Albania,
Durres.
July 4th -
7th
This border
crossing was the quickest so far - great!
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| Albanian emblem. |
I'd be
interested to know what comes to your mind when you think of Albania, for me
(not sure why) war springs to mind, poverty,
run down communities and even desperation I guess, well, how wrong was
I, it is lovely!! The more rural areas are similar to BG and Macedonia with
self sufficient but new modern homes mainly on three stories, the towns and
cities that we passed through are packed with large houses, historical buildings, ruins and some very
grand architecture indeed plus plenty of Palm trees and Oleander bushes in full
bloom. I have remembered though many moons ago when in Corfu we were told by a
bunch of people who had hired boats that if you get too close to the Albanian border they will shoot at you... Hmmmm... I guess that might have done it. With
my curiosity fueled I found out these interesting nuggets among other things, Albania was the
most devastated country during WW2 and they were declared the world's first atheist
country under communist rule between 1967 an 1991.
Our site is south of Durres and our pitch is on the beach, the site itself is terraced and the reception and restaurant is a log cabin, you know, a real one made from HUGE logs its a well built site in a stunning location!!
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| The view from our pitch. |
The sea is so shallow that even the boys are not getting water much higher than their thighs... But, its like bath water :0)
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Football in the surf.
The bridge across to a small harbor island made quite a bike ride, I suggested this but soon realised it may have been a crazy idea, the boys rode across and we rode back just to save us the shear panic while watching them.
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| Hairy scary bridge ride. |
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| The blogging spot for Albania. |
We had a drive to Tirana, it was an enjoyable day but not a great deal there to be honest and the one place we wanted to visit was mount Dajti by cable car, piss poor planning on that one as it is closed on Tuesdays for servicing and it was Tuesday.
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| Ping Pong bunker. |
A day by the sea in order to get some washing done and catch up with internet stuff, while hanging around the site we came across some interesting items and a ping pong table in an unusual location.
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| Indonesian chairs. |
Then an evening in Durres, we had a delicious Pizza, a stroll around and spent an hour on the sea front amusements, it was full of life, buzzing in fact and it was actually the night of the Portugal and Wales match and all of the bars and restaurants had screens or TV's out on the streets, the result was great for the boys as we promised them they can watch the final wearing their Portugal tops. Well done to Wales though, great job!!
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| Fun time. |
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| Centre |
Bunkers are everywhere in Albania and there were some hiding behind some sunflowers just along the road from our site, different thats for sure.
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| Bunkers in the garden. |
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| Old and the new. |
There was plenty more to see but alas it was time to move on, packing up seems to be getting faster thankfully but a new Defender with a roof tent had pitched up near to us which was definitely a reason to hang around and have a chat :)
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| Interesting trailer type thing. |
The drive to Lake Schoder and the border was painless with plenty of lovely scenery, we passed a Mosque and a Church almost next to each other, the pictures not bad as it was taken from the car, for me it shouts to the world how these two religions can actually live harmoniously together if they are allowed to do so, with love and respect on both sides, which is what any faith promotes.
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| Living in harmony... <3 |
I guess Albania is not on your bucket list but do not rule it out, its cheap, friendly and clean with lovely sea and beaches...
Kisses from Albania now on to Montenegro!!
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