Bermon Tirana

Hallo zusammen,

von B**at ging es wied** zurueck in die Hauptstadt (**neut 45in Wartezeit und etwas ueb** 2h Fahrt, wenigstens sind die Strassen in Albanien recht gut). Hatte dann nur ein paar Stunden Tageslicht, ab** das reicht aus, um Tirana zu sehen.

Das Nationalmuseum ist ganz nett und etwas groes** als das Museum des Kosovo. Die Geschichte Albaniens ho**t mit 1945 auf, man schein noch nicht b**eit zu sein die kommunistische A**a zu bew**ten. Das ...

... Stempel in meinem Pass, entweder von der Ausreise aus Mazedonien oder von der Einreise in den Kosovo, ist so schwer zu entziffern.

Die Strasse auf der Albanischen Seite war erstaunlich gut, teilweise bereits ausgebaute vierspurige Autobahn, teilweise noch im Bau. Wo das Geld wohl herkommt? Ich nehme an, aus der Tuerkei.

Gruss
Ralf

... We got to the border and they did the usual thing of collecting the passports from everyone. I weas told by some people that you had to pay 10 Euro some people said 1 but actually I didnt have to pay anything, I also got a stamp in my passport which I was not to happy about because I am trying to save as many pages as possible for my next trip. As soon as we crossed the border you could see these ...

... I saw a car hit a bus and all the Albanians on the bus got out, looking shocked that an accident had taken place- I was more shocked that it was the only one I'd seen all day.) I headed back up Bul Zogu street to the Oslo bar, which I'd spotted earlier. Unfortunately they didn't sell any Albanian beer. I then tried the Wien bar- no luck there either. Both possessed the same variety of German and Austrian brands. That was pretty irritating ...

... to survive not only this period but it also escaped destruction during World War II. It took almost 28yrs to build and its survival is a testament to all things righteous and true, with the beautifully painted dome and the interesting art works that adorn the walls, its loss to the world would have been nothing short of a tragedy. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful mosques in Albania. The elegant minaret of the mosque is overshadowed slightly by the Kulla e Sahatit or ...

... chocolate - so it was a very healthy lunch today!!!! There is a lot of development happening here & it zould be great to be able to come back in 5-10 years & see just how far they have come: I'm sure it will be beautiful: Our hotel was really quaint; up on top of a hill with great views, a pool & a ping pong table. Rod was thrilled!

So Macedonia was cool.. a place I never thought I would go... Ohrid is a beautiful town on the lake with Albanian mountains in the distance. We stayed at Antonios family guesthouse... if you ever find yourself here let me know I will give you the details! The first night in Ohrid I picked a little place to have dinner... no menu so the chef came out and asked what I wanted, Anything I replied (it's nice not having to decide of a ...

... small sandwiches. We were starving, and knew we needed to load up on food before the overnight bus ride. Once again, to our surprise, the bus driver took us in his own personal car to a nice restaurant that was about a 15 min. drive away, where he knew they would have menus in english and the food would be good quality. And he expected no payment for driving us there! He told us how to walk back to the bus, and left us to enjoy our meal, which was REALLY GOOD and ...

Back in Tirana again, after a long day's journey up from Gjirokastra. Actually, it could have been worse - the guidebooks stated it'd be an eight-hour bus ride, when it in fact ended up just over six. Even so, that's way more time than I need stuck on an old, well-weathered coach on Albania's roads. At least the windows opened with ease and the temperatures only hovered around the low 30s. That's better than I was getting in Montenegro! Apart from a ...

... outside of Albania, in case you ever need to know that, but you get 180 Lek to the pound. 2. Water costs 50 Lek. The size of the bottle is irrelevant. Beer is 100 Lek. 3. There are around 700,000 concrete bunkers that can be found in the country. These sturdy things were built to fend off threat of invasion from abroad between 1955 and 1985, but the invasion never came. The then leader, Hoxha, wanted something that was totally bomb-proof, and the ...