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!