Skele e Vlorës

Along the Albanian Riviera

We’ve missed posting for a couple of days thanks to some food poisoning that slowed us down, but we’re back and ready to finish the rally strong!

Driving along the Albanian coast is definitely worth doing, if you make it here, you’ll encounter ancient old world history, beautiful coastlines and beaches that are postcard-worthy, with the small town charm from the proud Albanian people who are so happy you are visiting their country.

Ancient historic sites:
We’ve explored several castles, remnants of old cities, and villages with evidence from the different periods of history as the control of this region changed. Several sites have reached the status of UNESCO designation as some of the castles and fortifications date back to the 12th century. However, the castles and structures are usually built on top of already existing foundations and loosely defined village layouts as humans have been here for thousands of years, with records of the Illyrians going back to the time of ancient Greece in the 700-1000 BC range. For us, we love trying to imagine all the things that have happened at these locations, from ancient people’s every day life, to decisive military battles, sieges and invasions which would define centuries of life afterwards. An example is an old Roman Amphitheater in Durrës, built in the year 60 AD and used for the next few hundred years for entertainment. The main entertainment was inviting about 20,000 of the towns people to cheer on as gladiators, slaves and animals would engage in a gory battles. A relief from inside the eerie chambers of the amphitheater with the depiction of a man driving a sword into another man’s back reminded us of what took place here.

Coastline/beaches:
Driving up and down mountains of what many refer to as the Albanian Riviera is absolutely breathtaking and makes it a bit hard to keep your eyes on the road as you try to take in the intensely blue-hued Adriatic. For anyone that’s driven along the Amalfi Coast it Italy, the scenery must be somewhat similar. Spending nights in the beachside towns of Durrës and Vlorë, we believe it to be reminiscent of the California coast or Miami strip from the 50s and 60s. Although we didn’t experience that time, through photos and movies, it seems pretty close. The beaches are all lined with small, 2-4 star family run hotels, with a boardwalk which separates the hotels, bars and restaurants from the beaches that are lined with lounge chairs and cabanas. The less stringent rules and regulations mean that you can see and do things you don’t regularly see at beaches in the U.S. There are several BB gun kiosks where you can try your luck at hitting targets, there are people pushing around carts of burning oil so they can serve fresh donuts and people selling beers in glass bottles so you can walk up down the beach enjoying the sights, beer in hand. After all of the intense mountain driving, a couple of more relaxed nights and taking a dip in the warm Adriatic are a welcome change.

The remnants of a dictator:
For anyone familiar with recent Albanian history, you may be aware of the ruthless communist regime, led by Enver Hoxha, from post WWII to the early 90s. During that time, Albania was all but cut off from most of the rest of the world, as Hoxha grew more and more paranoid of an Imperialist invasion. He, among many other activities, led an effort to build bunkers across the country, we see these dotting the landscape with machine gun angles aimed toward the sea as we drive. We finally find one that’s somewhat accessible and stop by a roadside stand to enjoy some freshly picked figs and grapes, while exploring the inside of the tiny bunker. Despite the history of being ruled under a harsh dictatorship, everyone we have interacted with here is happy, eager to converse and meet with us, and goes out of their way to make sure our experience is a good one - including the man selling figs, with a smile, handshake, and adding several extra perfectly ripe figs for us to enjoy after we already paid.Leggi altro