Challenge Day 104 = Albania

104. Vacation: Write about a vacation you took.

Leaving Budva Montenegro (image above), we caught an early bus to Albania and although it was supposed to be a 4.75 hour trip, it instead took 6 hours. We had no Albanian money so we couldn’t pay cash plus the rest stops didn’t take credit so we were very hungry during that trip. Our room was small but pleasant and I was most happy that we wouldn’t be changing rooms until we left Tirana.

Tirana

DH2 had a conference so I had days to wander and explore. There weren’t many tourist sights in the capitol city of Tirana. My first stop was the Reja “The Cloud”, an odd structure that appeared to be made from pvc tubes and plexiglass.

After a walk through Skanderbeg Square and observing the Skanderbeg Statue, I wandered to see the architecture, churches, and cityscape.

DH2 had a day off so we took the Dajti Ekspres “Cable Car” to the highest point overlooking the city. At the top, there was a mini-golf course, complete with a Hoxha bunker.

In the afternoon, did a Bunk’art tour which reconstructs the history of the Albanian Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1912 to 1991. This was a little too much war for me. We took the walking tour with a native guide who shared the history and consequences of war, communism, and new capitalism.

On my last full day wandering on my own, I walked to the Rinea Park, Grand Park and its Teatri Pinoku. Walking home I was so exhausted I sat in a terraced bar and had a beer.

Berat

After renting a car, we drove to Berat, far into the interior of the country. We hiked up to the Castle, ate some weird fruit I’ve never seen and don’t know the name of, and enjoyed the sweeping views of the valley.

The next morning before we traveled back to Tirana for our flight out, we wandered the hills crammed full of stacked Ottoman houses.

This was an amazing trip even if DH2 calls it the “North Korea of Europe.”