Hotel Hoti 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 ...

... type of society you live in. As we sat a football match began on the TV, Turkey Vs. Croatia. As one might expect the conversation drifted from the topic of politics and came to rest on which team we would all be supporting. I advised that I would be shouting for Croatia while he explained that he would be cheering Turkey on. His friend couldn't speak English so he just nodded and laughed, I took that to mean he was supporting Turkey. According to Jimmy the Albanians and the Turks ...

... Bey Mosque, a gorgeous building at the edge of the main square which was spared by a succession of conquerers and by the Communist purges simply because it was so beautiful. Smiling, bearded local men invited us in to see the paintings which cover every square inch of the interior, while other men sat inside reading the Quran and praying. It was calm and serene in the midst of the noisy, dirty chaos of the city outside. Back out on the street, we braved the ...

... as to why Albania should, and did, feel familiar, it's time to tell you all about what we got up to here in Durres. And this is where I run into issues... not because we didn't do anything... well, being honest, that's exactly why. Making Durres sound interesting is going to be a task beyond even my abilities, no matter how many adjectives I throw at it. We arrived off the overnight ferry from Bari in Italy, a nice town btw (seemingly it's of no great ...

... to avoid buying any mass produced souvenirs. The team prayed for me, then I boarded the bus back to Tirana. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone- we've been through a lot over the last 2 weeks, and it was such a fantastic team. I was staying with Rodina, who had recently moved to Tirana from Kruja but had been visiting Kruje over the last week. I had been given the name of the bus stop, so showed it to the bus driver, and hoped he'd understood ...

Moving on once again, I've now arrived in the capital of relatively untouristed Albania. The trek down turned out to be a cinch, though it was queasier than it would have been otherwise. On a spontaneous decision, I spent most of yesterday evening drinking beers with the Albanian owner of my hotel and a guest from Macedonia. Discussing politics, the Balkans, cultural differences and so forth was a great time, but the "one beer" quickly turned into four and I somehow found ...

... was restored the following century following the defeat of Bohemund in 1107 but the city was lost again in 1185, this time to the Norman King William II of Sicily. In 1202, during the Fourth Crusade, the city was transferred to the rule of the Republic of Venice. It passed into the hands of Manfred of Sicily and then Charles I of Sicily (Charles of Anjou) in ...

... get to Duress and over the mountain ranges. There were plenty of headstones along the road sides (complete with photos of the victims in there better days) to remind me that we were travelling along curling, winding mountain roads. There were loads and loads of cement mushrooms all over the place. Big ones and little ones. David missed most of it - he dropped off to sleep almost immediately. Coming down the mountain there must have been a spring because there were ...

... population to a middle-class standard but they have forgotten to fill in the bits in between (such as roads, shops, farming land etc.) This plan appears to be half-way fulfilled, with skeletons of concrete structures waiting for their rusting iron fingers to be encased in a fresh glove of grey and washed with citrus paint. ...The people are some of the most hospitable we have encountered in any of our travels - ever - and most speak at least a few sentences of a ...