Kruje & Shkodra, Albania (14 Oct 2012)

In the morning we left Durres and headed to Kruje via Vore. It rained off and on all day today. Kruje is located at the foot of Mount Kruje and after driving up the windy narrow road, we were first greeted with a nice view and then the old bazaar.

 

Kruje castle sits proudly at the highest point in Kruje. Our first glimpse of Kruje town after parking Our Sorento. That is where we are headed to on foot.

 

Kruje Old Bazaar

This one street bazaar has all sorts of interesting items including traditional clothes and even antiques.

Tirane and onwards to Durres, Albania (13 Oct 2012)

We had breakfast and moved on to Tirane, the capital of Albania. It is still drizzling off and on. As expected, traffic in the city was very heavy and drivers in Tirane were less patient compared to other Albanian cities / towns we have visited.

As there is nothing in particular that we wanted to see in the city, we took the quickest and easiest way to cut across and head to Durres. On one of the stretch of road, we came across a row of shops selling insurance. We parked and enquired about green card insurance. After asking around a few of the agents we found out that they only sold green card insurance to Albanian registered vehicle. Foreign registered vehicle coverage is restricted to Albania. Guess we will just have to get our insurance for Europe at the border.

Also, as we had earlier lost our Iphone in Iran, we tried to look for a replacement and saw the 16GB 4S model sold at 85,500 Lek. It was quite expensive and the phone is locked to the local operator, so we did not get it.

We left Tirane and headed for Durres. Traffic was heavy towards Durres with a lot of container lorries, which is understandable as Durres is a port city.

Pyramid shaped building along the highway to Durres. From the signboard, it looks like they sell office equipments. Interesting choice of design.

Elbasan and onwards to Tirane, Albania (12 Oct 2012)

We spent the whole morning walking round Elbasan. Elbasan is more well to do than all the other cities we have been through in Albania. However, like the other cities, there are still a lot of street vendors selling everything from veg, fruits to used clothes and shoes.

 

  Elbasan Castle, right in the centre of town.

 

Elbasan Castle

Fier, Llundjier, Berat and Elbasan–Albania (11 Oct 2012)

We were up early at 6.30am and spent some time observing the city of Fier as it comes to life. Street vendors selling from their car boot came early to book a parking spot or a spot along the pavement/side walk. If you happen to park in one of their spot, they are quick to shoo you away. We see school children of all ages walking to school. On the street, cars, vans and buses move along with no real rush. Several cars were going slow causing a trail of cars behind them. Yet, none of the drivers honked. Albanian drivers are really patient.

Today we were going to Berat, city of a thousand windows. The roads were alright but can be narrow at some sections and uneven with potholes every now and then. There were also a few lorries though none of them were driving like maniacs.

 

Road from Fier to Llundjier (or Lushnje)

 

Road from Llundjier to Berat – not so smooth but still bearable.

Vlora city tour and onwards to Fier, Albania (10 Oct 2012)

We spent the morning walking around the old town of Vlora through alleys, markets and cafes busy barbecuing lambs, sausages and cevapis for the raki drinkers. We missed the roasted lamb, they were sold out by the time we got there for lunch. Guess the roasted lamb was more for breakfast.

 

Vlora old town was more raggedy and traffic haphazard. The new town, closer to the port and beaches, are much nicer with wider streets. Vlora is Albania’s first capital city and has the country’s second biggest port (after Durres). It was in this city that Ismail Qemali declared Albania’s independence in 1912.

Walking around the old town of Vlora

 

 

One of the roads in the old town. The side walks are dusty.

Driving at a snail’s pace from Tepelene to Vlora, Albania (9 Oct 2012)

We left Gjirokaster in the morning and took SH4 north to Tepelene. By this time we realized that our GPS only showed a few main highways in Albania, other roads in towns and cities are not available. The GPS now useless, we paid more attention on the signboards to lead us out. Luckily they were good enough to get us out of Gjirokaster town and onto the road heading to Tepelene. Along the way there was enough signboards to show us where to go.

After going through a police road block, we arrived at Tepelene at 10.30am, parked Our Sorento and walked the main street. We met a grocer who spoke English and chatted for almost half an hour. He told us a little history of Albania, about how its border with Greece used to be further away before Greece diplomatically took back and made the land theirs after the days of Ali Pasha. We bought some green peppers, potatoes and bananas before bidding him and his parents farewell.

WALKING AROUND TEPELENE

Main street in Tepelene

Greece / Albania border crossing and onwards to Gjirokaster (8 Oct 2012)

We made our way from Kalpaki (Greece) towards Kakavia, the border town with Albania, in the morning.

We had earlier read on the internet that EUR10 per person tax on entry is chargeable for driving into Albania. On exit a further EUR2/day each will be levied. So, we were ready with some small change. However, the Albanian border police checked our passport, recorded Our Sorento registration details and within minutes cleared us without asking for any payment.

We stopped a few metres away to check that our passport are all in order before leaving the border post – mum’s passport was not stamped. We walked the short distance back to the border police and got it stamped.

We also bought third party insurance for 15 days (EUR40) and exchanged some Euros for the local currency, Albanian Lek, before making our way onto highway SH4 to Gjirokaster.

 

Welcome to Albania!!