Durrës
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2006
1
65
120
Trip End
Sep 02, 2008
Durrës,
Albania
Friday, October 27, 2006
The same went for the Roman stadium as for the archeological museum, minus the school children. From there, we climbed up a hill past the Palace of Albania's former king Zog. It's a military base though and we couldn't get very close to check it out. I walked towards a sand-baged guard post where the road was completely blocked with barbed wire. I wanted a better look but the guard waved his AK-47 at me and I made a prompt 180.
Further along the road we went to see the lighthouse but it wasn't possible to get that close to it either. We did find a look-out on a hill, about 300 km up from the water. Looking across the Adriatic was a nice view. Towards Italy the view was a bit hazy, but the water was extremely clear. Looking so close to our viewpoint wasn't so pretty; all along the lookout, people had dumped their garbage onto the hillside. Old communist era bunkers were missing their tops, and the tunnels from the main bunkers to the side turrets were full of rubbish. The view of the rest of the city wasn't very special either. Bright colours, unfinished construction, and dust. It reminded me very much of Honduras and Mexico: poor, hot, undeveloped and stagnant.
The bus to Durrės and back to Tirana cost only 100 lekke (about 86 cents Canadian). For the hour's bus ride, it is pretty good value. We had already walked some 10 kilometers and after an hour's nap we went out to see the national museum. It's open between the curious hours of 9-1 and then 5-7. It is nicely curated in Albanian but pretty useless to the visitor who doesn't read that language. The Kosovo book by Malcom (see above) mentions enough about 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 limestone becomes neon blue or yellow, or yellow stone looks white under bright spotlights. A certain part of the square is a place for children to drive Power wheels cars safely, and elementary aged children rode around, learning to drive as erratically as their parents.
We finished the evening with a pasta supper at our hostel in other backpacker company and I played Backgammon with two Aussies to whom I taught the game. The bills added up quickly during a short shopping trip for our food. We spent more than 1000 lekke (oh yeah, only 10 bucks). It was delicious pasta with all fresh ingredients, with a dash of local wine that tasted unusually carbonated. It only cost two dollars for the bottle. After paying for my bread I tried my few words of Albanian. I've been trying to learn how to say "thank you" in the local tongue.
It is spelled like 'ju falem ndrit.' It is impossible to pronounce! The bakerwoman looked at me incomprehendingly as I tried to say thank you to her. I tried 3 times before she realised what I was trying to say. From her response, it was impossible to tell if she was impressed that I was trying to learn Albanian, or disgusted with my butchery of her language!
I won't be attempting too much more though. I'm in an internet cafe and this is my last night in the country. I could sit back and play Call of Duty 2 (a world war 2 first person shooting game) with the other guys in the internet cafe, I might learn how to shout some obscenity in Albanian when I get shot. I could smoke up with them too(!) and maybe the language would make a bit more sense. A guy offered Bro 1 kg of green for 100 Euros. This is certainly one of the more lively places I've written an entry from. But I'll refrain from all that. Tomorrow, bright and early, I am off to Montenegro!
