Albania

Hotel Onorato, Vlore, 3000ALL
A rather chilly 15 degrees

We arrived at the southern joint border crossing between Montenegro and Albania (funded by the EU) the border guard who stamped us out on the Montenegrin side simply slid our passports round his desk to the Albanian guard on the other side.  I watched as their IT systems scanned our passports with just a cursory check of our faces to make sure we were who our passports said we were.  They probably share tea funds too.

Within minutes of crossing into Albania we heard our first call to prayer.  Albania is a predominantly Muslim country but they are an incredibly tolerant society, despite, or is that because of, the 'interference' of others in their affairs.  Take a look at their history and it's astonishing they are so tolerant, it seems the world and his wife has had a go at running things in this part of the world for a long time.

It turns out (and we would have known this had we completed a bit more research, duh) that the coastal route from Shkroder to Vlore is virtually flat.  We really liked Shkroder, our first Albanian town, full of bicycles, mopeds and wild (off the leash wild) dogs, it felt chaotic, but in a good way.  Reminiscent of North Africa, or India, or anywhere where they are trying to pull themselves up by their bootlaces.  We still haven't managed to work out whether drivers have a clear idea of how roundabouts work.  Generally, it's a free for all, but somehow it all seems to work.

As we've come further south on the coast road the traffic has become heavier and faster, this being one of the main trunk roads and where most of the industry seems to be concentrated.  Apart from witnessing a gentleman get knocked off his bicycle today (a young woman who was completely oblivious to her surroundings, talking on her mobile phone ......) he was on the cycle path (yes, there are such things here) and had right of way, we haven't seen any accidents.  However, I haven't seen as many shrines on the side of the road since The Pan American Highway through South America, so they are happening we just haven't witnessed any.

On the road to Tirane we had stopped for a 5 min shoulder stretch only to hear bells from behind, yes, there he was again, Scotty, the Welshman.  So off we trotted for another coffee where we catch up on what has happened since the last time we bumped into each other, and what lay ahead.  I like that, bumping into people several hundred kilometres on .......  A few days later we would bump into 2 cyclists from Colarado, heading to Italy from Durres, and from Italy to Australia.  That was the first water-skiing instructor I've ever had the pleasure to meet!

That night I was very ill.  Not sure if I had food poisoning or a virus, but I spent 12 hours feeling very poorly.  Even when I've had dysentry and other nasties, I've never been so sick I couldn't keep fluids down.  I thought I might end up on a drip somewhere.  Fast forward 24 hrs, I was as right as ninepence.  Hydration salts, rest and plenty of water did the trick, thank goodness.

There are lots of cars in Albania and most of them are old Mercedes Benz.  To facilitate the driving of all these vehicles there are many, many petrol stations.  At points during our trip we have spotted brand, spanking new stations within 500 metres of the last glorious structure, and a mirror version on the other side of the road.  It occurred to us that these petrol stations have been designed as destination venues.  Some of them are so swanky their logos look like popular designer brands (I saw one yesterday that looked distinctly like Armani) We've come across stations with pools, casinos and spas, all of them have coffee shops and bars, some with forecourts the size of 2 football pitches.  Often, right next door is the old, dilapidated station which just stands rusting, envious of the new starlet next door.

When they're not building petrol stations they are building wedding venues and huge hotels, mainly in white and usually with some golden horses in the mix.  Biiiig hotels are the thing, and they appear to be doing very well judging by the number of high end vehicles parked outside.  Everywhere there are half built structures, often with people living on one of the floors.  Where we are at the moment there are so many half built hotels, some of which have been vandalised, it's a wonder if this place will ever look 'complete'. Work in progress I suppose, come back in 5 years and see how it's changed.

Like any burgeoning economy there are those less fortunate.  There are people who make a living out of dumpster diving, or, simply combing the side of the roads, recovering and (presumably) recycling, cans and plastic bottles.  I have seen many middle aged/elderly gentlemen wearing those boxy, suits my father and his generation would have worn in the 40s and 50s, while the young manage somehow to buy designer (or is it?) gear.  Take a glimpse behind the shiny, new and you find the tried and tested traditional.  The rubbish dumped pretty much everywhere is a complete eyesore, but what are people to do if it isn't being collected, or, there are no official places to take it?

Lola, one of our landladies in Albania, is a shining example of an enterprising woman.  I'm guessing she was in her late 60s, she had studied English, German and Italian after leaving school.  She had the whole landlady thing off to a tee.  We were greeted warmly, she demonstrated her grasp of the English language by not only speaking excellent English but writing, in longhand, our receipt, with her beautiful cursive writing.  Lovely Lola.

We are in Vlore for 2 nights and then we hit the hills.  The Llogara Pass is where we're headed, sometimes called Albania's most difficult road, whatever it is it looks spectacular.  The weather today has been rather cool and storm clouds threatened, but came to nothing.  The forecast for the next few days is good, the temperature is climbing back up to what we've been used to over the past few weeks so we're optimistic we'll have good views and won't freeze to death!

See you on the other side!

Laters

PS they love topiary here!