THE MAIN FEATURE – ALBANIA – DURESS (Day 19-20 covering 179km to 2,562km)

This post sees us leave Montenegro (Country 2) and enter Albania (Country 3) on this Balkan adventure of a lifetime in our new Skoda Fabia 1.2L 95 Petrol Manual hired from Europcar in Podgorica Montenegro for the next 18 days. We left our Peugot in Podgorica with Europcar since its insurance does not cover Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo but the Europcar is covered. We will go back there and pick it up.

 

Albania (Pop 2.85m) is twice the size of Montenegro and with Adriatic and Ionian coastlines and an interior crossed by the Albanian Alps. The country has many castles and archaeological sites. It was founded as a Kingdom in 1190AD and freed from the Ottomans in 1912 – the last to be freed in the Balkans. It is 57% Muslim (due to the Ottoman occupation) and 7% Orthodox (under the Serbian Patriarchate) with the rest Atheist – the first country in the Balkans to declare Atheism as a valid religion !!!

 

Our journey to Albania from Montenegro was full and eventful. We passed through several inland cities and towns in Albania before arriving into Duress, the official port and beach town close to the inland capital of Tirana on the Adriatic Coast. Niagara falls are low but roaring with water. Shkoder is terrible – crowded, street vendors everywhere just like in Africa and cars double parked on the roads. We quickly learned that bicycles and pedestrians have the right of way here – they are everywhere and just pop out at you !!! Rozafa Castle was the saving grace of Shkoder – intact and with views to kill !!! Our final stop in Lezhe was soothing – a colourful city tucked under a prominent hill with fortress on top.

 

Durres (Pop 320,151) dates back to 627BC founded by ancient Greek colonists from Corinth. They left and left nothing but when the Romans first occupied it in the first century AD, they left several excavated relics behind including an Amphitheatre, Baths, Turrets and Forum. Durres has terrific potential but not well kept. It has a naturally beautiful coastline on the Adriatic but many of the beaches are littered. During my 1.6km swim on the west side from Plazhi Currila I encountered an underwater botanical garden full of different coloured underwater plants that resemble a coral reef from the cliffs above it that Leo and I observed on our walk above the town.

 

My 95^th country run through Durres confirmed my initial impressions of Albania – a country under pressure where people live from day to day. I observed many beggars and simple folk trying to sell a dozen cucumbers or tomatoes or peppers on the side of the road. The ironic thing is that Albania wants to join the EU and adopt the Euro which would elevate prices given the very low value of the now currency of LEK which makes everything cheap here right now.

Enjoy our introduction to Albania…

PODGORICA TO DURRES:

SHKODER: 

LEZHE:

DURRES:

THIS IS WHAT A ONE AUD DOLLAR (USD 70 CENTS) COFFEE LOOKS LIKE:

FOOD IN ALBANIA is delicious. The classic dishes start with a soup called PACE or KASHA which is sheep meat in a broth of tomatoes and shredded potato. Later comes a goat's curd with boiled goats meat mixed with peas. The final are beef biftekia or sausages with potatoes in lemon. The last dish you will see is a bit of everything plus a stuffed pepper served with okra (yemisto). All these dishes plus a litre of beer cost us $30AUD... Bon Appetito !!!