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After getting vaxxed I was stoked to get back out and be a tourist again. I'm super lucky that I have a remote job and my boss is chill with me working from anywhere as long as I'm on PST hours(which was bad but not that bad). I booked this ticket back when Europe was closed but when I arrived the EU was kinda open but closed to Albania so I couldn't go to anywhere without flying out of Albania. I went solo, not knowing anyone here. Itinerary: May 21st-June 20th: LAX-FRA-TIA TIA-FRA-LAX Usually I would never stay in one country for a month but I didn't really have a choice so I just went with it. I spent 3 weeks in Sarandė in one Airbnb while I worked, then I took a week off work and explored the north of Albania. I had a friend who had a high end bike travel bag and he suggested I use it to bring my bike, I never planned on doing this but after looking at Lufthansa's baggage regulations it looked like I could get away with it for free as long as I kept the bag under 23kg/50lbs, so I went for it. Right on the money at LAX:  I spent 1 night in Tirana before jumping on the bus the next morning to Sarandė. Tirana was super cute and so nice to see so much life on the streets. Tirana checks all the boxes I need in a city: Good bike culture, great coffee culture all surrounded by beautiful mountains:  I never travel with luggage this large so it was kinda a bitch to drag the bike around but all the taxi and bus guys were very nice about making it work:  After a 6 hour bus ride we made it to my new home in Sarandė:  I was really scared of extra baggage fees with my bike so I went as lean as I could, super basic with my tools and accessories. When I went to build my bike up I realized I forgot 2 of my stem bolts and my rear disc rotor was bent significantly. In Tirana there are a ton of bike shops but down in Sarande they are few and far between. I got really lucky and found an auto shop with some bike stuff and got my 2 needed bolts. After a couple days of truing my disc rotor with my multitool I was able to make it work. loving stressful. South view from Lekursi Castle, Corfu in the background:  I had to work PST time which in Albania was like 5pm-2am. Some nights I would be up to 3am-4am local time on calls. The good part was I had the days to enjoy myself in Sarandė, the bad part was staying up super late and loving my sleep schedule up. Exploring some gravel:  Once I got my bearings I went out a little further during the weekends, rode up to the Blue Eye:   Then rode down to Kasmil and Butrint National Park   The beaches in Kasmil are all like private beach clubs but god drat they were really nice:  During the week I would usually wake up late, get some Byrek & coffee then go read at the beach. I would go up to the castles (Old Monastery of Forty Saints Saranda & Lekursi Castle) to stretch my legs. View of Sarande from Old Monastery of Forty Saints Saranda  The last weekend I was in Sarandė I rode to Gjirokastėr and stayed a night there. I took the longer way thru Delvinė and the gravel road. Quite an adventure. In the Mountains:  Gjirokastėr was really cool. The castle was my favorite I visited in Albania, the town is super cute and touristy.    I took the paved road back to Sarandė, the climb over the mountain pass almost felt worse than the other way because of the narrow roads, lovely drivers who pass on blind curves and the brutal head winds. After 3 weeks in Sarandė it was time to go back to Tirana. I booked another Airbnb in Tirana until my flight so I had somewhere to store my bike. I broke it down and put it back in the bag. Skanderbeg Square, the old and the new:  Loved all the street art in Tirana:    I took a day trip to Durres, which was chill but compared it Sarandė it was eh.  My last move was to go up to Shkodėr as this is the bike capital of the Albania and I had to go hang out. I stayed at a hostel, rented a bike, rode around the lake and got wasted with a bunch of Europeans. My mighty Montana:  Shkoder Lake:  Shkoder life, elderly people on bikes. I love it!  Then I flew back to the USA, Albania is a cool place and I would love to go back, especially down to Sarande again. Everything is really cheap, fantastic coffee is plentiful and the landscape is amazing. Maybe next time I rent a luxury German car instead of bringing my bike but we will see. Casual Yogurt fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jul 4, 2021 |
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Jul 4, 2021 23:05
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Neat! Albania is pretty much a black hole of tourism as far as I've ever heard about it (nothing). How was it getting by with, presumably, not speaking Albanian?
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Jul 5, 2021 10:09
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Saladman posted:Neat! Albania is pretty much a black hole of tourism as far as I've ever heard about it (nothing). How was it getting by with, presumably, not speaking Albanian? There is a good amount of tourist infrastructure in Albania, it is still underdeveloped but it was not bad. I saw other international tourists lurking around Tirana and Sarande. Cash is king, they will take Euro and USD along with local Lek but I don't think I saw once place that took cards. There was a bit of a language barrier, sometimes there would be a young person around to help translate, sometimes we would have to get the calculator out to facilitate the transaction. Vibes were chill and everyone friendly but also had that post-communism coldness similar to other East Euro countries. The House of Leaves museum in Tirana does a really good job of showing the history of the citizens being spied upon during the communist times, explains why things the way they are.
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Jul 6, 2021 04:47
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