Lyden Hotel 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 ...

... back onto the bus we drove the short distance to the Albanian gate. Again we had to get off the bus and queue at the checkpoint with our passports at the ready. To my right I noticed an office that had a TV in the window showing the culmination of the match we had begun to watch earlier in the evening. Sitting outside watching the game were a few off duty guards, cheering and laughing loudly. With plenty of time to spare before it would be our turn to approach the immigration booth ...

... and no matter what any guidebook might say, there really is nothing to see here, certainly nothing to keep us more than a day or two at most before moving on to Macedonia, a day or two we'd happily spend just relaxing and sipping cappuccinos in one of the city's numerous cafes. Or so was the plan. Mocking is catching Remember in the last entry how we mentioned Megs 'Ailment of the Day' idea and how we said we'd keep you posted on what ailment crops up next ...

... with the owner of the hotel but we doubt it... we doubt Durres gets enough tourists for that to be a profitable pastime. Anyway, due to the less than ideal accommodations we enjoyed on the overnight ferry we were quite tired and slept for some of the afternoon before having a look around what was a nice but decidedly uninteresting town (see the pictures). We decided not to take David up on an invite to visit his home for Turkish coffee (something I'm ...

... stilted conversation as Eni and Bruna are the only ones in the family who speak English, but she needn't have worried. For some reason, their mum couldnt come, so it was just Lucy, Eni, Bruna and me- girls night out. We chatted about boys and their plans for next year over further pizzas. Then the mum walked down to the castle to escort us home again- 'just in case you were scared'. I love this family! On the way back, Xamija told ...

... with very friendly and helpful staff, so it's a brilliant place to set up for a couple days. After a brief run-through of my planned itinerary for Albania, I was basically given all the information I needed to do it all. And in a room with only two other people sharing, it should be pretty easy to get a good night's sleep. Nice one. It is seriously hot down here though. When I saw a reading around 1pm this afternoon, it was already showing 40°C and it only seemed to ...

... prosper under the Ottomans and its importance declined greatly. By the mid-19th century, its population was said to have been only about 1,000 people living in some 200 households. Its decrepitude was noted by foreign observers in the early 20th century: "The walls are dilapidated; plane-trees grow on the gigantic ruins of its old Byzantine citadel; and its ...

... faster to walk - which we would have done if we had had a map! The first guy to approach us had wads and wads of cash in his hand but we didn't need any. These guys are always useful for directions though so he pointed us to the centre. I was worrying about how we would find some cheap digs for the night when I saw the sign - Hotel Durres. It had found us. Whilst David waited in the foyer for someone to appear I wandered around the corner looking for some sort of ...

... for passport check (Marines and Albanian military) with fully loaded gear and guns in obvious deployment mode. The picnic was great. We met many foreign nationals and Albanians who were in attendance. They served hamburgers (the joke was it was really Macedonian meat), hot dogs, potato salads. Lots of American flags. We toured the residence which is very nice. After awhile we decided to walk to the compound with some others. They said it was about two ...