Grand Virginia Hotel 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 ...

Hallo zusammen,<br><br>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.<br><br>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 ...

... to venture out for food. The power came back on around 7pm, and the water around 10pm for a few minutes - but it was long enough for us!! We spent the next day wandering around Tirana and taking in the sights. Since the fall of Communism, the 1990s saw a chaotic flourishing of free market enterprise in Albania, much of which took the form of illicit activities including illegal migration, conversion of the former cooperative farms into huge marijuana grow ...

... kind of expected it fit into a mould I had based on previous travel experiences. The fact that it fit that mould perfectly was kind of comforting, as familiarity breeds comfort when travelling. Of course, the aim of travel is to experience the new, so in Albania at least, I felt sort of short-changed. Poor me. Albania - An overview (and a bit of history) It's a weird sort of country, one that has been classified as an emerging democracy since the 1990's, a ...

... biscuits and coke for a picnic. Monday was my last day (sob!) We met at the church in the morning, and Trev gave us an extensive background history to Kruja at our request, which was really interesting. While it is said that 95% of Albanians (dont quote me on that) are muslim, very few actually practice it. When the Ottomans took over, they basically said anyone who wasn't a muslim had to pay extra taxes, so most people said what the Ottomans wanted to ...

... of the red Albanian flag is in fact his crest - and the banner under which he led the Albanian armies against the Ottomans. In Albanian eyes (and also those of some other Europeans), he was one of Christendom's greatest warriors against the Islamic threat and therefore played a vital role in protecting the West from invasion. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to see Kruja's main attractions. The castle and its primary museum were ...

... to the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene, four horsemen could ride abreast on them. Significant portions of the ancient city defences still remain, although they have been much reduced over the centuries. Like much of the rest of the Balkans, Dyrrachium and the surrounding Dyrraciensis provinciae suffered considerably from barbarian incursions during the ...

... The bakerwoman looked at me incomprehendingly as I tried to say thank you to her. I tried 3 times before she realised what I was trying to say. From her response, it was impossible to tell if she was impressed that I was trying to learn Albanian, or disgusted with my butchery of her language! I won't be attempting too much more though. I'm in an internet cafe and this is my last night in the country. I could sit back and play Call of ...

Not wanting to go back on our tracks, and not wanting to bypasss Croatia, our planning led us to the new port on Corfu, and then on to a hydrofoil for the 25 minute journey to Sarande in Albania. Poor internet connections and not much time away from the boat in Corfu meant that we only managed to squeeze in an hour's research on the internet, which stood us in good stead as far as knowing the bus timetables was concerned, but there was so much more to learn ...

... the cheapest country we have been to so far) - meal times were an interesting experience. We did them largely on our own (no one else in the cafes/restaurants - in fact at one stage we thought we were the only ones to eat out) and the food left a lot to be desired. We did experience some cool things (some may say strange) but in Durres and Tirana (Albanias capital city) they have old dudes on nearly every corner with a set of bathroom scales. You can weigh yourself everywhere ...