August 4 - Into Albania. How many of you even know where Albania is?
We awoke in the Esperos Palace Hotel in Kastoria, a small lakefront town in northwestern Greece. This is a luxury hotel where the high season is late September to March. That coincides with the period when the coast is cold and rainy, and later the ski season. Lake Orestiada is a large, 9 km in diameter, pretty lake, but it is polluted and swimming is not feasible. So the summer is the low season. So low that we were the only occupiants in the 40-room hotel. So rather than a buffet breakfast, we received custom service from (the skeletel) staff. Whatever we ordered we received. A tray of watermelon. Omelets cooked to order and lean bacon. Fresh squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate, coffee and cappuccino to drink. Cheeses, meats, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, coissiants, cookies and cakes. A feast for an Ottoman sultan.
Staggered out after the breakfast and took a walk down to the lake, then along it almost into town. The town is in a mountainous and wooded area and has very low humidity, so it was a pleasant walk. Aside from the almost alpine feel, the town is striking for its many fur shops. The town got rich on the fur trade and has many beautiful mansions to show for it.
We left about 1:00 and headed west into the mountains on a curvy and steep road with many switchbacks. Passed a large turtle eating what seemed to be tar strips and after about 30 minutes we came to the Greek-Albanian border. This is a very small and little-used crossing. Greek customs simply looked at our passports and did not even ask what we had or what we had been doing. Immigration was a similar cursory check. Albania immigration asked for our car information, but it too was a quick process. There was no Albanian customs check. Drug smugglers haven.
So we entered Albania sort of naked. We did not have a tourist book, or any tourist information. We have a map of Europe, but it did not have any detail about Albania. We had no phone service, GPS or network connection, because T-Mobile does not have a contract there, but it did, along with Vodophone and other telecom services, have lots of billboards advertising its services. Finally we had no Albanian money, the lek, worth less than one cent, and there were no banks or exchanges that we passed to get any. We stopped in a gasoline station, primarily to go to the bathroom, but it did not accept credit cards -- the first time that has occurred on the trip, so we did not get gas. He did, however, graciously permit us to use the restrooms.
However, we had written down the GPS directions before we left Greece; we were going to the capital, Tirana, in a small country, so I assumed that there would be lots of signs for that destination. There were lots of signs, but we travelled down into and through a long, and very pretty, river valley in central Albania, that was a very curvy two-lane road. There were a lot of slow-moving trucks and many Albanian drivers (their license plates are noticeable since Albania is not in the EU) seemed reluctant to pass the trucks. They need to bring in some drivers from Georgia to give them aggression lessons. So we ate a lot of pollution from the trucks and made many passes around turns. At one point I saw a sign for a toll road to Tirana and I took it, notwithstanding the lack of local money. (I hoped it would take credit cards.) And it was great for a while. Four lanes, gentle curves and few trucks. But then it ended and we were going through small towns again. I never saw a toll booth. However, an interesting sight in one town was scores of hoses pointed upward and spraying out water (no drought here!) on to parking areas. One guy motioned for us to come in. I think they were car washes, but I had never seen so many in one town. We also saw kids selling fish when we passed a large lake, and in a forest area kids were selling what appeared to be boxes of berries. We passed along several rocky beaches, and people were swimming, sunning or lounging under umbrellas.
When we reached Tirana the main road ended in a maze of construction and we were dumped on to the local streets. We were completely lost since our directions did not account for this detour. We finally made our way to a main street. I was looking for a hotel or bank where I hoped that someone would speak English, but not finding either, I stopped at an insurance/finance office. Luckily, an employee there spoke excellent English. As she was giving me directions another employee volunteered to get in the car with us and direct us to our hotel. That required rearranging the luggage, but after that was accomplished, he easily got us to the Hotel Idea ($38 per night including breakfast, a working refrigerator, excellent wifi, super air conditioning and strong shower water pressure, plus on-site free parking in the center of the city). He said it was near his home and he accepted nothing except our thanks--in fact, he thanked us for the pleasure of meeting us and practicing his English.
After checking in, we walked around the downtown. The main street has some nice buildings that probably predate the Soviet era, but they are fading and need some maintenance. The Soviet era buildings look crummy. We passed the Albanian "Pentagon," (I mean, Defense Department), Albanian University, The Opera House, the clock of Tirana (incorrect time). After dinner, we walked into Ethem Bet Mosque, a warm welcome with photos invited, and walked around Skanderbeg Square, the town center. While Albania is predominately a Muslim country, it looks very different from Turkey. The women dress in stylish Western clothes and there is no blaring, loud-speaker calls to prayer.
We avoided a rainstorm that was preceded by a lightening and thunder show by going to the Rozafa, Classic Seafood restaurant. We had a terrific four course meal in a wonderful setting with a young, intelligent, English-speaking waiter, who is completing IT studies at school and who was eager to engage in conversation. Nice time. Went back to the hotel because we needed to get to sleep to get up early to pick up the daughter in Dubrovnik tomorrow. We accomplished that easily the next morning, since our phones had not changed to reflect the hour earlier time zone -- so we are already an hour ahead of schedule.
We awoke in the Esperos Palace Hotel in Kastoria, a small lakefront town in northwestern Greece. This is a luxury hotel where the high season is late September to March. That coincides with the period when the coast is cold and rainy, and later the ski season. Lake Orestiada is a large, 9 km in diameter, pretty lake, but it is polluted and swimming is not feasible. So the summer is the low season. So low that we were the only occupiants in the 40-room hotel. So rather than a buffet breakfast, we received custom service from (the skeletel) staff. Whatever we ordered we received. A tray of watermelon. Omelets cooked to order and lean bacon. Fresh squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate, coffee and cappuccino to drink. Cheeses, meats, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, coissiants, cookies and cakes. A feast for an Ottoman sultan.
Staggered out after the breakfast and took a walk down to the lake, then along it almost into town. The town is in a mountainous and wooded area and has very low humidity, so it was a pleasant walk. Aside from the almost alpine feel, the town is striking for its many fur shops. The town got rich on the fur trade and has many beautiful mansions to show for it.
We left about 1:00 and headed west into the mountains on a curvy and steep road with many switchbacks. Passed a large turtle eating what seemed to be tar strips and after about 30 minutes we came to the Greek-Albanian border. This is a very small and little-used crossing. Greek customs simply looked at our passports and did not even ask what we had or what we had been doing. Immigration was a similar cursory check. Albania immigration asked for our car information, but it too was a quick process. There was no Albanian customs check. Drug smugglers haven.
So we entered Albania sort of naked. We did not have a tourist book, or any tourist information. We have a map of Europe, but it did not have any detail about Albania. We had no phone service, GPS or network connection, because T-Mobile does not have a contract there, but it did, along with Vodophone and other telecom services, have lots of billboards advertising its services. Finally we had no Albanian money, the lek, worth less than one cent, and there were no banks or exchanges that we passed to get any. We stopped in a gasoline station, primarily to go to the bathroom, but it did not accept credit cards -- the first time that has occurred on the trip, so we did not get gas. He did, however, graciously permit us to use the restrooms.
However, we had written down the GPS directions before we left Greece; we were going to the capital, Tirana, in a small country, so I assumed that there would be lots of signs for that destination. There were lots of signs, but we travelled down into and through a long, and very pretty, river valley in central Albania, that was a very curvy two-lane road. There were a lot of slow-moving trucks and many Albanian drivers (their license plates are noticeable since Albania is not in the EU) seemed reluctant to pass the trucks. They need to bring in some drivers from Georgia to give them aggression lessons. So we ate a lot of pollution from the trucks and made many passes around turns. At one point I saw a sign for a toll road to Tirana and I took it, notwithstanding the lack of local money. (I hoped it would take credit cards.) And it was great for a while. Four lanes, gentle curves and few trucks. But then it ended and we were going through small towns again. I never saw a toll booth. However, an interesting sight in one town was scores of hoses pointed upward and spraying out water (no drought here!) on to parking areas. One guy motioned for us to come in. I think they were car washes, but I had never seen so many in one town. We also saw kids selling fish when we passed a large lake, and in a forest area kids were selling what appeared to be boxes of berries. We passed along several rocky beaches, and people were swimming, sunning or lounging under umbrellas.
When we reached Tirana the main road ended in a maze of construction and we were dumped on to the local streets. We were completely lost since our directions did not account for this detour. We finally made our way to a main street. I was looking for a hotel or bank where I hoped that someone would speak English, but not finding either, I stopped at an insurance/finance office. Luckily, an employee there spoke excellent English. As she was giving me directions another employee volunteered to get in the car with us and direct us to our hotel. That required rearranging the luggage, but after that was accomplished, he easily got us to the Hotel Idea ($38 per night including breakfast, a working refrigerator, excellent wifi, super air conditioning and strong shower water pressure, plus on-site free parking in the center of the city). He said it was near his home and he accepted nothing except our thanks--in fact, he thanked us for the pleasure of meeting us and practicing his English.
After checking in, we walked around the downtown. The main street has some nice buildings that probably predate the Soviet era, but they are fading and need some maintenance. The Soviet era buildings look crummy. We passed the Albanian "Pentagon," (I mean, Defense Department), Albanian University, The Opera House, the clock of Tirana (incorrect time). After dinner, we walked into Ethem Bet Mosque, a warm welcome with photos invited, and walked around Skanderbeg Square, the town center. While Albania is predominately a Muslim country, it looks very different from Turkey. The women dress in stylish Western clothes and there is no blaring, loud-speaker calls to prayer.
We avoided a rainstorm that was preceded by a lightening and thunder show by going to the Rozafa, Classic Seafood restaurant. We had a terrific four course meal in a wonderful setting with a young, intelligent, English-speaking waiter, who is completing IT studies at school and who was eager to engage in conversation. Nice time. Went back to the hotel because we needed to get to sleep to get up early to pick up the daughter in Dubrovnik tomorrow. We accomplished that easily the next morning, since our phones had not changed to reflect the hour earlier time zone -- so we are already an hour ahead of schedule.
I am quite sure that several of your readers know exactly where Albania is. It sounds as if you had fun going into Albania "almost naked" as you put it. You've been so many places now that it must seem like old hat to go somewhere new and figure out what you need to do to get by. Dubrovnik with Joelle sounds nice.
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