Hotel Dick's Sons 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 ...

... wobbling. Apparently accidents are pretty common around here (more on that later....). By 5:30am we were standing in front of a neon sign proclaiming 'UFO University", exhausted, smelly, disoriented, and trying to fend off a zealous and unhelpful Albanian taxi driver. It was not an auspicious start. Through a combination of luck and Dan's map-reading skills we found our way through the main square, past a beautiful lit-up mosque and eventually to our hostel. It ...

... Trying to get her, little Miss Resort, to comprehend that independent travel, generally, doesn't work like that was a chore. I commented at the start of this Travelogue how, at the very least, you'll be treated to 'Dave and Meg do France, Switzerland and Italy'. Well, you have (we hope?) and now that we're in Albania the trip as moved into a different phase. We're not quite sure what phase of the trip leaving Italy ends; for sure the 'expensive' phase ...

... stability. But be that as it may, I must say that I just loved the people! They were so nice and welcoming at every turn (with the exception of the bus fiasco), and seemed so eager and excited to have foreigners there so that they could show off their country! I was really impressed by their attitudes and generosity, and truely wish I could have spent more time getting to know them. I would genuinely like to go back to this country some day and give it the time it deserves.

... town of Kruja. Crisp, dry air with a cool breeze is such a nice change! Navigating the furgon system this morning was a little on the frustrating side, at least briefly. I caught a ride with a bubbly taxi driver from near the hostel over to the "Kruja furgon depot" - or however you might call it - and then proceeded over to the next outbound minivan. Since a group of us stayed up late chatting over a bottle of raki, it was kind of a late ...

... the Illyrians the city passed to Roman Rule, following which it was developed as a major Roman military and naval base. The Romans renamed it Dyrrachium (Greek: &#916;&#965;&#961;&#961;&#940;&#967;&#9 53;&#959;&#957; / Dyrrhachion). They considered the name Epidamnos to be inauspicious because of its wholly coincidental similarities with the Latin word damnum ...

... to Durrës and back to Tirana cost only 100 lekke (about 86 cents Canadian). For the hour's bus ride, it is pretty good value. We had already walked some 10 kilometers and after an hour's nap we went out to see the national museum. It's open between the curious hours of 9-1 and then 5-7. It is nicely curated in Albanian but pretty useless to the visitor who doesn't read that language. The Kosovo book by Malcom (see above) mentions enough ...

... of the guide runs a car rental agency too, so I hope to get a car and rattle around the country a bit to before I leave. I visited once before, in 2003, as a tourist (possibly the only one in the country that summer) and it's clear to see the progress. Modern petrol stations (oddly, all with english-only signs reading 'unleaded' etc), ATMs that accept foreign bank cards (Albania's the last country in Europe to get ...

... There are heaps of Albanian men working in Italy and it appeared that they were all travelling back to Albania for their summer holidays that day. Heaps of men in what can loosely be called a queue, all pushing and shoving and yelling. A friendly police officer took us under his wing and we soon realised that there is a "womens' queue". He led Shaun to this tiny queue first, but the dirty looks from the Albanian men in the massive normal queue made us realise pretty ...