Day 58 - From Himarë to Sarandë

Lucas and me had an amazing breakfast on the rooftop terrace of the hostel. We could even choose what type of egg we want and enjoyed the sea view with a freshly made coffee. :) While Lucas stays in Himarë for another few nights, I planned on cycling to Sarandë today. The weather was supposed to change again with at least five days of rain ahead starting the next day and I didn't want to get stuck in Himarë for this long. :/ So I slowly packed my stuff and met up again with Jon, Sylvie, and the British guys to say goodbye (temporarily, I'll catch up with Jon in Istanbul again hopefully :) ). On my way out of Himarë, I met Fin again who we spent time with on the beach the previous day on the side of the road waiting for his group. Himarë really feels like a small place where all backpackers in Albania eventually meet up again. 😀 The initial hill I had to climb felt really hard, probably because I had a few days break from cycling and being honest, a little too much alcohol. 😅 I started to worry about the two big mountains that lay ahead of me this day and already decided on breaks on top of each of them. I needed some motivational thoughts to keep me going that day. :D

It was a sunny and really nice day, and the views during the ride were amazing and rewarding. I passed little villages, many kinds of animals on the road, even a baby horse! 😍 I don't think there are wild horses in Albania, they just let their animals run free everywhere and guess hope for the best?!😅 Once I passed the first mountain, I took a longer break before attempting the climb of the second one, when a pretty old car with a priest and a nun stopped to ask whether I'm okay. :D It looked really funny the two of them squished into that tiny car to be honest. 😄 Love Albanians, they are all so friendly and helpful. 💕👌

The second climb lead away from the coast with nice views of rather rural "backcountry" Albania. It's a lot less populated, very green and rather flat. Albania's geography is kind of funny, it's super mountainous along the cost and in the north, but central Albania is actually rather flat.
I arrived in Sarandë in the late afternoon and not surprisingly being pretty exhausted. With regard to the weather, I booked a hostel (Hasta la vista hostel), which seemed pretty chilled. My first impression of Sarandë when I cycled through the town: a lot like Vlorë. It's mostly apartment buildings, little grocery shops, chaotic traffic. It's a harbour city where most people just pass through on their way to Corfu island by ferry. I liked the hostel and it's people though. Still, I felt like this beach town with not much to see isn't the best place to keep myself busy during the rainy days ahead, so I did some research the same evening and decided to take a bus to Gjirokastra the next day for a few nights but leaving my stuff at the hostel in Sarandë. :) I really don't like cycling in the rain. 😅
Happy with my plan, I phonecalled with a friend in the evening, cooked some dinner in the hostel kitchen and went to bed early. Again, I was pretty exhausted from the ride. Also I decided I will quit on drinking with hostel people for at least a week. 😅 I needed a break. 😄Read more