Very ... read more