Albania

We crossed into Albania expecting a queue, or at least a little difficulty, as this was our first foray north from Greece and the news was still full of the refugee crisis. But there was not a soul at the crossing and the only issue we had was purchasing insurance for the van, which involved a mimed conversation through a 2 metre high fence with an "insurance man", who took Liam's passport, our vehicle documents and 50 euro, and left. He did however come back, with all our documents, a new insurance document, and 1 euro change. Easy!

Albania looks like a hot Scotland. Standing on the border with Greece, you can see that the landscape is the same, but the Albanian side has been completely shaved of it's trees. It is rocky, craggy and pretty awe inspiring.

First stop was in Sarande, which is a little reminiscent of the Australian Gold Coast: beaches, blue water, high rise hotels. We didn't really know what to expect coming into Albania, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it...

We sat down at a cafe by the water for iced coffees, remembering half way through that we are not supposed to drink the tap water here and MUST not drink dairy products (apparently the cattle have TB and other nasties we can't handle). Oops. Some hasty googling and it turns out that cafe's and restaurants all use UHT milk and cream, and it's only in rural areas if you're staying and eating with the locals, that it can be an issue - whew.

Driving out of town, Liam heard a sound he didn't like, and quickly pulled the van over. Jammed into the tyre was a round headed bolt. Damn. We levered the thing out with a screwdriver and discovered that it was about 3 cm long. We drove a few more metres into a service station and mimed our issue to the guy as we got out the wheel jack and tried to read the instructions. The guy came back with some water to put on the hole, watched closely and then gave the "no worries" shrug and waved the jack away. I looked at the front wheel, then the rear wheel, then back again. The front wheel was flat. Damn. The guy was gesticulating that sometimes the hole can close up again, if whatever pierced it is removed (mime is a pretty communicative medium). He didn't have an air compressor for us to check the pressure, but sent us on up the road to a tyre place, where we repeated the process of mime and pointing. Four guys stood around and took turning spitting on the tyre. They were also unworried, and it turns out that both our front tyres are flatter than the rear, and that's how they're supposed to be. Crisis averted. We were in action again.

From here, we drove out to see the "Blue Eye". This is a spring that pumps up fresh water at a rate of 8 cubic metres per second. No one knows how deep it flows, and it is gobsmackingly beautiful to see. In an otherwise dry, arid landscape, there is a vivid turquoise pool, dark at the centre like and iris, and spreading out in fantastic blues and greens, before gushing along a white sanding riverbed. On top of this, there are hundreds of cobalt blue dragonflies darting all over the place, their wings shimmering in the sun and almost midnight blue in the shade. We won't talk about how bad the cafe there was though...

We headed towards the coast again to Ksamil. I was hot and bothered, unimpressed by the dusty campsite, and sent Liam in to investigate. He came back with Linda. Linda runs the camp and was sooooo happy to meet Liam and his "beautiful Hayley". She sweet talked us, sent her husband out with iced coffees and a bowl of sweets, then came out later with a crystal vase and a lily from her garden from the van. It was an ok welcome.

The next day we looked at the lovely beaches at Ksamil, had more iced coffees (this country is apparently nuts about iced coffee) and set out to visit the ruins at Butrint. This place has seen layer after layer of ancient history, as different peoples settled here (Greeks, Ottomans, Romans and more). It was a fascinating place. We hit the road again, and found a restaurant along the way. Overlooking the water, it was almost deserted, with only a single table of 3 taken. The owner came out and explained that they had fish, something, something and something. That sounded good to us. He brought out a cold red wine, and then came the food: 2 whole grilled fish, a dish of cheese similar to feta, a dish of olives, a dish of potatoes, a dish of steamed greens and a basket of bread.... it was a LOT of food. It all tasted amazing however, and to top it all off, while I was checking out the view from the terrace, the owner gave Liam a friendly boob-squeeze and a big smile. Odd.

Ruins at Butrint:

The most recent civilization settled at Butrint:

We drove on, planning to stay on the coast near Dherm, but every campsite was not set up for campervans. We spotted a little picture of a van on the sign for a cocktail bar however, so trundled along the beach road, which became a track, and eventually ended up waaaay down the sand at a cocktail bar. They had no customers, and let us park up for free! We couldn't eat at the restaurant (still stuffed), so compensated with a few drinks while watching the sunset from the beach lounges. Not bad at all.

Albanian roads

Donkey on the highway

Stunning coastline

Lunchtime view

Stop Go?

FULL OF HAY

The following day we left sea level and went up a stunning road over the mountains to the town of Berat. Known as the "city of a thousand windows", you can see why. We also recognised it as the city of HOT HOT HOT. We could barely move it was so stinking hot. After finding a place to stay the night it started to cool a little, and we could hear the thunder rolling around, and see the black sky in the distance. After the usual "I wonder if this is a good idea" statement, we walked to the citadel, bought tickets to enter, saw the view from the entrance, and then ran for cover in an archway in the thick wall. After a while watching the lighting show as the rain pelted down, we decided it would be sensible to stop sitting on a giant metal canon and avoid electrocution by hiding in a safer alcove. When it died down a little, we tried to see the citadel, but the torrential flow of water down the slippery marble cobbles was not helping. We retreated to the van and cleaned the mud off our shoes.

The river

Brewing

Storm rolling in

Clouds looming

Homemade Lilli

Later, we headed out with the intention of eating at a swanky mountaintop restaurant with a great view of the city. On our way up, a grandmother was selling jam from her doorway, and her teenage granddaughter did a good English speel touting the goods. When we declined the jam, she invited us to have homemade food instead. We were on a mission, so said no and waved goodbye. A few minutes later, we found the fancy restaurant to be stifling hot, deserted, and manned by a totally indifferent waiter. We went back to the girl. She and her family had set up 5 tables in their little courtyard, and they made traditional meals in their kitchen, which you could choose from photographs stuck onto a posterboard. We had lamb with cheese that was crumbed and fried, a dish of creamy sheeps cheese spiced with capsicums and served with bread, and eggplants stuffed with herby onions that were baked so they melted in your mouth. It was an excellent meal, cooked by the girl and her mother, served by her father, who later came out with his homemade raki (a grape spirit), which was mouth-tinglingly strong, but also great. Such a good experience. Check out "Homemade Lili" if you're ever in Berat!

Cool Tirana buildings

Modern cleaning

The market

Pretty colours

Hot Dogs

Kids

Weavers

Then it was on to the capital city, Tirana. We started with iced coffee of course, then visited a hardware store for a few items we wanted for the van (a shelf wasn't sitting where it should). Practicalities sorted, we took a cable car up the high mountains surrounding the city to check out the view, and have some lunch. After we came down, it was time to check into our hotel (ok, it was a hotel carpark that lets you borrow a bathroom). I had the grand idea that we would walk into town, since it looked like we would go through a park with a lake and it was downhill all the way. What should have been a 40minute stroll turned into a 1.5 hour trek. The closest entrance to the park was closed, and do get to the next one we had to wander along a goat track through a field... Oops again. Cocktails fixed everything and so did a simple meal at a touristy but nice Italian place. We took a taxi back!

To give you an idea of how insanely cheap stuff is in Albania, our first purchase after going to the ATM was a ham and cheese pastry thing (yum). We had only received 500 leke notes from the machine, each of which is about 3.70 euros, and this note was too big. The pastry cost 60 leke, or 40euro cents (0.60 AUD) and was big enough for the two of us to share as a small lunch. Our lovely dinner in Berat, including wine, coffees and raki, came to about 17 euro... we left a big tip, and even then, it was less than what we would pay for a sandwich and drink in Denmark.

The next day we visited the town of Kruje, where local weavers still make their wares the old fashioned way. Clearly it is still going as a tourist gimmick, as no-one actually wants an oldy worldy mat. Which is of course why I spent good money and bought a mat I totally do not need. Damn. The museum in the town was closed so we kidded around with some goats that were in the town instead (haha, "kidded"). Then it was on to another Dutch-run campsite which had a beautiful lawn and we walked about sans shoes for the first time in about a year!

Our plan was to then take what is supposed to be the highlight of any trip to Albania - The Korman Lake ferry. What the guidebook does not tell you is that the road to the ferry is ATROCIOUS. We were pretty used to the standards of Albanian roads by now (nice highway to bumpy track is about the range), but this was something else. The views down the precipice we were on were stunning, but the corrugations made it hard to enjoy and there was a medium-level chance that the road would take a turn off a cliff. The journey took even longer than we had anticipated, and towards the end we were heading up the mountain, where pieces of the mountain had been strewn about the track in front of us. Up and up made no sense (we were going to a lake!?), and then we went into a black hole which you could call a tunnel but is better referred to as a cave. Down down down into a barely lit green cave. Freaky as hell. Then we popped out into the sunlight where a man hastily sold us tickets, another man tried to sell us dried figs, we got on the ferry and it left! Perfect timing and maximum stress!

The ferry ride was however stunning. And there was more iced coffee. Check out the pictures:

Beautiful reflections

Craggy peaks diving into the water

Freaky cave drive

After the ferry we turned down a few hitchkikers. (Not the first time, hitchhiking is a common way to get around. In Romania there were school kids, grandmas and families by the roadside, waving and flapping their hands in their version of "a lift please?" We were sad to not be able to take anyone, as we have no passenger seatbelts and weren't willing to risk a fine) We were pretty starving getting off the boat, so our first stop was going to be the first cafe we came across. We asked if they served food, and the answer was "Yes. We have salad. We have meat". So we ordered some of that. Turns out "meat" means a LOT of meat, so we sneakily boxed up the leftovers for a future meal. After eating, we headed through the town of Bajram Curri to post a few postcards. Coming out of the town there was a group of boys with their thumbs out, and Liam flashed his best Aussie smile and gave them the thumbs up right back. His grin faded at my gaping stare - "you just rejected those poor kids like a right idiot tourist" I said. "Oh", he said. "They're hitchhiking aren't they. Oops. I thought they were just being friendly"!!!