Aragosta Hotel Durres

... army to various victories against the Turkish empire. <br>On the road from the bus station (stop) there is a street of wooden shops (that ironically looks very turkish and was selling predominantly turkish goods!).

... kleiden sich sehr westlich, man sieht we***** Kopftuech** als in Deutschland. Und alle 100m gibt es ein Casino.<br><br>Morgen geht es dann weit** gen Norden, sollte morgen Montenegro **reichen. Liege ganz gut in d** Zeit, kann v**mutlich einige Staedte an d** Kueste besichtigen, Inshallah.<br><br>Gruss<br>Ralf <br><br>P.S.<br>Dachte d** Pauschaltourismus ist noch nicht hi** angekommen, ab** im Nationalmuseum lief doch glatt eine deutsche Reisegruppe h**um.<br>

... me the officers were immediately drawn towards me and my bags. As the officer ran his hands up and down the outside of my bags he was saying something in a rather forceful tone, something that I didn't comprehend. As his frustration grew with my non-response Jimmy gallantly stepped forward to translate that the officer was asking me what was in my bag. When I pointed to my attire and said clothes, the translation was made bringing an end to their rigorous search. When everything was ...

... room before we'd even stepped inside the hotel building (but not before testing the market and getting the price of an adjacent hotel). The Guva Hotel was nothing spectacular, but it was clean, quiet and comfy, despite the hunters-lodge style decor, complete with wooden walls adorned with tiger pictures (but sadly no stuffed carcasses of any kind). That first evening we simply walked the streets, making observations and realising hey, just like Durres before ...

... help?. Of course my initial reaction was "no, we're fine, thank you very much", but even my pigheadedness could see the benefits playing the 'lost-tourist-in-need-of-assistance' card. He escorted us to our plan B choice of accommodation and shortly after we were being shown the best of Albania hospitality (and on an international scale it measures up quite well) in the Mediterranean Hotel, overlooking the sea. We're still not quite sure if David had/has an ...

... her apartment/bedsit. She apologetically told me she'd already made plans for the evening and was going out with a friend, but left me some salad and bread for dinner. She's really living on the breadline there so I was very grateful! I sat outside on her balcony for as long as the light lasted (Tirana has no electricity between 7 and 9pm. No chance of a shower- she didnt even have one! Just a tap, from which no water came. I was asleep by the time she returned.

... got a swift hour and a half ride down a beautifully resurfaced road to the capital. Not at all what I expected! Albania's getting its act together, apparently. The same couple also happened to have reservations at the same hostel I had booked into, so we also got to share a taxi across town to the last stop. All in all, just 300 lek again (this time in total) and without barely even breaking a sweat. The hostel itself is a comfy little place on the edge of downtown ...

... them in 1501. Durrës became a Christian city quite early on; its bishopric was created around 58 AD and was raised to the status of an archbishopric in 449. It is also the seat of a Greek Orthodox metropolitan bishop. Under Turkish rule, many of its inhabitants were converted to Islam and many mosques were erected. This city was renamed as D&#305;raç, the city did ...

... nice mini bus driver took us to a spot on a main road and waited with us until a car appeared said he was going to Durres. How hospitable! A lady in the unofficial taxi spoke english very well and said the 'taxi' would be stopping at the beach but that we would need to catch a bus into the centre of town to get a cheap hotel as all the ones at the beach were expensive for the high season. So that's what we did. The bus was an unbelievable ******* and it would have ...

Hello again from Tirana, Albania. Although the phones are unreliable, well so is the power, in the compound we are staying we have found a way to get into town this Sunday morning after church and find an Internet cafe. So, we will now both share some additional experiences and thoughts about Albania. When we arrived in Tirana we were met by the Harmons and taken directly to the Fourth of July Fair at the Ambassador's residence. We passed through at least two ...