Time to explore Albania

This morning we started the day with a nice hotel breakfast which had traditional pastries- delicious. Then we headed out for the free walking tour of Albania’s capital; Tirana. It was a nice tour with a local guy that knew a lot about the history of his country. Again, there was a lot of history about communism but it was different hearing about how life was for Albanians as they were so cut from any ties to anyone else in Europe really. (Learning a lot on this trip!) Tirana also prides itself on being a country that does not discriminate against any religion and it was clear to see this with all the different religious buildings all next to each other. Despite being quite a small population in Albania, there seemed to be a lot of people in Tirana and therefore a lot going on. Coffee culture here is big! Old men chilling on terraces with an espresso was a common sight! It’s a cute place to visit. :)

After the tour we picked up some local specialities from a bakery for lunch and headed back to the hotel to get the car.

Driving in Albania... here are some car experiences so far:

1. Round-abouts = crazy. No lanes. No rules. Cyclists going around the wrong way.
2. Pedestrian crossings = no need to stop- keep going.
3. Police everywhere - yet there seems to be no rules so I’m not sure why.
4. Junctions- don’t bother waiting- just go for it and hope for the best.

.... and it’s only day 1! I’m sure we will have some more stories tomorrow!

We made it to a lovely little place called Berat which is also known as “a city of a thousand windows” (see pics below to see why). Berat has been listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in order to preserve the culture here. We have only been able to see it by night so far but its so pretty!

Restaurants were harder to find though- it seems only men come out at night here to sit and drink on the terraces... bit intimidating! But thankfully we found a nice little restaurant which felt like we were getting nice home cooked food. There was only one woman who was doing everything (waitressing, cooking, bar tender and cleaning up!) so impressive. The food was so good too! We tried some specialities like baked aubergine and stuffed peppers. Amazing. Only thing that let it down was the home made wine that tasted like vinegar. Can’t complain though as it was the first bad wine we have had yet!

Can’t believe how well the trip is going so far actually! *touch wood* Feeling very lucky to be able to have such great experiences. :)Read more