Haxhiu Hotel Tirana

... kleiden sich sehr westlich, man sieht we***** Kopftuech** als in Deutschland. Und alle 100m gibt es ein Casino.

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.

Gruss
Ralf

P.S.
Dachte d** Pauschaltourismus ist noch nicht hi** angekommen, ab** im Nationalmuseum lief doch glatt eine deutsche Reisegruppe h**um.

... but most of our tour reflects the poor economic situation with decaying buildings, poor infrastructure …

Despite all the poverty, Mercedes and BMW are everywhere. Apparently Albania has been (still is?) a major destination zone for Western Europe’s stolen cars.

I try to take a shower in the evening but the water is turned off for most of the day.

Several of us at the hostel get take out and share bottles of wine at the hostel’s courtyard.

... people. At one point when I was taking a picture of a painted wall obviously commenting on the country's previous Communist rule, one self-styled street-punk even challenges me threateningly with something like "are you Albanian?" I don't like people getting in my face unprovoked of course, so I return his anger and up him one with something like, "Is there a problem? If so, bring it on over." That's what he wants, right? What's the difference ...

... la sympathie des albanais, les soirees de musique traditionnelle...;- moins bons souvenirs: m'etre fait voler a kotor, le voyage enautobus korca-gjirokastra... 2. questions que je porte et que je continuerai a surveiller: - pouirquoi des gens de meme culture (croates, serbes, musulmans) se detestent-ils tant? les religions pourraient-elles jouer un role reconciliateur?- les albanais sont-ils expansionistes: macedoine, kosovo, montenegro ( en ...

... through Durres because the drama and confusion it caused was immense. The first problem for the girl behind the counter was trying to identify where I was from, me classifying myself as being Irish and from Ireland didn't seem to aide her in any way. After a few minutes of silence she seemed to forget about that problem and move onto something else, perhaps to come back to the nationality question later. The second problem was trying to identify where I had come from, she had ...

... buildings. Most of these buildings are adorned with a scarecrow-like thing hanging from it. I'm not sure if they're going to come back and continue building them or if they are just abandoned forever. The buses also passed by a number of Albanian cemeteries. All of the gravestones in these cemeteries included a picture of the person buried there. In my opinion this is to continue the culture of staring so that the dead person can ...

I had a grand time visiting Ejonta and her family in Albania. We ventured south to the beautiful Ionian Sea at Saranda, wandered the impressive ruins of Butrinti, and danced until the wee hours at Mango Beach. I even learned how to do traditional Albanian Dancing! Back in Tirana, we ...

We discovered this morning that the double bed Lucy and I were in last night is normally the mother's room- because we are there, only Eni and Grandma are in beds- Bruna and or Redi sleep on a sofa bed, and the mum sleeps on the sofa. We tried to get her to swap, but of course she refused. Bruna did not sleep very well because she was coughing for much of the night. She caught a chill in March(!) which developed into a chesty cough. There are no good doctors in Kruje and all the half decent ...

... or crowded buses, its crazy. Albanians although i have seen plenty blow up at each other. Are really touchy feely to each other. Men kiss on the cheek of other man to say hello and i saw more than once two mates saying hello then rubbing each others arms like they were dating. I love the poorer countries. Not filled up with tourists yet, your still unique and the locals havent been changed by rude and dumb tourists. First real day i just walked around Tirana. You can see all ...

Sent on our way with a military smile...we were met at the monastery door by someone straight out of a Monty Python "Holy Grail" Movie--midevil and dressed in a black flowing robe (black hat too)...long long beard of gray...we were to meet a number of these dudes in the next hours! These monks are Russian Orthodox--dedicated to a life of celibacy and service to the church. He welcomed us into their home and offered coffee and tea. A ...