From Rome, we hopped on a plane for a short flight to Albania. Though it isn’t on most traveler’s must see destination list, we have two friends living there, and we were just too close to not see them. We’re so glad we made the brief detour.
We arrived more or less on-time to Albania’s capital city of Tirana. As usual, for whatever reason, we ended up in the slow line through customs. We got a nice taste of Albanian line etiquette when a man walked out of his line when he noticed it had slowed down, and stood right in front of us. A few minutes later, he moved back to his original line once he figured out that ours was the slow line. Interesting strategy. Maybe we’ll give it a try back in the states.
Our friends Carolyn and Ndue picked us up at the airport and we headed north towards their place in the town of Vau Dejes. Albania is a relatively small country – about one sixth the size of Washington State. However, the two lane roads, which are often used by non-vehicular traffic (i.e. bike, walkers, horses, etc) can get a little chaotic, and it takes patience and skill to navigate them. Carolyn and Ndue pointed out some castles and various landmarks along the hour and a half drive. We did a quick loop through Shkoder, the largest city in the north, and then had dinner at a nice restaurant along Lake Shkoder where we ate and drank our fill and then some. We were also introduced to raki, an Albanian specialty drink similar to grappa that had us breathing fire.
The weather was clear the next morning, and we had our first chance to see some of the rugged and mountainous landscape. After a quick breakfast, we headed back south to Tirana to check things out during the daytime. Some areas were a little nicer than others, but you could definitely tell that it was a city making progress and dusting itself off from its communist past. In the afternoon, we took a nice scenic drive up the windy roads to Kruje and the castle of the famous Albanian defender from the Turks, Skanderbeg. Along the way, we passed what could be the only one of its kind – the George W. Bush Bar and Kafe. He had apparently made quite a strong impression on his Presidential visit in 2007. Ironically, the town is predominantly Muslim populated and the cafe owners are said to be as well. Go figure.
Dinner that night was a true feast. Ndue expertly grilled us some fresh fish we had picked up earlier at the market on a charcoal grill (real charcoal, not the lame briquettes). The fish was accompanied by antipasti of olives, cheeses, peppers, as well as prosciutto and parmesan, and a huge salad. We of course drank white wine with our fish after Ndue informed us of an old Albanian saying that didn’t translate all that well but basically said, “give me white wine with my fish or take me back to where I was.” We didn’t argue.
We woke up early-ish and hit the road going north to Montenegro. Just over the border, we stopped off in the quaint beach side town of Ulcinj, where we had a bite to eat and a drink. Further north, we poked around the small island/ peninsula of Sveti Stefan. Our final stop on the tour of Montenegro was the upscale resort town of Budva. We walked through the old town, admired the yachts in the marina and then enjoyed a pizza and beer for lunch. It was a long ride home and we were all pretty tired. We had a simple dinner, accompanied by a few Montenegrin beers we had picked up along the way home. Speaking of on the way home. We had a little trouble getting started. Ndue had recently installed a fridge/ heater in his car which we were using to keep beverages cool along our travels. We forgot to turn it off when we went wandering through Budva, and it sucked all the life out of the battery. Carolyn, Haley and I gave it our best effort to push the car while Ndue popped the clutch and tried to start it. We gave it a few good attempts, but Carolyn and Haley spent a little too much energy laughing and we just couldn’t muster enough speed. A Volkswagen finally gave us a jump and saved the day.
We slept in the next day and Carolyn made us all a delicious breakfast. With Ndue as our tour guide for the day, we set out to tour some more of the Albanian countryside. Our first stop was the ‘old bridge,’ built back in the 18th century over a crystal clear mountain stream. We then got panoramic views of the lakes, rivers and mountains surrounding Shkoder from atop the Rozafa Castle. For lunch, we went to a restaurant specializing in trout with huge pens stuffed full of all different sizes of them. Some were even bigger than the ones that Jim catches (in his dreams). We ate outside and enjoyed the nice weather and fresh fish.
That evening, we drove toward the mountains to the east of Vau Dejes and got some great views of the lake and surrounding area. We then drove to the other side of the lake where we unexpectedly ran into and briefly met Ndue’s father. The lights were still off (Albania has some crazy water and electricity restrictions) when we got back into town, so we stopped into Ndue’s cousin’s restaurant to meet him and to have a beer. We chit-chatted for a while with him and his sons who were a little hesitant but happy to practice the English they had been learning in school.
The next morning, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Greece – the last stop on the Euro segment of our trip. Along the way, we picked up some byrek, a local specialty, to snack on for breakfast. We had a great time in Albania and are indebted to Carolyn and Ndue for all their hospitality.
Posted by haleyandjim 
