Because we got so behınd wıth the blog, we ended up wrıtıng some of the entrıes ın the wrong order. In attempt to put that rıght Adrıan adjusted some of the dates on the blog entrıes.
The most recent blog ıs dated 17 November but ın actual fact we have done loads more sınce then, so please take a look to see ıf you mıssed some!
We also have a few more posts to do to catch up, some of whıch are already ın draft.
COMING SOON: an ınteractıve map
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Macedonia (the former Yugoslav bit)*
* A lıttle note about the tıtle of thıs blog post: The name "Macedonıa" hıstorıcally referred to the Kıngdom of Alexander the Great whıch covered a huge area of land whıch encompasses several modern day natıonal borders. Because of theır hıstorıcal connectıon to Alexander, the Greeks feel that all of Macedonıa should belong to them. The north-eastern regıon of Greece ıs even called Macedonıa.
When Yugoslavıa splıt apart ın the 1990's, the Macedonıans faced two major barrıers: Serbıa dıdn't want them to break away from Yugoslavıa and the Greeks strongly objected to the creatıon of the new country called "Macedonıa".
The Greeks ınsıst on the new country beıng called "Former Yugoslav Republıc Of Macedonıa" (FYROM) and they even forced the new country to change ıts flag (they had adopted the hıstorıcal flag of Macedonıa).
To make matters even more complıcated for the new country, about half of ıts populatıon ıs ethnıcally Albanıan and many of them want to be part of Albanıa. The Bulgarıans also have some kınd of claım over "Macedonıan" land (both the FYROM part and also the Greek part). Gıven all thıs adversıty, ıt ıs amazıng that Macedonıa exısts at all, so well done to them, and what a great flag!
Prenjas - Ohrid 45km
We crossed the Macedonian border and had some great scenery along the way. We admired the view over Lake Ohrid. It was a really spectacular view as we looked over mountains and the large lake.
But what goes up must come down. We soon were descending down the hill we had climbed all morning. The road surface was quite bad in places so I did not feel brave enough to go much faster than 35-40 kmph. But it was nice to feel the wind on our faces and the sun was shining for a change!
We stopped off for lunch in a small town about 20km from the town of Ohrid. After lunch we set off towards Ohrid. We found that there was a old path along the shore of the lake, which took us to the old main road to Ohrid. We really enjoyed cycling along this road as most traffic went on the newer road, leaving us to enjoy the scenery and even some bird life.
We arrived into the center of Ohrid and as we were deciding where to stay, we were approached by a man, who was looking for business for his friend's apartments. We told him that we did not need a place to stay as our previous experiences had told us that talking to tourist stalkers is often a bad way to find somewhere to stay. We walked away from him and after a short walk through the old town, we were looking at the prices of places that looked nice. Then another man appeared and tried to get us to his apartments, which were not in the old town. After some discussion we took up his offer. THEN the first man appeared from no where and said "Ah! you meet my friend!" The first man had clearly followed us, which I found a bit creepy but we had said we would go and look at this apartment. We were told that the apartment was not too far away, but it was not in the old town and Pugz was not happy as we were moving further away from the old town. He told me later that he was getting to the point of saying that it was too far. The apartment was not bad, if a little far from the old town and it had storage for the bikes. So we decided that we would stay there. Creepy man went away and the second, nicer man showed us around.
We needed to register with the police and we asked our host about this. He told us that yes he would register us but it would cost us 2 euros per day. He was only looking for another 4 euros off us but he had already annoyed Pugz, as the apartment was a little further away than what he had told us. Pugz said sternly 'Well, this should be included in the price. Are you charging us 40 euros for two nights or 44 euros?' I showed the leaflet from the border post which informed us of various taxes and fines, but said nothing about the cost of registering with the police. We refused to pay. Do you think that we were tight? I could not help but feel stupid about arguing about 4 euros, yet it is the principle of the matter. When Pugz and I stood up to him, the man said, "Ok, no charge." He still registered us with the police.
The next day we spent sightseeing - Byzantine churches, the walls of a castle and a Greek amphitheatre. There are some lovely old buildings and streets to wander around. There was also a short shore side walk into a kind of small wood, with views over the lake and mountains. I looked over those mountains and wondered which one we would have to climb over!
It was the tourist low season and this is probably the best time to visit Orhid. At times there was a mist on the nearby hills and snow on higher mountains. We enjoyed walking around the quiet streets, yet I bet in July this town is not very quiet at all with the tourist masses! As we wandered around Pugz thought that at times the shore and town had some sense of being at the seaside! Yet, I understand what he meant as the lake is so wide that we could not see the opposite shore and at times the lake looked choppy!
We also did the normal rest day stuff such as hand washing(done by me as Pugz had a bad hand), looking for jobs, and eating! The next day we set off to Bitola.
Ohrid to Bitola -81km
The frist section of the road to Bitola was very pleasant. The sun was shining again and we both agreed that this was the best kind of cycling weather. Sunny but not scorching and it was not raining. We rode through a quiet valley which had many small patches of woodland and farmland. There were a number of signs pointing to small churches, up unsealed roads and we saw many birds of prey. Our road took us on a steady gentle climb to the end of the valley and then took us up a steep section of about 2km long to get out of the little valley. Although I continue to find that all climbs on my bike are never easy, I didn't mind this one. Maybe I just have to accept that climbing is my weakness and speed is Pugz's weakness (Ha, Ha!).
We rode down the hill and passed many people selling fruit and vegetables, probably from their gardens. We soon entered a little town. We hoped to find a little restaurant but we didn't find one until a good bit outside the town. As we had our usual meat and salad, another cyclist passed by, saw our bikes and popped in to say hello.
It turned out that the other cyclist, Graydon was cycling from Mongolia and was also a teacher. He had worked in international schools for a number of years. He told me not to give up with my job hunt and continue to apply for as many jobs as I can. After a chat about cycling, dogs and routes we went our separate ways. Graydon was heading on the opposite way to us and had warned us that there was still another climb to do before Bitola. It was late afternoon when we set off again. As we cycled, we had some flat ground which helped us digest our lunch! Then the second climb of the day started. It did not look like much but it was long and I think we had got tired from the first climb. It took me some time to climb to the top. Pugz was waiting for me at the top of the little hill. I think we were now at 700 metres and I was happy to see that we had some flat and down hill on our way. After taking about 1 hour to climb we sailed down the hill at speed. We saw a wonderful sunset and thought about wild camping. There were no trees, bushes or sheltered spots so we decided to head on to Bitola. The road surface was good and we even took over a lorry which was going slow, maybe because of the brakes or because of the steepness of the road. We were making good progress, but the winter evening was surrounding us and somehow we were going too fast in the dusky light and missed our turn for Bitola. We did not realise this until some kilometres after the turn. We both don't really like going back on ourselves; this time we would have go up hill to go back. I was not keen. But you would think by now we would have more sense about cycling in the dark!
Our map showed us that there was another turn to Bitola further down the hill. We headed for that. Well, the dusk came and went. We were no longer admiring winter light. It was a cloudy evening so there was no moonlight nor street lights. We were in the countryside and there just seemed to be darkness all around us. Our bike lights looked so feeble in the darkness. We even had to go through a short tunnel. I was becoming more afraid. Lorries and trucks were on the road too. Even though we were wearing high-visibility vests and had lights, it was clear that many did not see us until the last minute. Dogs barked around us and I could not see them. I knew that if I could not see well, how was Pugz managing? He has quite poor eyesight at the best of times. We were still going flat/down hill at this stage so were still travelling faster than normal. We decided that we should only go 15kmph.
Finally we could see the other turn in the distance, but it still took us some minutes to reach the turn. There were no road markings on the road. The white line on the side of the road, which we both used as a guide to where the road was also gone. After some effort of trying to cycle along the side on the road, we gave up and walked the last 4 km into the first set of streetlights of the town. We both agreed that it was just too dangerous. Adrian needed a fag and I was glad that it was not raining.
After that little adventure we were both in no mood to hunt down a bargain room. We were in the centre and found a little bed and breakfast. Pugz managed to work up the energy to bargain the price down, but to be honest we were just so glad about finally getting to Bitola.
That evening we took a little stroll around the town and discovered two bike shops! we also found the road we needed to take to Greece. We also went to an internet cafe and the guy next to us was looking very bored as he browsed through pictures of sexy ladies in underwear. Nice.
The next day we set off towards Greece. The road was flat so we made good headway and also worked up an appetite, so we stopped and spent the last of our macedonian money on bread, chocolate and Halva!
On we went towards the border and crossed over into Greece. The ride took us along quite an empty road at first, even though the road was meant to be a main route. We had been riding for some time and we had noticed that the road was getting busier. We decided to try and find a place to eat lunch. It was not raining so we wanted to have a picnic, but could not find a suitable place. We ended up in a field, eating our picnic and it was quite nice too!
We only had a small taste of Macedonia and would like to explore the country more some day.
Prenjas - Ohrid 45km
We crossed the Macedonian border and had some great scenery along the way. We admired the view over Lake Ohrid. It was a really spectacular view as we looked over mountains and the large lake.
But what goes up must come down. We soon were descending down the hill we had climbed all morning. The road surface was quite bad in places so I did not feel brave enough to go much faster than 35-40 kmph. But it was nice to feel the wind on our faces and the sun was shining for a change!
We stopped off for lunch in a small town about 20km from the town of Ohrid. After lunch we set off towards Ohrid. We found that there was a old path along the shore of the lake, which took us to the old main road to Ohrid. We really enjoyed cycling along this road as most traffic went on the newer road, leaving us to enjoy the scenery and even some bird life.
We arrived into the center of Ohrid and as we were deciding where to stay, we were approached by a man, who was looking for business for his friend's apartments. We told him that we did not need a place to stay as our previous experiences had told us that talking to tourist stalkers is often a bad way to find somewhere to stay. We walked away from him and after a short walk through the old town, we were looking at the prices of places that looked nice. Then another man appeared and tried to get us to his apartments, which were not in the old town. After some discussion we took up his offer. THEN the first man appeared from no where and said "Ah! you meet my friend!" The first man had clearly followed us, which I found a bit creepy but we had said we would go and look at this apartment. We were told that the apartment was not too far away, but it was not in the old town and Pugz was not happy as we were moving further away from the old town. He told me later that he was getting to the point of saying that it was too far. The apartment was not bad, if a little far from the old town and it had storage for the bikes. So we decided that we would stay there. Creepy man went away and the second, nicer man showed us around.
We needed to register with the police and we asked our host about this. He told us that yes he would register us but it would cost us 2 euros per day. He was only looking for another 4 euros off us but he had already annoyed Pugz, as the apartment was a little further away than what he had told us. Pugz said sternly 'Well, this should be included in the price. Are you charging us 40 euros for two nights or 44 euros?' I showed the leaflet from the border post which informed us of various taxes and fines, but said nothing about the cost of registering with the police. We refused to pay. Do you think that we were tight? I could not help but feel stupid about arguing about 4 euros, yet it is the principle of the matter. When Pugz and I stood up to him, the man said, "Ok, no charge." He still registered us with the police.
The next day we spent sightseeing - Byzantine churches, the walls of a castle and a Greek amphitheatre. There are some lovely old buildings and streets to wander around. There was also a short shore side walk into a kind of small wood, with views over the lake and mountains. I looked over those mountains and wondered which one we would have to climb over!
It was the tourist low season and this is probably the best time to visit Orhid. At times there was a mist on the nearby hills and snow on higher mountains. We enjoyed walking around the quiet streets, yet I bet in July this town is not very quiet at all with the tourist masses! As we wandered around Pugz thought that at times the shore and town had some sense of being at the seaside! Yet, I understand what he meant as the lake is so wide that we could not see the opposite shore and at times the lake looked choppy!
We also did the normal rest day stuff such as hand washing(done by me as Pugz had a bad hand), looking for jobs, and eating! The next day we set off to Bitola.
Ohrid to Bitola -81km
The frist section of the road to Bitola was very pleasant. The sun was shining again and we both agreed that this was the best kind of cycling weather. Sunny but not scorching and it was not raining. We rode through a quiet valley which had many small patches of woodland and farmland. There were a number of signs pointing to small churches, up unsealed roads and we saw many birds of prey. Our road took us on a steady gentle climb to the end of the valley and then took us up a steep section of about 2km long to get out of the little valley. Although I continue to find that all climbs on my bike are never easy, I didn't mind this one. Maybe I just have to accept that climbing is my weakness and speed is Pugz's weakness (Ha, Ha!).
We rode down the hill and passed many people selling fruit and vegetables, probably from their gardens. We soon entered a little town. We hoped to find a little restaurant but we didn't find one until a good bit outside the town. As we had our usual meat and salad, another cyclist passed by, saw our bikes and popped in to say hello.
It turned out that the other cyclist, Graydon was cycling from Mongolia and was also a teacher. He had worked in international schools for a number of years. He told me not to give up with my job hunt and continue to apply for as many jobs as I can. After a chat about cycling, dogs and routes we went our separate ways. Graydon was heading on the opposite way to us and had warned us that there was still another climb to do before Bitola. It was late afternoon when we set off again. As we cycled, we had some flat ground which helped us digest our lunch! Then the second climb of the day started. It did not look like much but it was long and I think we had got tired from the first climb. It took me some time to climb to the top. Pugz was waiting for me at the top of the little hill. I think we were now at 700 metres and I was happy to see that we had some flat and down hill on our way. After taking about 1 hour to climb we sailed down the hill at speed. We saw a wonderful sunset and thought about wild camping. There were no trees, bushes or sheltered spots so we decided to head on to Bitola. The road surface was good and we even took over a lorry which was going slow, maybe because of the brakes or because of the steepness of the road. We were making good progress, but the winter evening was surrounding us and somehow we were going too fast in the dusky light and missed our turn for Bitola. We did not realise this until some kilometres after the turn. We both don't really like going back on ourselves; this time we would have go up hill to go back. I was not keen. But you would think by now we would have more sense about cycling in the dark!
Our map showed us that there was another turn to Bitola further down the hill. We headed for that. Well, the dusk came and went. We were no longer admiring winter light. It was a cloudy evening so there was no moonlight nor street lights. We were in the countryside and there just seemed to be darkness all around us. Our bike lights looked so feeble in the darkness. We even had to go through a short tunnel. I was becoming more afraid. Lorries and trucks were on the road too. Even though we were wearing high-visibility vests and had lights, it was clear that many did not see us until the last minute. Dogs barked around us and I could not see them. I knew that if I could not see well, how was Pugz managing? He has quite poor eyesight at the best of times. We were still going flat/down hill at this stage so were still travelling faster than normal. We decided that we should only go 15kmph.
Finally we could see the other turn in the distance, but it still took us some minutes to reach the turn. There were no road markings on the road. The white line on the side of the road, which we both used as a guide to where the road was also gone. After some effort of trying to cycle along the side on the road, we gave up and walked the last 4 km into the first set of streetlights of the town. We both agreed that it was just too dangerous. Adrian needed a fag and I was glad that it was not raining.
After that little adventure we were both in no mood to hunt down a bargain room. We were in the centre and found a little bed and breakfast. Pugz managed to work up the energy to bargain the price down, but to be honest we were just so glad about finally getting to Bitola.
That evening we took a little stroll around the town and discovered two bike shops! we also found the road we needed to take to Greece. We also went to an internet cafe and the guy next to us was looking very bored as he browsed through pictures of sexy ladies in underwear. Nice.
The next day we set off towards Greece. The road was flat so we made good headway and also worked up an appetite, so we stopped and spent the last of our macedonian money on bread, chocolate and Halva!
On we went towards the border and crossed over into Greece. The ride took us along quite an empty road at first, even though the road was meant to be a main route. We had been riding for some time and we had noticed that the road was getting busier. We decided to try and find a place to eat lunch. It was not raining so we wanted to have a picnic, but could not find a suitable place. We ended up in a field, eating our picnic and it was quite nice too!
We only had a small taste of Macedonia and would like to explore the country more some day.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Photos from Adrian's camera
.
Looking up at Triglav, from Vrscic pass, Slovenia
Haystacks near Bihac, Bosnia
Croatian coast, just west of Bosnian border
Sunset viewed from Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik, viewed as we climbed the grueling hill out of the city
View up the Fjord near Kotor, Montenegro
Ais climbing the many steps up the hillfort at Kotor, Montenegro
Communist era bunker and distant snowcapped peaks on the road from Tirana to Elbassan, Albania
Looking up at Triglav, from Vrscic pass, Slovenia
Haystacks near Bihac, Bosnia
Croatian coast, just west of Bosnian border
Sunset viewed from Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik, viewed as we climbed the grueling hill out of the city
View up the Fjord near Kotor, Montenegro
Ais climbing the many steps up the hillfort at Kotor, Montenegro
Communist era bunker and distant snowcapped peaks on the road from Tirana to Elbassan, Albania
Monday, November 16, 2009
Albania
We left Dobro Voda in Montenegro on (yet another) a wet day. Just before the Albanian border, we got a small taste of what was coming: we stopped for a coffee in a little cafe and there was a power cut. Luckily, we arrived just beforehand so we were the only customers who actually got a hot drink. We crossed the border without any difficulties and to our great surprise, the road surface actually improved (all the stories we had heard were that Albanian roads were awful).
The first impressions of Albania were the commnist era bunkers (small concrete domes outside each house) and the piles of rubbish, lots of rubbish, especially on riverbanks. Lots of houses seem to have high walls and fences around them. The people seemed friendly though - lots of kids running alongside us and old men on bikes giving us a nod as they passed by.
Approaching the town of Shkoder we went through what seemed a very poor area (even more rubbish than everywhere else, very poor housing, raggy looking people and a few beggers). We were a little bit on our guard when we had to wait there in the traffic queue to get across the narrow bridge, but people were still friendly and one guy acted as a human signpost, pointing and saying "this way Tirana, that way Shkoder". The bridge was a bit scary, slippery wet wooden planks, but we managed it.
When we arrived in Shkoder we searched around for hotels. One "posh-looking" hotel was 60 euro per night, so we opted for the cheaper 25 euro communist era one instead. At the time we could only find two hotels, but the next day we found more choice (always the way!). The communist era hotel was a bit grim but we grew to appreciate its character and friendly staff. It had noisy leaky crazy plumbing, power cuts, no heating, a broken TV, a saggy bed with raggy sheets, a dingy lobby and a broken lift. On the flip side, it had very nice parquet flooring, a city view, fried eggs and cheese for breakfast, and free tea whenever we asked for it. The chamber maid was very kind and found us an electric heater when she saw that we were trying to dry out washing (which was hanging on bungies all over the room). She gave us very specific instructions (in Albanian, with sign language) that we must always unplug the heater at night and when we went out - if you saw the heater, you would understand why! She also helped us put the tent out to dry on a balcony. The other staff were also friendly and could usually be found playing cards or dominos in the lobby.
Pugz was a bit ill on our rest day. A brief return of the French tummy trouble, swollen tonsils and a fever, which fortunately went away quite quickly but turned into a cold. He stayed in bed for the day and Ais looked after him bringing him tea and cuddles. We stayed an extra day to give Pugz time to get better. We walked around the town briefly in between the almost continuous rain showers. The town has a nice friendly feel, but doesn't really have any particular "sights" (there is a castle, but thats out of town a bit). We did enjoy a couple of meals out though, one in the "posh-looking" hotel and one in a tiny cafe (the latter was only 2 euro each for very tasty rice and stew). Ais was amazed how the women of the town could walk around glamorously in high heels along the potholes pavements without getting wet feet or broken ankles.
We left Shkoder like we had arrived - in the rain. The ride to the next town (Lezhe) was fairly short and flat so we arrived quite early, which gave us a chance to look around town in the afternoon. We visited the towns archeaological site and the tomb and statue of Albanian hero Skenderberg.
The ride from Lezhe to Tirana was the first dry(ish) day we had had for a very long time. Going was good on the flat and we even had a few kilometers ride on the new motorway (which wasn't open to the other traffic). Unfortunatly the motorway roadworks turned into rough dirt for a while which covered the bikes in mud but would have been much worse if it had been raining. As with any big city we arrive at, the traffic on the road into town was a bit crazy, but once again we survived! We usually find it best to just walk the bikes around when we reach the centre so that we can concentrate on looking for somewhere to stay without having to worry to much about the traffic. On the subject of traffic, one cannot help noticing that in Albania, a lot of cars have European registration plates (lots of British and German), we guess this is probably migrant workers who buy cars abroad, although Albania was famous in the 1990s for collecting stolen cars.
We stayed at the backpackers hostel in Tirana, which was a nice change from hotels and apartments. We met a lot of other travellers there and it was nice to have other people to talk to: severeal aussie backpackers (two of whom were girls travelling alone), a very talkative pot-smoking guy from the Faroe islands, an English guy who owned a backpacker hostel in Montenegro, an american guy, and the kindly Albanian hostel manager, Robbo. We only stayed two nights in Tirana which was just enough time for a walking tour of the city (in the sunshine, hoorah!), some bike maintenance (wheel bearings and brakes), and doing our washing (oh the joy of a washing machine for a change)!
The ride out of Tirana started well (uphill, but in the sunshine) but was rudely interupted by Pugz's gear cable snapping. We stopped next to a Police checkpoint whilst Pugz repaired it and the policemen tried to chat with Ais. She also spent some time observing the police check point and noticed that when one of the big jeeps with foreign plates pulled over and the driver got out, that there was a hand gun tucked into his trousers. He and the police were very friendly, he must have been a Albanian Big Man. The rest of the ride took us up, along, and back down a big mountain. The ride up was hard going and neccesitated a stop for a grilled meat dinner at a restaurant on the way. Ais alsonoticed that some of the meneating at the restaurant also had hand guns.
Pugz was also given some more Sharon fruit, this time by a mechanic who shouted to us as we passed his garage. A late start, the bike repairs, and the lunching, meant that we caught a beautiful sunset at the top of the mountain. What happens after sunset? Duhhhhhh it gets dark. We took the downhill VERY slowly but still almost had a collision with a donkey ladden with sticks. We were very glad to arrive safely at a little hotel on the outskirts of the town of Elbasan.
We didn't have any time to sight-see Elbasan (it seemed quite industrial anyway) but we did stop for a nice kebab breakfast and bought some very sickly baklava and some oranges in the shop next door. The shop man kindly gave us some more Sharon fruit (for free). A nice gesture, but there is only so much Sharon fruit that we can carry and/or eat! The ride out of Elbasan was pretty, following a river but hilly up and down and rather tiring. We stopped for a coffee (Pugz had 2!) in a nice little cafe where the women owner and her kids invited us up onto the roof so we could see the view of the old Byzantine bridge over the river and also take photos of their communist era concrete bunker. We talked to the kids practising their English. They wanted us to walk down to the bridge with them but we didn't have enough time (we didn't want to risk riding in the dark again!). A little later on, we were chased by a very angry dog which escaped from a scrapyard and bit Pugz's pannier bag (he missed Pugz's wildly flailing leg which was trying to kick its head).
We stopped for the night at a small town called Prenjas, about 10km from the Macedonian border. The town seemed run down and had a lot of derelict factory buildings. We started to worry that there wouldn't be a hotel there, but then saw a sign for one. It turned out to be a travel hotel attached to a petrol station but was really very nice. It had a big room which was very clean and new, complete with leopard-print blankets, a very comfortable bed and.... a BATH. ahhhhh. We watched TV in bed for the evening (crappy films in English, but with Albanian subtitles) and were amused by the Albanian TV adverts.
The next day we set out quite early, heading up the mountain to the Macedonia border. Pugz overtook Ais on the hill then had a stupid accident whilst he was trying to wave to Ais. He rode into a ditch and scraped himslef along a concrete wall. It wasn't as bad as it sounds though, he just grazed his arm and took a small chunk out of his hand. Shortly after Ais had found the first aid kit and put on a plaster, two other cycle tourists came down the hill towards us. They were Spanish, on there way home from Mongolia! We chatted a while, but had to go our separate directions. At the top of the hill we spent the last of our Albania money in a cafe and shop (part of a very posh looking hotel complex). At the border post we were chased by dogs again and then had to queue for a while at the border. Goodbye Albania, I hope we can return again sometime soon!
The first impressions of Albania were the commnist era bunkers (small concrete domes outside each house) and the piles of rubbish, lots of rubbish, especially on riverbanks. Lots of houses seem to have high walls and fences around them. The people seemed friendly though - lots of kids running alongside us and old men on bikes giving us a nod as they passed by.
Approaching the town of Shkoder we went through what seemed a very poor area (even more rubbish than everywhere else, very poor housing, raggy looking people and a few beggers). We were a little bit on our guard when we had to wait there in the traffic queue to get across the narrow bridge, but people were still friendly and one guy acted as a human signpost, pointing and saying "this way Tirana, that way Shkoder". The bridge was a bit scary, slippery wet wooden planks, but we managed it.
When we arrived in Shkoder we searched around for hotels. One "posh-looking" hotel was 60 euro per night, so we opted for the cheaper 25 euro communist era one instead. At the time we could only find two hotels, but the next day we found more choice (always the way!). The communist era hotel was a bit grim but we grew to appreciate its character and friendly staff. It had noisy leaky crazy plumbing, power cuts, no heating, a broken TV, a saggy bed with raggy sheets, a dingy lobby and a broken lift. On the flip side, it had very nice parquet flooring, a city view, fried eggs and cheese for breakfast, and free tea whenever we asked for it. The chamber maid was very kind and found us an electric heater when she saw that we were trying to dry out washing (which was hanging on bungies all over the room). She gave us very specific instructions (in Albanian, with sign language) that we must always unplug the heater at night and when we went out - if you saw the heater, you would understand why! She also helped us put the tent out to dry on a balcony. The other staff were also friendly and could usually be found playing cards or dominos in the lobby.
Pugz was a bit ill on our rest day. A brief return of the French tummy trouble, swollen tonsils and a fever, which fortunately went away quite quickly but turned into a cold. He stayed in bed for the day and Ais looked after him bringing him tea and cuddles. We stayed an extra day to give Pugz time to get better. We walked around the town briefly in between the almost continuous rain showers. The town has a nice friendly feel, but doesn't really have any particular "sights" (there is a castle, but thats out of town a bit). We did enjoy a couple of meals out though, one in the "posh-looking" hotel and one in a tiny cafe (the latter was only 2 euro each for very tasty rice and stew). Ais was amazed how the women of the town could walk around glamorously in high heels along the potholes pavements without getting wet feet or broken ankles.
We left Shkoder like we had arrived - in the rain. The ride to the next town (Lezhe) was fairly short and flat so we arrived quite early, which gave us a chance to look around town in the afternoon. We visited the towns archeaological site and the tomb and statue of Albanian hero Skenderberg.
The ride from Lezhe to Tirana was the first dry(ish) day we had had for a very long time. Going was good on the flat and we even had a few kilometers ride on the new motorway (which wasn't open to the other traffic). Unfortunatly the motorway roadworks turned into rough dirt for a while which covered the bikes in mud but would have been much worse if it had been raining. As with any big city we arrive at, the traffic on the road into town was a bit crazy, but once again we survived! We usually find it best to just walk the bikes around when we reach the centre so that we can concentrate on looking for somewhere to stay without having to worry to much about the traffic. On the subject of traffic, one cannot help noticing that in Albania, a lot of cars have European registration plates (lots of British and German), we guess this is probably migrant workers who buy cars abroad, although Albania was famous in the 1990s for collecting stolen cars.
We stayed at the backpackers hostel in Tirana, which was a nice change from hotels and apartments. We met a lot of other travellers there and it was nice to have other people to talk to: severeal aussie backpackers (two of whom were girls travelling alone), a very talkative pot-smoking guy from the Faroe islands, an English guy who owned a backpacker hostel in Montenegro, an american guy, and the kindly Albanian hostel manager, Robbo. We only stayed two nights in Tirana which was just enough time for a walking tour of the city (in the sunshine, hoorah!), some bike maintenance (wheel bearings and brakes), and doing our washing (oh the joy of a washing machine for a change)!
The ride out of Tirana started well (uphill, but in the sunshine) but was rudely interupted by Pugz's gear cable snapping. We stopped next to a Police checkpoint whilst Pugz repaired it and the policemen tried to chat with Ais. She also spent some time observing the police check point and noticed that when one of the big jeeps with foreign plates pulled over and the driver got out, that there was a hand gun tucked into his trousers. He and the police were very friendly, he must have been a Albanian Big Man. The rest of the ride took us up, along, and back down a big mountain. The ride up was hard going and neccesitated a stop for a grilled meat dinner at a restaurant on the way. Ais alsonoticed that some of the meneating at the restaurant also had hand guns.
Pugz was also given some more Sharon fruit, this time by a mechanic who shouted to us as we passed his garage. A late start, the bike repairs, and the lunching, meant that we caught a beautiful sunset at the top of the mountain. What happens after sunset? Duhhhhhh it gets dark. We took the downhill VERY slowly but still almost had a collision with a donkey ladden with sticks. We were very glad to arrive safely at a little hotel on the outskirts of the town of Elbasan.
We didn't have any time to sight-see Elbasan (it seemed quite industrial anyway) but we did stop for a nice kebab breakfast and bought some very sickly baklava and some oranges in the shop next door. The shop man kindly gave us some more Sharon fruit (for free). A nice gesture, but there is only so much Sharon fruit that we can carry and/or eat! The ride out of Elbasan was pretty, following a river but hilly up and down and rather tiring. We stopped for a coffee (Pugz had 2!) in a nice little cafe where the women owner and her kids invited us up onto the roof so we could see the view of the old Byzantine bridge over the river and also take photos of their communist era concrete bunker. We talked to the kids practising their English. They wanted us to walk down to the bridge with them but we didn't have enough time (we didn't want to risk riding in the dark again!). A little later on, we were chased by a very angry dog which escaped from a scrapyard and bit Pugz's pannier bag (he missed Pugz's wildly flailing leg which was trying to kick its head).
We stopped for the night at a small town called Prenjas, about 10km from the Macedonian border. The town seemed run down and had a lot of derelict factory buildings. We started to worry that there wouldn't be a hotel there, but then saw a sign for one. It turned out to be a travel hotel attached to a petrol station but was really very nice. It had a big room which was very clean and new, complete with leopard-print blankets, a very comfortable bed and.... a BATH. ahhhhh. We watched TV in bed for the evening (crappy films in English, but with Albanian subtitles) and were amused by the Albanian TV adverts.
The next day we set out quite early, heading up the mountain to the Macedonia border. Pugz overtook Ais on the hill then had a stupid accident whilst he was trying to wave to Ais. He rode into a ditch and scraped himslef along a concrete wall. It wasn't as bad as it sounds though, he just grazed his arm and took a small chunk out of his hand. Shortly after Ais had found the first aid kit and put on a plaster, two other cycle tourists came down the hill towards us. They were Spanish, on there way home from Mongolia! We chatted a while, but had to go our separate directions. At the top of the hill we spent the last of our Albania money in a cafe and shop (part of a very posh looking hotel complex). At the border post we were chased by dogs again and then had to queue for a while at the border. Goodbye Albania, I hope we can return again sometime soon!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Montenegro Coast Part 2
After leaving the dirty apartments, we made the short ride to Kotor. This time Manuel and Derya looked for a place to stay for us. Ais and Pugz placed a bet with each other: Ais saying that the others would find a great place for 20 -25 euros and Pugz saying that yes, they would find a place in the town but we would have to pay 30 euros plus. The stakes were high - a cup of coffee was the winning bet prize!
Manuel and Derya found some nice rooms with an older woman for 30 euros. So Ais owed Pugz a coffee in a cafe! The rooms were much better and had heating! The woman was very kind to us. She made us coffee in the morning and allowed the others to use the washing machine, free of charge. Manuel had a laptop with him and could use the house wireless connection. We settled in for a day's sight seeing. We could also cook there which helped the budget. (That kept Ais happy!)
We walked up to the fort at the top of a hill edge and had a great view over the fjord. We spent some time exploring the fort, as it had various usage over the years, right up to the Second World War. We also spent time exploring the small atmospheric streets of the old town.
We left Derya and Manuel the next day as we were getting worried about our timescale. We hoped to meet Pugz' brother in Istanbul on 19th December and as far as we were concerned, we were a long way from Istanbul.
So although the weather was not at all pleasant, (windy and wet, our favourite!) we decided to head on. Derya and Manuel decided to sit out the bad weather and Ais was just feeling a little jealous of their warm, dry room!
We started the ride out of Kotor through a 1.5km tunnel. Despite the tunnel not being so long really, we were a little worried. It was slightly uphill and tunnels always seem loud and dark places. It is difficult to judge the size and speed of vehicles coming behind you and the road in tunnels are always narrow. Thankfully, everything went ok on our ride through this tunnel.
The ride was uneventful and the rain held off. We only had a few rain showers. However, the road we cycled along had so much rubbish along it. Not only litter, but builder's rubble too. This disappointed Ais as she had seen numerous adverts on CNN about Montenegro and its 'wild beauty'. Unfortunately, the 'wild beauty' is not along the coast. It is much more built up than we thought. There were many bilboards along the coast advertising 'land for sale', 'houses for sale' and adverts for Italian, Irish and English developers. Maybe this is how Spain was in the 1960s.
We stopped in a small town called Petrovac and were surprised to find that many of the houses advertised 'Rooms' but no one was interested in letting us have a room in November! I think everyone had closed up their rooms for the winter and were not interested in opening them up for one night only. We finally found a man who did motorbike touring and had apartments to rent. He didn't mind that we were staying only one night and repeatedly told us that we were 'crazy to cycle the whole way to Istanbul'. He was clearly interested and got out a map of the Balkans to show us where he had gone on his motorbike. He then gave us the map! We had been searching for a map of Albania with little luck, as ours had a scale which was a bit too big. Yet here, someone was just handing over a map. Although it was of similar scale to what we had, we appreciated the map as it had some smaller roads on it and as we had learned on this trip, two maps are always better than one!
Manuel and Derya found some nice rooms with an older woman for 30 euros. So Ais owed Pugz a coffee in a cafe! The rooms were much better and had heating! The woman was very kind to us. She made us coffee in the morning and allowed the others to use the washing machine, free of charge. Manuel had a laptop with him and could use the house wireless connection. We settled in for a day's sight seeing. We could also cook there which helped the budget. (That kept Ais happy!)
We walked up to the fort at the top of a hill edge and had a great view over the fjord. We spent some time exploring the fort, as it had various usage over the years, right up to the Second World War. We also spent time exploring the small atmospheric streets of the old town.
We left Derya and Manuel the next day as we were getting worried about our timescale. We hoped to meet Pugz' brother in Istanbul on 19th December and as far as we were concerned, we were a long way from Istanbul.
So although the weather was not at all pleasant, (windy and wet, our favourite!) we decided to head on. Derya and Manuel decided to sit out the bad weather and Ais was just feeling a little jealous of their warm, dry room!
We started the ride out of Kotor through a 1.5km tunnel. Despite the tunnel not being so long really, we were a little worried. It was slightly uphill and tunnels always seem loud and dark places. It is difficult to judge the size and speed of vehicles coming behind you and the road in tunnels are always narrow. Thankfully, everything went ok on our ride through this tunnel.
The ride was uneventful and the rain held off. We only had a few rain showers. However, the road we cycled along had so much rubbish along it. Not only litter, but builder's rubble too. This disappointed Ais as she had seen numerous adverts on CNN about Montenegro and its 'wild beauty'. Unfortunately, the 'wild beauty' is not along the coast. It is much more built up than we thought. There were many bilboards along the coast advertising 'land for sale', 'houses for sale' and adverts for Italian, Irish and English developers. Maybe this is how Spain was in the 1960s.
We stopped in a small town called Petrovac and were surprised to find that many of the houses advertised 'Rooms' but no one was interested in letting us have a room in November! I think everyone had closed up their rooms for the winter and were not interested in opening them up for one night only. We finally found a man who did motorbike touring and had apartments to rent. He didn't mind that we were staying only one night and repeatedly told us that we were 'crazy to cycle the whole way to Istanbul'. He was clearly interested and got out a map of the Balkans to show us where he had gone on his motorbike. He then gave us the map! We had been searching for a map of Albania with little luck, as ours had a scale which was a bit too big. Yet here, someone was just handing over a map. Although it was of similar scale to what we had, we appreciated the map as it had some smaller roads on it and as we had learned on this trip, two maps are always better than one!
Then came the day of the rain (or floods, I should say!) We set off as normal. It was still windy and drizzly, but what is a little drizzle to us at this stage! We even decided against wearing our waterproofs as we always get too hot. But about an hour into the ride the rain got heavier and we stopped to put on our waterproofs.
As we were doing this, a man approached us with a bag of Sharon fruit (expensive in England, rotting in the trees here!) I thought he was trying to sell us some and I really did not want them so I was a bit cold towards the man. But eventually, through Pugz' Italian and sign language and the man's few English words, we worked out that he was giving us the fruit and that they needed seven more days to ripen in the sun. I did feel bad about giving him the cold shoulder.
We proceeded to cycle on in the rain and heard thunder too. Then the Heavens opened and we had to stop as the rain was so heavy. Cars and lorries were even driving very slow as no-one could see very far. The surface water quıckly formed small streams at the sıde of the road.
We hung around in a little shop and when the rain eased off we rode to a cafe for a long lunch and to try and dry off. But that rain kept coming. After an hour of indecision we left our little cafe and rode on in the rain, trying to convince ourselves that it was not really that bad and we were quite wet already. But to be honest, it is times like this that my idea of an adventurous challenge becomes hazy and WHY AM I DOING THIS! is in my head so much more.
We plodded on to a town called Bar and only passed scruffy looking room signs. It was still light and we went on. But darkness quıckly caught up wıth us. We had to make a decision to ride on or turn back to Bar, whıch we had passed through 10km ago. We were not keen to go back 10km and both agreed to cycle on. All this time it had been raining and now drains were blocked wıth leaves and rubbish and the water was forming lıttle lakes in the road. People's driving was gettıng hazardous as they grew more frustrated. We had to be careful as we cycled through any puddle as many drains did not have a cover. We continued to cycle through the growıng streams on the side of the road and then had to climb up a long hill to get to a village, where we hoped to fınd accomondation. On the hill dragged and we were willing to pay anything to stay anywhere. Finally in the little village called Dobra Voda (Good Water) we found a workmans type hostel and gladly paıd 20 euros for a room. We set about trying to dry our stuff ın the room with no heater and were very disappointed to fınd that even though we were both exhausted we had only cycled 31km that day!
The next day we set off in our damp stuff to Albania.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Photos from Aisling's camera
.
Ironwork sculpture at Kropa, Slovenia
The dragon bridge, in Ljubljiana, Slovenia
Pugz on his bike near the market in Ljubljiana, Slovenia
Autumn colours, Plitvica national park, Croatia
Fish in one of the many lakes at Plitvica national park, Croatia
Plitvica national park, Croatia
A Salamander in the forest at Plitvica national park, Croatia
The huge waterfall at Jajce, Bosnia-Hercegovina
The old bridge at Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina
Dubrovnik harbour, Croatia
Ironwork sculpture at Kropa, Slovenia
The dragon bridge, in Ljubljiana, Slovenia
Pugz on his bike near the market in Ljubljiana, Slovenia
Autumn colours, Plitvica national park, Croatia
Fish in one of the many lakes at Plitvica national park, Croatia
Plitvica national park, Croatia
A Salamander in the forest at Plitvica national park, Croatia
The huge waterfall at Jajce, Bosnia-Hercegovina
The roofscape over Jajce
, Bosnia-Hercegovina
, Bosnia-HercegovinaSimo and family (and a few neighbours), Kiseljack, Bosnia-Hercegovina
Austro-hungarian buildings in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina
(where the 1st world war started, when Franz Ferdinand was shot)
(where the 1st world war started, when Franz Ferdinand was shot)
Cycling in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina.
This sculpture describes how we felt trying to ride into the city!
This sculpture describes how we felt trying to ride into the city!
The beautiful (downhill!) road from Sarajevo to Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina
The old bridge at Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina
Derelict building in Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina
(clearly damaged by 1990's shelling, nature makes it seem an older ruin)
(clearly damaged by 1990's shelling, nature makes it seem an older ruin)
Dubrovnik harbour, Croatia
Ais and Pugz, overlooking the harbour at Dubrovnik, Croatia
Manuel, Derya and Pugz on the ferry to Kotor, Montenegro
(this was a FREE car ferry, so we weren't cheating, honest!)
Manuel, Derya and Pugz on the ferry to Kotor, Montenegro
(this was a FREE car ferry, so we weren't cheating, honest!)
The Montenegro coast Part 1
Molunat - Herceg Novi 29km
As we rode towards the Montenegrin border in sunshine, with Derya and Manuel, we had not gone very far when Adrian noticed that something was wrong with his wheel. Something serious. The wheel rim had actually worn through and cracked. It kept catching on his brake pad and made cycling very difficult and dangerous. Manuel and Derya could have rode on, but stayed with us, keeping Adrian's temper down as he did not want to have a temper tantrum in front of them and he could have a number of social cigarettes with them, to keep him calm (Thank you M&D!). And it was a Sunday. No bike shops would be open, even if we found one. We hoped we could find something in the small town of Herceg Novi.
After very slow progress and a very sour border guard we reached the Montenegro town of Herceg Novi. After no calls of Hello! or waves/beeps of support in Croatia, we had just entered the town and a man called HELLO! and waved. Manuel was so happy, as we all were, to be in a country that had not yet been dulled by the stream of tourists coming through! We had often discussed this with Manuel and Derya, and with other tourists. The travel experience changes so much as more travellers and tourists come by. People get more unfriendly and only see you as another way to earn euros. We all had less calls of "Hello!" and "Where are you going?" in Croatia than in the other countries we had cycled through.
We had some trouble finding a campsite in Herceg Novi and after a wandering around the town, we found a very sad little campsite. It may have been very pleasant once but its hey day was well and truly over. None of us wanted to use the very dirty shower block and the toilets were grimey and covered with cobwebs. Yet, the old man who ran it was so helpful and when he heard about Pugz' wheel he first told us where to find a repair workshop and then later arranged for the repair workshop man to come to us, at the campsite.
The next day the repair man came and had a look at the bike. It was decided that Pugz should go with the man to a kind of Flea market. There, Pugz managed to find a wheel which would suit his bike. The man did not charge Pugz for taking him to the Flea market and Pugz was happy with a wheel for 25 euros. He still had to rebuild the wheel as it had the wrong sort of hub. Isn't Pugz very clever!
That night rain had returned with a vengence and nearly flooded the campsite. We all went into a manky shed, which was at one time, the kitchen. We sat in there, on a strange collection of old school and garden furniture, some of which were covered with carpet (probably second hand carpet too. Oh, the stories it could tell!). Then the rain just stopped and after about half hour of indecision, we quickly packed up and went. We wanted to get to Kotor. It sounded really pretty in our Lonely Planet and from on what we saw on TV. So, after the nice old man said "Pay what you want." We paid 10 euros and headed off.
Herceg Novi to Kotor - 26km
We were getting quite lazy with short rides! We rode to Kotor with Derya and Manuel. Kotor is situated in a beautiful fjord, surrounded by small, steep hills. We took the short (2km) ferry ride and approached Kotor via the 'back way' thus avoiding a busy main road.
As we approached the town itself we cycled past other small villages, along the shoreline. We stopped for a rest and a fag/chocolate and a taxi driver pulled up and asked us if we needed a place to stay. Ais spoke to him and repeatly asked him about a washing machine. He repeatly said 'No problem!' although his wife was extremely cool towards us. But Ais ignored her. Ais and Pugz went to check out the apartment and Derya and Manuel stayed with the bikes.
We thought at first glance that the apartments were ok, if quite dated. So we agreed to the price of 20 euros a night, washing machine included. Ais asked grumpy wife about a heater as there was no heating in the little apartments. She snorted. "You only pay 10 euros! No heater!" This should have set off alarm bells ringing in Ais's head that grumpy wife was a money grabbing cow!
We went back to get the others and the bikes and rode back to the apartments. I forgot to say about the VERY steep hill that was only about 400 metres long but we needed to work together to push the bikes up it!
When Derya and Manuel saw the apartments, they were a little surprised. "You want to pay 20 euros for this?!" Derya asked Ais. Ais then noticed no toilet paper or towels, the toilet was dirty and there was only one blanket on the bed. Derya and Manuel showed Ais some pictures of places they stayed in for 20 euros. And WOW, those two know how to find really nice apartments. Ais was feeling just a little bit ripped off. But more was to come. We then decided that we would not stay there for two nights, that we would leave the next morning. So Pugz went to the family house to collect the washing. The daughter who spoke excellent English told him that there was a misunderstanding and the use of the washing machine was NOT included in the price of the apartment. Pugz was not happy. We had asked a number of times about this and were told "No problem!" The daughter said "You can't get that for 10 euros!" Pugz said "We are paying 20 euros!" and the family started discussing the situation among themselves. Pugz walked away. We all agreed that although 20 euros may be the going rate for apartments, the apartments should be clean and we should not end up feeling that the owners are trying to get every last euro out of us. The whole situation made us feel a little uncomfortable. Montenegro is a relatively poor country, but these people were not poor. They lived in a modern house and earlier, the taxi driver had pointed out other apartments he owned.
Manuel told us not to trust people who continuely say "no problem!" and we have learned a few tricks about bargaining from our German friends too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
