Hotel Akademia Korce

... CAPITALIST TRANSFORMATION -
The Albanana's didn't have many interests nor hobbies, besides sitting in cafes. It seemed like they worked to build big houses, for a reason they themselves didn't understand.


My understanding of the Albows was truly superheroic. It was especially superheroic when one considered I spent most of my 139 hours there on a beach, alone. Thus, it shouldn't surprise anyone if The Top 5 Best Things About Albania! were 1. A SHELL, 2 ...

... or Greek trains. We hop onto the train and start our search for a good place to sit to enjoy the scenery while we zoomed by. You'd think that was an easy search, however not ONE window in the entire train was NOT cracked, and it was hard to be able to look through some of the severely cracked windows. Leaving Tirana, the train was almost empty, however in Durres (first major sea front city of Albania) it filled up. We made many stops in tiny villages or in the middle of ...

The Tirana bus "station" was actually a mud-filled lot. This time it took about 45 minutes for the bus to fill up to an acceptable level to leave for Berat. The woman sitting next to me seemed very keen to talk to me even though I can't speak any Albanian and she can't speak any English. After I told her "I'm sorry, but I don't speak Albanian", the man behind me perked up with "I speak English" and proceeded to ...

... room first. This supposedly ensures management will give you one of their nicer rooms. When checking the room, one should make sure the lights work, the toilet flushes, and the taps provide hot water. Entering my room, I go to flick on the light and quickly ascertain that the power is out. "It's Albania" my host says, shrugging his shoulders. Indeed. Fortunately, when the power does come on some four and a half hours later, I am pleased to find that ...

My last morning in Pogradec I was expecting to drive to Elbasan early, but there were more problems with Lelya needing to make some photocopiees but had to wait for the electricity to come back on. Every day the electricity had been out from about 8 AM to 2 PM or so. In fact, many cafes and shops had large noisy generators outside so that they could still be open during the day. Didn't make for a very peaceful cup of coffee. When I learned that piece of news I ...

... night in Elbasan? I said I definitely had to be in Berat tomorrow morning, so she said she would drive me to Elbasan the next morning and I would continue to Berat, and I agreed. I was a bit frusterated but at least I was having a really great time with the family and neighbor girls so I didn't let it bother me too much. We had some lunch and then I went to the beach with the kids. We really bonded more that day, holding hands, swimming around with them on my back ...

... stamp from the Macedonians we had to walk about 10 minutes to the Albanian check point, and we chatted, when they learned I was going to Pogradec they told me to go in their taxi so I wouldn't get screwed on the price. If I was alone the driver would want 10 or maybe 20 euro (I had been told by Al to bargain and the best price I could get would be 5 euro.) So I thought, great, I really have awesome luck - I can talk to them in Macedonian, and they speak Albanian of course ...

... is not so much of a climb to this one. It's just a few steps up from the shore. Another difference from Treskavec is that this monastery has its own hotel and restaurant. There are peacocks in the garden and the church has a small entry fee. It contains (some of) the bones of St. Kliment and those with sensitive ears say they can hear his heart beat in his tomb. I listened to my walkman too much, back in the day, and my ears weren't up to the task. From the monastery ...

My second stop of the day. My irritation at those with whom I was travelling increased immeasurably here. Before I had become so thoroughly annoyed with them and parted company, I had been following their schedule and had booked up the only hostel in Tirana on, since sleeping on the street or paying for an expensive hotel weren't really desirable. The extra night in Saranda had forced this slightly rushed trip on me. In Gjirokastra, it hadn't bothered me so much. Here, I ...

... beyond that. Different to the rest of Albania that I had seen so far in that large portions of town weren't falling apart, the older parts of town (surrounded by a lot of ugly modern sprawl) were pleasant enough for a wander along the cobbled streets and looked impressive when viewed from above, their grey slated rooves blending into ...