Ambasador Hotel Tirana

Kruja was a short day trip out of Tirana. <br><br>There is a well preserved fortress that has now been converted into a museum on Albania history of Skanderberg - a prominent Albania figure in 14th century who lead ...

My journey into Tirana was epic to say the least... I wasn't entirely convinced by the advice given to me from the hostel staff, a mid-day bus from Kotor would get me to the montenegran border town of Ulcinj for a connecting bus to take me across the new 1.2Million Euro border crossing!!! Only problem being that I arrived in Ulcinj two hours after the only bus that crosses the border... (There is an afternoon bus in the high season ...

... through its infancy by the UN, which has apparently decided that a region can unilaterally declare independence... and get it. Cool, I might want to try that some day. While this may all be interesting politically and historically, it makes for some tricky travel to see them all, certainly more than a quick ferry over to Dubrovnik to feel like you've seen and done Yugoslavia. But none of that applies to Albania, which has always been a case ...

... coincidence, there is a pizza place called the Kings House in Tirana and I went inside purely because I didn't want to offend a man with something as cool as an electric cigerette. I brought a delicious pizza and a Mexican beer (I asked for Albanian, but they didn't have it, so I asked for the cheapest- not made of money). It was actually a very good restaurant, and at just over three pounds I couldn't argue. Nevertheless, the hunt for ...

... strange yet striking building reminiscent of an Aztec structure that you would see in Chizen-itza in Mexico. It was designed by the daughter of Enver Hoxha, at his request in 1987 and its original purpose was to be a museum dedicated to her father. Since his death it has deteriorated somewhat and now houses a nightclub. Its like a two fingered salute to the oppressive dictator, you just couldn't make this stuff up. Situated in the courtyard at the front of the Piramida is the 'Bell of ...

... Albanian border post. The canyonlands of Albania have been beautiful beyond anything we had expected. Much of our time, however, has been spent traveling along the on-and-off coastal highway, from the modern tourist centre of Sarande to the port city of Durres. Albania is currently in the early stages of entering the European Union. Consequently, millions of Leke are being pored into their transportation infrastructure. We seem to have caught them at a bad ...

... Germany. I have no doubt. People in the cities drove cars from the 90's while people in the villages drove the 70's model. All cars are equipped with spanking new stereo systems. Sat in a taxi once that had the newest Kenwood DVD video player attached. While the drive was probably not the safest, the taxi driver and I watched a video of Italian pop. Though I feel quite removed from technology and retail industry at this point of my travels, I can't ...

... we were on our way. Along the way, we saw the landscape, mostly barren desert type terrain with mountains. At times we would see colorful modern houses and at others decrepit properties. Along the way, we saw that was either our third or fourth forest/brush fire along the mountainside, with a helicopter on its way to dump water on it. Otherwise, the bus ride was pretty uneventful and pleasant (though warm). Once in Tirana, the pulled ...

... eateries... The main sights are those left over and/or converted from Hoxha's (pronounced hodja) dictatorship...museums built in his honour (as well as a glass pyramid) and the thousands of communist bunkers that he had built all around the country in case of a war threat...(quite cute actually, but apparently quite a waste of the countries money) - The government, while trying to clean up its' act, is still unfortunately rather corrupt ...

... for a while in Tirana the next morning trying to find the Serbian consulate. (We had heard we needed visas to pass into Montenegro.) After hiking up and down the block of embassies street a few times we managed to find the office...all for nothing, that information is 2 years out of date. We didn't catch a bus or taxi because Albanian people with spaces to fill in their cars hang around, yell out where they're heading and give you a ...