I arrived into the port of Durres. There was a lot of chaos getting off the ferry, people shouting and cars all pushing and shoving to drive off the boat first. I enjoyed watching as I sat waiting until everyone else had gone, before driving off the ferry in peace.
First stop in a new country is always to find a place to buy a sim card. My English and Italian cards wouldn’t work in Albania so I had no internet, which means no maps for directions. Luckily I’m used to this now and had prepared by looking it up when I was still in Italy, writing down the directions to the nearest phone shop and taking a screenshot of the map. The mission was successful, and the lady in the phone shop spoke perfect English so I had a nice chat with her about my travels, places to see in Albania and I learnt my first few words of Albanian
Hello – Pershendetia
Yes – Po
Thank you – Falaminderit
Bye – Mirupafshim
From Durres I headed to Tirana, Albania’s capital
I found a parking spot in the student area and it was full of cafes and bars which were stuffed with people all having a nice time on a Friday afternoon. I joined in
The next day I explored
Tirana is strange mix of brand new shiny buildings
And old blocks of flats from the communist time
There’s art everywhere
And views to the snow capped mountains from every street
The city is expanding and developing rapidly with construction going on in every part of town. There are so many new roads that Google doesn’t know they exist yet and keeps thinking I’m driving through fields or houses
I stopped at one of the many bakeries selling delicious honey soaked pastry treats similar to Baklava
And then headed 30 mins out of the city to the foothills of the mountains to stay at a small family farm that had been recommended to me
The family were so kind and friendly. They bought me fresh eggs in the morning and vegetables from the garden whenever they were harvested
On my first day at the farm I went on a little walk. It was raining, the farmer saw me heading out and offered me his umbrella. He then walked with me for the first section of the walk to make sure I found the path ok
There were views down over Tirana
I saw a waterfall
As I walked towards it, what I thought was solid ground turned out to be wet clay and both my boots sank right in. I lost balance and fell over
Now soaking wet and covered in clay I started to walk back. A man from the nearby village saw me and gestured for me to wait as he ran into his house. He bought out his daughter who was waving some trousers at me. They invited me in to change and gave me some food and a drink. Egra (16) was keen to practice speaking English so I stayed for a while and chatted to her (with a bit of help from Google translate).
On my way back to the farm from Egra’s house I couldn’t find the entrance to the path I needed. I got in touch with Idris (the son of the family I was staying with) and he tracked me on WhatsApp live location and gave me directions. I had to pass 2 very angry dogs, one of which bit the end of my umbrella. I backed away and wondered how I was ever going to get by when a woman came out of the nearest house, put herself between me and the dogs and held my hand to walk past them.
I was very happy to get back to the farm and into my cosy van
The next day Idris invited me to join him and his friend on an off road 4×4 adventure in the snowy mountains. Ofcourse I said yes!
So much fun
It was the deepest snow I’ve ever seen, it came up to above my knees
At one point we got stuck
With a bit of digging, sticks and stones under the wheel and some bouncing on the bonnet we were free
Idris and his friend decided we couldn’t make it any further. We headed back to the road and they took me to a little mountain cafe with a log burning stove to warm up. They bought me lunch and I tried Albanian wine which is very strong and sweet, similar to Port.
The next day was International Women’s Day and the nearby cable car was doing half price tickets for women
It was the longest (over 4.5km) cable car I’ve ever been on. It went up and then down two smaller mountains before taking me 1613m up Mount Dajti.
I was not expecting what I found at the top! It was like a big space station with posh lounge bars. It was mostly groups of women there and they were very dressed up with high heels and full make up. I felt very out of place in my thermals and muddy walking boots.
Around the space station were lots of activities
I decided to give all that a miss and found a hiking trail to follow
I saw 2 Golden eagles, which were absolutely huge with a wingspan of over 7ft! By the time I got my camera out they were far away so look tiny
I headed back to the landing site to warm up in the cafe and was given the thickest hot chocolate in the world
It’s been a whirlwind of a start to my time in Albania but I’m having lots of fun. Next I head to the Albanian Riviera for some sun and sea.