Apollonina Durres

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 ...

... und von ein** B**gstadt aus den Ottomanen ein kleines Reich abgetrotzt. In 25 Schlachten mit den Ottomanen ging ** als Sieg** h**vor und sein Reich wurde **st 26 Jahre nach seinem Tod von den Ottomanen besiegt (in 1479). Die Alban** sehen sich als Rett** des Abendlandes, waren die Ottomanen doch zu ihr** sta**ksten Zeit in Schlachten mit Skand**b**g beschaeftigt statt die Truppen gen Wien zu schicken. <br><br>Albanien macht keinen sehr islamischen Eindruck, die ...

... There was a marked difference coming from Montenegro, which was considerably more developed. Plenty of horse and carts to drive around, and potholes the size of bomb craters to avoid. Albania is playing catch up big time with its neighbours. Although it's predominantly Muslim it really wasn't that noticeable as until relatively recently religion was banned here. The concrete ...

... Day 26 to 28 Observations (September 8th to 10th 2007) · PD_00 One of the good things about our Tirana hotel room was the availability of a free WiFi connection. The connection could at best be described as sporadic and when it worked at all it was only when the laptop was located in a certain corner of the room. While the connection was never a strong one it was sufficient enough to allow us to check our e-mail and keep tabs on the Rugby World Cup ...

... the ferry this morning. Meg thinks I'm doing this on purpose. I only wish I had that sort of power. · Consistency If there is one thing that can be said for communism it's that created countries that are somewhat visibly consistent. Overbearingly sterile, but at least visibly consistent. Albania, even the bit we've seen, shares the communist traits I've seen in any ex-communist country I've visited - sterile downtowns with large squares (most of which are ...

... we immediately asked if there was a bus to take us to Albania...no go. Then we went literally next door to the train station to see if there was a train that would work as hinted on the Albanian railways website. Again, no go. (I would later find out that no trains could go from Montenegro to Albania, since they use different size or type railtracks). So, while heading back and forth from the bus station to the train station, we came ...

... driver honk at a cop directing traffic. The people are extremely friendly, even if you can't understand a word they're saying (nor they you). It ought to be interesting having a look around for the next few days. I've got another night in Tirana after today, so I'll probably hop down to neighboring Durrësi and possibly Kruja nearby, time-depending. After that I'll have a look down south at a couple places before rounding back north and eastwards to Macedonia. Should be good.

... of communist rule in 1990, Durrës became the focus of mass emigrations from Albania with ships being hijacked in the harbour and sailed at gunpoint to Italy. In one month alone, August 1991, over 20,000 people migrated to Italy in this fashion. Italy intervened militarily, putting the port area under its control, and the city became the centre of the European ...

... and we were off. We saw a sign on the way into the centre of Korça that said Hotel George so I waited with the bags whilst David went off. George was sleeping and wouldn't wake up so I went off and was the winner once again! Just up the road a nice police man saw me looking around and asked me if I wanted a hotel then took me to the front door! Cheap, clean and satellite tv!! Excellent! We went looking round - it didn't take long, there's not much to it. Plenty of ...

... the same thing. They are in the same classroom for school, teacher's rotate for different subjects. There are about 20 cohorts in his school, or about 400 students. 3. University (college) is free to those invited. The competition is great..I think they take only about top 10-15% of applicants. 4. Soccer (football) is the big sport...they play some basketball and ping-pong. He told me that baseball and our football make no sense to him. He kept saying, "what ...