Tirana Intl Hotel And Conf Centre

Hallo zusammen,

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.

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 ...

Hallo zusammen

und Gruesse aus Tirana, Albanien, Land Nummer 124:-) Bin um kurz vor 9 in Tirana eingetroffen, die Strasse im Kosovo war schrecklich, der Grenzuebergang ziemlich merkwuerdig, es gibt zwar Kontrollposten, aber niemand hat die Paesse der Passagiere kontrolliert (weder auf der Kosovo noch auf der Albanischen Seite). Habe bisher nur ...

... in the open air markets (my favorite) to the return of the prayer calls and the sausage stands along the side of the road. mmm mmm mmm.

We spent the day exploring and sheltering under awnings when necessary - we saw big ugly communist era buildings made beautiful by being painted bright colors and patterns - we saw a statue of Mother Theresa, a funny lake in the middle of a giant park and a bunch of other funky hidden art all over the city. We were joined ...

... by several random coffee stops along the way- exactly how much coffee you need between two and five in the morning is a mystery to me. I was starting to regret not doing an overnight pub-crawl, having a beer every time we stopped, I would have been wankered. Tirana seems to lack an actual bus station- so buses from Kosovo just tend to park behind the museum and disgorge their passengers there. So, at 5am I found myself alone on the ...

... 1 hour earlier" than others. The road to Albania was leading right next to the Ohrid lake for most of the time, the views were wonderful. From the boarder to the nearest town in Albania there was a distance of 6km. For a little while we were walking towards the town with a certain Belgian guy, that was truly excited about the fact that he passed the "third world" curtain and actually only because of this fact he found himself in Albania. He turned ...

... Bristol, the oldest traveler id encountered thus far. Lisa was doing a little trip around Europe while Gregg was attempting to cycle to Australia. They seemed like nice people and we all arranged to hook up for a few social beers later in the evening. While cooking the tuna and pasta id brought with me from Trieste I ran into an Irish guy from Wexford, Patrick. No matter where in the world you go, no matter how remote, you are almost guaranteed to run into somebody Irish. He had been ...

... as well and chose to go it alone. Life under Hoxha wasn't easy. One could be sentenced to ten years in the chrome mines for merely listening to foreign radio broadcasts. It didn't take long for the farmers to become disenchanted with collectivization, either, and food shortages were common, Albania having effectively isolated itself from any allies. In 1985, Hoxha died and in the following years, his crumbling system fell apart completely. In June, 1990, 4500 people took ...

... a long line of private cars waiting to be inspected. First, we had to exit Montenegro. We were unsure as to if we had to wait inline behind the cars, but we decided to risk it and just walk up. To our surprise, we were welcomed and were able to cut in line in front of everyone else, get our exit stamps for montenegro in a matter of minutes, and were sent on our way. About 500 feet up the road, we approached the Albanian border control. We had heard that it ...

... tin can of the next one for 20 minutes until it filled, then sweltered our way back to house. Well over 40 I reckon. We walked a good 20 minutes back to the house from where the bus dropped us off- v.tired in the heat. Stopped off to buy bigger-than-basketball sized watermelons, which seem to be in a complete glut here, then relaxed for about an hour at the house. I have no concept of time- no watch, so just while away the days- is great! The next door neighbour, who was Tonin's niece ...

... to be Mercedes. There's quite a lucrative black market in stolen cars here, it seems. Still, I enjoyed the difference here. I've been in Europe for so much longer than anticipated, and things were beginning to get a little bit repetitive. Coming down here has been a bit of a shock to the system in a good way. Also, the one hostel in Tirana was a nice place, oddly set in the middle of the Embassy district. Strange to be sitting on the balcony of an evening and see armed guards walking past.