Hotel Villa Belvedere Durres

... und von ein** B**gstadt aus den Ottomanen ein kleines Reich abgetrotzt. In 25 Schlachten mit den Ottomanen ging ** als Sieg** h**vor und sein Reich wurde **st 26 Jahre nach seinem Tod von den Ottomanen besiegt (in 1479). Die Alban** sehen sich als Rett** des Abendlandes, waren die Ottomanen doch zu ihr** sta**ksten Zeit in Schlachten mit Skand**b**g beschaeftigt statt die Truppen gen Wien zu schicken.

Albanien macht keinen sehr islamischen Eindruck, die ...

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

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.

Gruss
Ralf

... to venture out for food. The power came back on around 7pm, and the water around 10pm for a few minutes - but it was long enough for us!! We spent the next day wandering around Tirana and taking in the sights. Since the fall of Communism, the 1990s saw a chaotic flourishing of free market enterprise in Albania, much of which took the form of illicit activities including illegal migration, conversion of the former cooperative farms into huge marijuana grow ...

... in the water. We stopped again in Vlora for the night, the water was a lot nicer here and the beach only had a small amount of rubbish on it, although it was rocky not sandy. We had been seeing heaps of meat being roasted on a spit since we hit Croatia but had yet to try some so we sampled the local restaurant's selection (actually there was no selection, it was lamb, lamb or lamb!). It was good, but NZ does it better! The next day we had about ...

... biscuits and coke for a picnic. Monday was my last day (sob!) We met at the church in the morning, and Trev gave us an extensive background history to Kruja at our request, which was really interesting. While it is said that 95% of Albanians (dont quote me on that) are muslim, very few actually practice it. When the Ottomans took over, they basically said anyone who wasn't a muslim had to pay extra taxes, so most people said what the Ottomans wanted to ...

... of the red Albanian flag is in fact his crest - and the banner under which he led the Albanian armies against the Ottomans. In Albanian eyes (and also those of some other Europeans), he was one of Christendom's greatest warriors against the Islamic threat and therefore played a vital role in protecting the West from invasion. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to see Kruja's main attractions. The castle and its primary museum were ...

... 000 (2003 estimate). The city of Durrės is home to Albania's newest public university, the Aleksander Moisiu University. Name In the past few decades, the Albanian name of the city, Durrės (Durrėsi), has gradually replaced the widespread use of the Italian name Durazzo. The city has been known by many other names in different languages due to its varied colorful ...

Today we visited Durrės (Durezzo) on the Adriatic coast with a Californian named Kev. It was 28 degrees out and sunny. The city didn't have that much to offer, but it was Albania's capital once, and an important Roman town, back in the day. We made a quick visit to the Archeological museum. It had a fair selection of items, all the same as hundreds that I have seen elsewhere. As we left, a group of Albanian school children came in for a visit ...

... it. In five minutes we had seen all the town. We took the obligatory photos and had dinner. Then it happened. The locals all came out, dresses in their finest. This was passagiato Albanian style. Not as good as the Italians, but I did see some idiot dressed up like John Travolta !!!!! And that was Albania. Short and sweet. Don't think I would ever return as I can think of better places to go. But we had to leave as we have to get to Istanbul as we need to get some Iranian visas

... the site believe they have only unearthed 12 per cent of the treasures lying beneath the soil, entangled in the roots of the forest or under water. ..The Albanians call themselves Schipotar and their country Schiperia, from the word Schipon, meaning 'Eagle'. The eagle is the symbol on their flag, which was taken from the national hero Scanderbeg, an Austrian who held several Albanian towns from the Turks in the 14th Century and hence 'saved' Christian Europe ...