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Adventures in Albania

by: karst [Austin ,Texas] Member since: Aug 12, 2000 for Epinions.com
(Wed Aug 23 '00)

Pros:  incredibly beautiful mountains and beaches, friendly people
Cons:  Albania is still not easy to tour; lots of pollution


Introduction
I have just finished a one-month trip to Albania. This was a business trip 
for me, but my business is geology. Because of this, I visited many parts of 
the country, mostly in the south, and often traveled through small villages 
in remote areas. I wasn't there as a tourist, so I was only able to visit 
one Orthodox monastery, and the Skanderbeg Castle. There is much that I 
can't tell you, because many of my accomodations were arranged by others, 
but I learned a lot about the country and saw people and places where few 
outsiders ever go. My review will be useful if you want to explore the 
less-visited places, and will probably cover things that only the rare 
traveler to this country has seen, but I am limited by the nature of my 
travel.

I found the country to be charming, beautiful, and full of potential. In 
some ways, I felt as if I had traveled backwards in time, to a period when 
small-scale agriculture dominated life. A time when fields were plowed with 
an ox; when hay was cut and raked by hand, and piled in tall haystacks. I 
shared the road with donkeys, sheep, goats, and horses, as well as the 
ubiquitos Mercedes-Benz sedans that everyone seems to drive. I was welcomed 
by everyone, and always treated well. The food was often basic, but always 
good: the highlights were kos (sheep's yogurt), fish soup, salata Greka 
(Greek salad), fresh trout, calamari, lamb shish kebab, and more. 
Accomodations in various hotels varied from luxurious, to quite basic. Of 
course, when I am working I am accustomed to camping, so having a hotel 
room, even without water, is a treat for me. I visited Tirana, Durres, 
Vlore, Elbasan, Fier, Berat, Gjirokaster, Delvine, Sarande, Kruja, Permet, 
and my favorite place, Çorovode. Many of the smaller villages I visited are 
not on any map I have found, and so are only known to Albanians. I traveled 
from the breath-takingly beautiful southern Adriatic coastline to the flanks 
of Mali Tomor, one of the highest mountains in Albania.
The country has a wonderful range of naturally beautiful mountains, wide 
white beaches, broad shallow rivers, and patchworks of corn, wheat, and 
vegetable fields covering low-lying hills and valleys. However, the saddest 
thing I saw in Albania were piles of trash, rusted cars, and polluted 
rivers. There have been many years of trash accumulation with little effort 
to clean it up, and often trash is still dumped along roads and riverbanks 
and burnt. Rusted cars sit in the middle of rivers, and the small waterways 
that wind through towns and cities sometimes smell of raw sewage. This is a 
country in transition.

Roads:
Roads in Albania range from two-lane asphalt-paved roads, to streets paved 
with smooth limestone blocks, and dirt tracks barely suitable for a donkey 
cart. I was always accompanied by an Albanian driver, and even though I 
drive in Mexico, I think I would have had difficulty adapting to Albanian 
driving. Major roads are often only two-lane roads (more like one and 
one-half lanes) and traffic varies from huge double-trailer semi-tractors, 
to buses, cars, WIDE hay-wagons pulled by donkeys, shepherds following 
flocks of sheep and goats, and small children leading cows to pasture. In 
some small mountain towns even the main road is not wide enough for two 
large vehicles to pass, so it is not rare to be forced to back-up to a place 
where the road is wider. Small roadside stands sell fruit, vegetables, olive 
oil, fire-roasted sweet corn, and even two-liter bottles of diesel fuel, and 
often cars must stop in the road to make a purchase. All of this mixes on 
narrow, winding roads, often with limited visibility, few warning signs, and 
very few directional signs. Some of the roads we traveled on were along 
mountainsides, with no barrier between us and a 500 meter drop-off on the 
roadside. Roadside monuments to people killed on these roads are common 
sights. We never drove at night for these reasons.
There is major road construction between Durres and Lushnje; apparently the 
road is being widened to 4 lanes(July, 2000). The construction often blocks 
the road and results in considerable traffic.
Short distances in Albania take considerable time to drive, due to the 
roads. It's one to two hours from Tirana to Durres. It takes at least 3 
hours to reach Fier from Tirana. It takes almost a full day to drive from 
Tirana to Sarande, on the southern coast. The road between these two cities 
is over 250 kilometers, yet in a straight line, Sarande is only about 100 
kilometers.
To further complicate the driving, there are police roadblocks at almost 
random locations, between most large towns, and at many intersections. My 
driver was never asked to stop, but at these stops the driver can be asked 
to show a driver's license, papers for the car, and often I saw cars with 
the trunk open being searched by the police. The police commonly carry 
Kalishnikovs, automatic rifles. At one stop, the police wore black ski masks 
as protection for their identity. Apparently there had been some problems 
with criminals in that area and the police felt it necessary to be 
unrecognizable. Yet at one stop, my driver greeted the gun-toting police 
like old friends and they kissed each other on the cheek, as is customary 
among friends here. All the Albanians I asked were happy about having the 
police out in the road like this, as they felt it created order in a country 
where anarchy has dominated in some areas. Sometimes the police fine drivers 
arbitrarily, as one driver told me he was fined 2000 lek, for driving with 
his headlights on during the day. His protest was met with the simple reply: 
"if you don't agree you can take it up with my supervisor" and of course, 
probably spend the rest of the day doing it.
I know there is bus service throughout the country but I can't tell you much 
about it. I saw buses in every major town I visited, and I met Albanians who 
lived in places as distant as Fier, and Durres, who commute by bus to Tirana 
to work. Even more remote villages are serviced by local, smaller vans, 
although they appeared to only run once or twice a day. Taxis are common in 
every town, but again, I never had the opportunity to use one.

Tirana Airport:
I flew in on Alitalia, which I have found is an excellent airline. The 
airport is an experience if you are not used to visiting the simpler places 
of the world. Albania charges an entry fee based on the corresponding fee to 
enter your own country. Americans must pay $45; my Romanian friend paid 
nothing. The entry window becomes quite chaotic, and many people try to 
ignore the line. Everyone must pay $10 as an exit fee as you leave the 
country.
Getting your bags is even more chaotic, unless you are fortunate enough to 
speak some Albanian. The bags are brought into an area that is cordoned off 
by ropes, and you must identify your bag to the men standing inside this 
area so they can bring it to you. Unable to communicate well, I resorted to 
stepping over the barricade and grabbing one bag at a time, each time being 
hastily chased out as soon as I was noticed. The baggage claim area is 
inside a restricted area, so if you are being met at the airport, your party 
may or may not be allowed to meet you there. More than likely, anyone 
waiting for you will be outside the building. It takes about an hour to 
drive from the airport to downtown Tirane.

Tirane:
It's a fairly large city, that I enjoyed, but didn't really spend much time 
exploring. The main square is the site of an impressive statue of 
Skanderbeg, who is famous for defending Albania from the Turks in the 
1400's. His castle is found in the town of Kruja, in the mountains to the 
north of Tirane. I walked around the square, visiting the bazaar in the 
narrow streets to the southwest of the square. Everything household good you 
can imagine is for sale here, unless you want to buy commercial souvenirs. 
This is the market for the locals, and even finding souvenir t-shirts (which 
few Albanians wear) is difficult. All I could find to buy were postcards, 
which were half the price charged by my hotel shop.
The Rogner Hotel:
I stayed at the Rogner while in Tirane. This Austrian hotel is probably the 
best in town, and charges $200 per night. Meals are equally expensive, but 
excellent, and the chef's specialty is Thai food. The room price includes 
breakfast which is a wonderful buffet with a huge variety of meats, breads, 
pastry, fresh fruit, antipasto, cereals, and fresh sheep yogurt. The hotel 
was full of United Nations soldiers most of the times I was there, wearing 
uniforms from all over the world. At first this was disconcerting, not 
realizing that they were mostly beaureaucratic types.
I will add that the cost of this hotel seemed almost offensive to me. I was 
told by my Albanian friends that the average salary in Albania is about $100 
per month. The idea that the Rogner could charge twice this amount for one 
night, seemed very inequitable. I was able to eat entire meals for less than 
$2 in Tirane, at kiosks on the street, while the Rogner easily charged me 
$30 to $40 for dinner.
There is an excellent French restaurant located in the same building as the 
Swedish Embassy, about one block east of the Palace of Culture on Rruga Jul 
Variboba (not that I saw any street signs).
There is a huge park to the south of the Rogner, south of the main square 
which has several excellent restaurants in it. I'm told this park used to be 
full of kiosks and buildings that were built illegally, but recently they 
were all removed and torn down. Land ownership isn't a completely 
established concept in Albania, and so many businesses have located 
themselves on what may be government land. I was never quite sure who was 
right about this, as I suspect the Albanians also wonder.

The American Embassy:
God help you if you need help from the American embassy. We had reason to 
visit it, and discovered the well-armed Albanian guards surrounding the 
fenced building at the end of a barricaded road, spoke no English. Since we 
could not produce a letter to show we had an appointment, we were not 
allowed near anyone who could speak English. The embassy does not answer the 
phone, instead you will only get a busy signal. We finally got the attention 
of an English speaking guard and after several hours waiting got into the 
compound. The moral to the story: Don't count on the embassy if you get in 
trouble. You're on your own. (And if you're Albanian trying to get an 
American visa, I can only apologize)

Promenade:
On of the most delightful customs I found in Albania was the evening 
promenade. Everyone in the town, including cities as large as Tirane, puts 
on nice clothes and goes to the town square, or main street, strolling along 
visiting with everyone they see. This lasts from early evening until dark. 
Teenage girls are dressed in their most attractive clothes obviously hoping 
to impress the boys, while elderly men and women visit with each other, and 
married couples walk hand in hand pushing strollers or walking with their 
children. It is a family, community affair, that takes place every day. In 
Berat they even close several streets for promenade.

Durres:
Durres is the beach resort destination of most of the city of Tirana on 
weekends. The beaches are white sand, wide, and many kilometers long. 
Restaurants and bars line the beach, and on weekends the parts of the beach 
I could see looked quite crowded. Albanians are fairly modest at the beach- 
you won't see any topless women or thong bikinis.

Fier:
In Fier I stayed at the Hotel Fieri (phone 06422394) which was US$40 per 
night for a single. The accomodations were good, although I won't recommend 
the restaurant. Instead, there is a restaurant down the street towards the 
square that is below street level under another hotel. Sorry, I don't know 
the name. This restaurant is built to resemble a cave, using beautiful 
travertine rock from the north of Albania. The walls and ceiling are made of 
rock, with stalagtite like shapes hanging from the ceilings. The food was 
excellent and the prices moderate.
Because Fier is the heart of the oil industry in Albania, with oil fields to 
the east and south, it sometimes has a telltale smell of oil and hydrogen 
sulfide. The oil industry here uses outdated technology and has little or no 
environmental control, but this is a major resource for this country. Oil 
derricks usually are left standing whenever a well is drilled, so many areas 
are dotted with these rusting towers.

Vlore:
Vlore was one of my favorite towns. The sea coast is beautiful here, and 
Vlore is both a harbor and beach town. The road from Fier to Vlore is lined 
with old olive trees and Vlore impressed me as a more cosmopolitan town. We 
stayed at a new hotel, the International Hotel, being among the first guests 
to stay ever stay here. It is located next to the beach, and is next to the 
area where promenade took place each night. The rooms were very nice. The 
hotel is owned by an Albanian couple who returned from Germany after many 
years to build this business. The owner speaks english. As yet, the hotel 
only has a coffee shop, but there are several excellent restaurants within 
walking distance.

To be continued:
Forgive me- I'm going to continue work on this later. I will cover the 
following:
Sarande
Llogara
Berat
Tepelene
Gjirokaster
Permet
Elbasan
Corovode
Kruja and Skanderbegs castle
Balsh
Mali Tomor


Type of Travel: Business Travel
Length of Visit: Month-long or more
Cost of Trip: Budget (less than $100/day)
Size of Your Group: Less than five
Best Suited For: Students
Time of Year You Went: Jun - Aug
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime

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