Titanic Hotel Durres

... army to various victories against the Turkish empire. <br>On the road from the bus station (stop) there is a street of wooden shops (that ironically looks very turkish and was selling predominantly turkish goods!).

... von Envar Hodscha jedenfalls ist heute eine Disco, Envar Hodscha, d** Albanien 40 Jahre lang regi**t hat, ist heute in einem namenlosen Grab auf einem gewoehnlichen Friedhof begraben. Seine Statue ist ebenfalls z**truemm**t, auf dem Zentralplatz steht nur noch die Statue von Skand**beg, dem nationalen Helden.<br><br>Albanien geho**te auch zum ottomanischen Reich, ab** ein Alban**, d** von den Ottomanen in Byzanz ausgebildet wurde, hat einen Aufstand ausg ...

... to be locked, but a helpful passing local opened the gate for us and we found a way in and dropped our bags. We waited for a while, chatting with another backpacker who had also arrived in the middle of the night, but since we couldn't check in for another four hours we decided to make the most of it and dragged ourselves, rumpled and sleep-deprived, out to see the city. We managed to fill the time at a cafe overlooking a huge fountain in a nearby park, and ...

... we're almost certain things will get cheaper from here on out. It should also end the "I've seen this on TV before and it all looks familiar" phase of the trip. Why? Well, because were now in Eastern Europe, and while it may only be a 7 hour slow-ferry ride from the Italian east coast it could be a million miles away. This area of the continent, unlike the tourism giants of France & Italy, is still developing; developing everything from its infrastructure ...

I woke up on Saturday after a bit of a restless night, but a shower and psalm 91 made everything better. The team met at the church for an amazing spirit led prayer/worship sesssion and before we knew it it was 12.20! That afternoon was the church service (its always on a Saturday for some reason) and Elj gave a great talk on being a Mary or a Martha and the need for both kinds of people. Afterwards two members of the 10-strong congregation gave some ...

... as it was, but then I had to sit around and wait for passengers to show. Meanwhile I knew that if I didn't get to Kruja before one o' clock, the museums would close for their three hour siesta and I'd miss them. Although I got to the furgon around 10am, it wasn't until a little before 11:30 that we finally had enough people and left. Funniest of all, there were only three passengers (including myself) up until about three minutes before ...

... loss" or "harm". The meaning of Dyrrachium ("bad spine" or "difficult ridge" in Greek) is unclear but it has been suggested that it refers to the imposing cliffs near the city. Julius Caesar's rival Pompey made a stand there in 48 BC before fleeing south to Greece. Under Roman rule, Dyrrachium prospered; it became the western end of the Via Egnatia, the great ...

... Albania that I seemed to know what the various maps and displays were talking about. The museum is really huge and if it had sufficent text in another more global langauge, it would be world class. As it was, the money spent on my entry ticket (300 lekke) didn't feel like it was well spent. Another night in Tirana! The city's main square is hopping. By day it looked drab and like a banana republic capital. By night it is nicely lit; white ...

... and many good new buildings that make you forget about the dreary, crumbling blocks around the centre - even though many of those have been given a new appearance with completely random colour schemes. Although there's improvement there are also enough problems in Tirana - there is rubbish strewn all over the parks and in empty lots, and only a few people seem to care. There are still plenty of mangy stray dogs. The ...

... that Leah should queue for both of us and Shaun should make himself scarce. It worked out OK and about 15 minutes later we had our tickets for the 3.5 hour hydrofoil. Much later we realised that the 3.5 hour ferry takes 5hrs plus....they advertise 3.5hrs but that must have been on a day when the ferry was empty. Much of our time on this leg was spent speaking pigeon-English to a guy called Pencash who was a dead ringer for Sylvester Stallone, just smaller. Seriously! And ...