Haxhiu Hotel Tirana

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 ...

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

... do it, not for sympathy but lack of banking savvy and tax dodging. Fortunately I find my hostel fairly easily, notable considering many such places in Eastern Europe are converted apartment flats with no clue to their existence but the name above the door buzzer. Fortunately their unofficial nature has some advantages, like early check-in, nice after an all-night bus ride. The problem with frequent country and currency changes of course is that it ...

... and bring them back to the lawless republic......... we made it to Tirane that same day.......... Tirane - the glorious and unceremoniously delapidated capital.......... hardest city to find a restaurant......... but charming in a decrepit way......cýty of Jacob and hýs techný-colour dreamcoat well the buýldýngs anyway..... and almost devoid of tourists........ after Croatia and Montenegro being in a country still untouched by the evil ...

... travel agent ringing in my ear "why would you want to go to Albania" that I was more than a little nervous as the ferry pulled into the port city of Durres. The countries that I had visited thus far had all been western civilizations or at the very least, as in the case of the Baltic States, countries that had emerged from the shadows of Soviet-era communism to embrace a free and more western philosophy, culturally, politically and socially. These countries have all been part of the ...

... consequences. Local policeman direct the traffic but no one really respects them and it was easy to see why. When the lights return the policeman stay and direct traffic with complete disregard to the red and green signals, sending cars veering into each other every few seconds. However the strangest aspect of the roads was the cars the Albanians drove - about 50% of vehicles were relatively new Mercedes Benz. Slightly strange for a country where 400 pounds a month is ...

... got to Saranda, a small little coastline city, at about 6 am. Both Tammy and I were exhausted, felt like **** and found a little hotel that we could at least brush our teeth and clean up a little in. You can see here that neither of us looked our best. And at that point, we wanted to get to Greece ASAP, but couldn't. We had to wait another 3 and a half hours before we got on the ferry. When we did leave, it was sad to leave a country ...

... at Tirana's "Subway." Afterwards we walked in the area around the hostel. There is a neon purple ferris wheel on our road, a few casinos, and the road curves around a "river" and hugs it, passing a meat shop called "EHW." Like "Subway," the "river" is a bit of a misnomer too; it's a ankle-deep slew with fast-flowing sewer water at the base of a canal, only a few meters across... (see the latter part of my entry on Durrës for more information on Tirana)

After leaving Greece, we made our way to Albania. This was a very very very long drive. The ride was all country, with some odd things, such as a dead cow on the side of the road. I never thought in my life would I ever visit Albania. I am sure I will never return. When we finally got to the capital city, Tirana, it finally showed life. We didn't see people for 5-6 hours, then finally saw some at the capital. Tirana, and all of Albania, is very ...

We intended on getting a bus to the capital of Albania, Tirana but were convinced by a taxi driver (who would naturally be making a few Euro's out of us) that the easiest way to get to the capital was to take his taxi to the Macedonian/Albanian border and walk across. From there we get another taxi to the mini bus station (a rickety intersection in the middle of no-where) where we could then get to Tirana. We decided to go through with the plan and as soon as we crossed the ...