Hotel New York Vlore

... br>Tirana hat leider keinen Busbahnhof , Busse fahren von allen moeglichen Stellen in der Stadt ab. Habe aber den Bus nach Berat erfolgreich gefunden, musste nur 45min auf die Abfahrt warten und die Fahrt dauerte dann 2h. Die Strasse fuehrte zunaechst nach Durres, der Hafenstadt Albaniens, bevor es wieder ins Landesinnere ging. Der Strand sah nicht besonders schoen aus, allerdings habe ich im Moment auch keinen Sonnenschein mehr. Obwohl ...

... get off and walk the rest of the way but need to stop for directions. These private bus areas can be at intersections or in back alleys. They can also change locations and are without street signage (you need to look at a sign in the window). This makes it difficult for tourists to figure out logistics. We end up waiting almost an hour before it takes off. Albania must be the place busses go to die. They are in terrible shape ...

... from the old days when the Turks occupied this territory. I had a wander before and was pretty impressed, as I was standing on the wall looking into the valley below I could see a huge mountain with a snow capped peak in the distance. The Muslim call to prayer was being played in the town below and was echoing through the valley like a chant. It was a cool moment because no one was around and I couldn’t help but ask “ Where the F%$% am I?”. The hostel I am ...

... of joining the PC). Thru her I learnt a lot about how people live in this region, including a ritual called “gyro” , which is kind of like our “cruising”, but on foot. Every evening in the summer a section of the main street will be closed to traffic between 7 and 9 pm, and people, especially the girls, put on their best and walk up and down the street. All men and women of any age can join in, but most of them are younger ones. The men ...

Berat, Albania, is a small town in the center of the country. Albania is funny because it was shut off from the world for so long during communism, and they are slowly rebuilding themselves and exploring being part of the greater world. This sounds little strange, but it really is like this. A lot of people expressed fear about going to Albania, wondering if it was safe, etc. but we had a great ...

Vlora is a city in the Southwest of Albania near the sea. The roots of the area begin with the ancient city of Orik. The Orik is believed to have its origins in the 6-Th century B.C. and is believed to be founded by Eubasit. The city has nearly 75000 inhabitants and with its villages it reaches 175 000. The people in Vlora are well known for their patriotic feelings and for the sacrifice they have made for ...

... swam in the incredibly warm, clear, still water, and enjoyed cold beers at sunset. We stayed up til 3am one morning having a dance party for two in the van, consuming way too much local wine, speakers blaring, and decided then that we were definitely not too old to go hard for 4 days (read : all nighters) at Europe's biggest music festival in Serbia in two weeks time.

... based on a spontaneous decision to climb up a questionable trail to a cliffside church below the fortress. Only two of the four of us (myself being one of them) thought it a grand idea. The other two thought we were right daft to attempt it, which I kind of thought as well on certain treacherous parts of the path. Sandals aren't really the best of shoes for a sudden spell of hiking. But I do have to say that the views made it all worthwhile, as we got to take ...

... century painters in Albania. Not only was he a master of the techniques of fresco and icons, but he was the first to introduce a new colour in painting, pink, which the French called "Onufri's Red". In addition, Onufri introduced a certain realism and a degree of individuality in facial expression. The first inscription recording Onufri's name was found in 1951, in the Shelqan church. The Kastoria church has a date 23 July 1547 and a reference to Onufri's ...

... on the TV set in the cabin, it came up with a rough map of the area we were in, and if we were underway, our course was being automatically charted by the onboard GPS unit! How cool is that?! The next channel was tuned to a closed circuit camera pointed off the bow of the ship. So anyway, we used our day at sea to relax a little. We had a rousing game of Scrabble with a ...