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Albania - Graeme Robin - Travel
Albania - Graeme Robin - Travel
We are a group of four. There is Phe (for Fiat) and Me of course, and also that delightful bird, Karen,
the female Australian voice on the GPS who guides us through all the lanes and streets and roads
and highways of the world - well not quite the whole world but certainly the maps of a big chunk
of Europe are in her stupendous memory. Then there is Compass - just that, a compass - and his
job is to fetch us out of trouble when Karen has a sleep, or the hot flushes or whatever. It’s a great
foursome and we have been through some terrific places together - and been lost a lot of times too.
Karen and Compass, Phe and Me.
Right now we are half way through our 2010 journey heading for the Middle East but not by an easy
route unfortunately. I thought there may have been a car ferry running from Tunis or from Sicily into
Egypt but no such luck. Then there was the bright idea of driving around the Mediterranean through
Libya which would be great - right to the border of Egypt.
But I need to have a visa.
While we were in Tunisia I found out that the Libyan Consulate at Sfax is the place to go, so I did,
and after sitting and waiting for three hours, and after writing them a letter (it had to be in Arabic-
but that’s another story) I was told to come back the following Monday! So we went and wandered
around Tunisia for another 5 days and returned the following Monday. The wait was not quite as long
this time - maybe two and a half hours - and then the bloke came out and told me I should come
back on Wednesday week! Not even next Wednesday but Wednesday week! I was pissed off! Very
pissed off!
How many times since then, have I thought about those bureaucrats at that Libyan consulate – the
ones who just delight in rattling the chains of us poor would-be visitors to their country. I can just
imagine when that bloke got home from work and his wife said “Have you had a good day dear?” and
he would burst out with
“Good day!, Good day!, I had a ripper! I told this old Aussie guy who had already waited a week for
his visa that he will have to come back in ten days time. Well he banged the desk, and yelled at me
and poor old Boris the security muscle almost pissed himself with pleasure at the sight of it. Then he
stomped out and slammed the door so hard the consul himself came down to join in the fun! This is
the best job in the world for me.”
And the wife replied, “I hope he isn’t a friend of Colonel Gadaffi dear – they reckon he has one or
two friends in Australia”.
So we packed it in and drove back to the east coast of Italy and a ferry across the Adriatic to Albania.
We will have a good look at Albania then exit for a quick, straight, long, drive across Greece and
Turkey to Iran. I have been told that Iran is a pretty country that is well worth visiting. So that’s the
plan at the moment.
Albania - North into the mountains and then to the capital Tirane
Saturday 11th September 2010
What a mess I made out of this day. We started off well before nine o’clock and didn’t finish until
seven. We went over one strip of road four times and another twice! Maybe I should take more care!
The idea was to head east from Koprik into the mountains to the town of Theth, but I didn’t know
how far we would get because from down here at ant level these mountains look to be pretty damn
big! It started well as there were road signs to direct us towards Theth, way up in the hills – well there
were road signs for a start, but not far along a road without lines we came to a fork - and no sign!
Compass reckoned the right fork was the one, so that’s the one we took.
I stopped at this ‘bar restaurant’ hoping for some breakfast – at eleven o’clock - asked for a coffee and
went through the whole rigmarole of milk, and latte, and the actions of milking a m-o-o-o-o-o, and
finished up getting a tiny cup of espresso and half a glass of cold milk. A good try but I would have
preferred something a bit closer to the mark. It’s not working well this coffee thing. Maybe I should
try for a cup of tea! Then I rubbed my belly and put three fingers and a thumb to my mouth and
he eventually lifted the lid on one of the big pots simmering on his fire. I said “Soup?” and he said ‘no
soup’ but I don’t think he meant it was not soup but rather that it won’t be ready for another two
hours at one o’clock. He held two fingers up and looked at the clock on the wall. I didn’t get to look
in the other two pots.
Into Albania
Sunday 12th September 2010
It’s Sunday again, and I don’t know whether Albania is Catholic or Moslem or maybe Orthodox given
it’s proximity to Greece and earlier association with Russia for all of those years. There are a number
of mosques and I hear the call to prayers from time to time, but similarly there are Catholic churches
and this morning as I was getting ready to leave a comfortable hotel in Puke, many family groups were
walking up the hill past the hotel and I presume to a nine o’clock service. Mum, Dad and the kids all
together is certainly not Islamic, that’s for sure - men yes, but not women and kids – so my guessing is
that it was a Catholic church that they were going to.
I found out that back in the days of Enver Hoxha who dictated this country through all manner of
Communist regimes for nigh on fifty years, there was a determined effort to get rid of religion out of
the country and many places of worship of all creeds were destroyed.
The top was about 800 metres and it would have been a magnificent view from up here on top of
these mountains if it wasn’t for the mist which was so dense I could barely distinguish the mountains
from the sky. Back in Tirana I was wondering if it was the dust because the dust in that city was
something terrible, thick on the side of the road and blown up into the air with every passing vehicle
especially a truck or a bus. But no dust out here just this foggy mist. I don’t know where it comes
from.
There are two ladies in traditional dress picking what looked like flowers - and this was up near the
800 metre mark. I don’t know what they were picking but when I waved to the lady nearest the road
and she waved back, I noticed her hands were black from the harvesting work she was doing.
So maybe it isn’t mist at all but just good old fashioned industrial pollution – we are looking at the city
of Elbasan.
Down in the city I have never ever come across pollution as bad as this. The air is thick. I would hate
to bring kids up in this environment. Found a Tourist Info office in Elbasan, One bloke had some
English and seemed to be well informed. He confirmed that we should follow the coast down south
and then suggested a way north again rather than go into Greece. Thoughts for the future. I left there
but didn’t think to ask about what the Elbasan factories were producing to cause all of this pollution.
Stupid!
They showed me where their private toilet was, which was nice of them, but unfortunately it was the
dreaded squat – so I gave that a miss – but the ladies was just next door and was vacant so I thought
I would use that instead, but it was a squat too. I just cannot handle the squat, so I will have to hold
on!
This looks to be a nice looking town despite the air. School is back after the summer break so there
are kids everywhere. It’s around one thirty and I guess they work the same system as the other states
around this part of Europe with a morning and an afternoon shift at school with the changeover after
midday.
I just can’t believe where the money comes from. There is a bloke in front of me with the latest,
biggest, BMW convertible – that would have cost an arm and a leg. And all of the Mercs. Just because
they are so common in Albania doesn’t reduce their cost one iota so it beats me that there are so
many apparently wealthy people in what has to be regarded as a poor country.
1:30: This is country living as compared with city living. Here it is subsistence living with a block of land
sufficient to provide you and your family with day to day everything.
There are floodlights for some of the buildings at night, they close the main boulevard off to traffic at
seven for the locals and visitors to stroll in the warm, balmy, evening air. Its a lovely town and displays
this municipal will that has gone out of it’s way to develop a town – just lovely.
Albania - The south, the mountains and the sea, then over the border into Greece
Wednesday 15th September
Today we will have to run back over our tracks for a short distance to pick up another yellow road
towards Fier where I would like to visit Apollonia, just 10km the other side, and then we will continue
south picking up the coast around Vlore and maybe a bed at Himare.
The first police road block of the morning – the bloke pulls me up and then doesn’t know what to
say, so signs me to turn my lights on! He can’t speak English but I got the message and did as I was
told, salute, and move on. I have noticed that drivers in the country areas have their lights on but not
so in the city. A good idea and I must do my part.
Once we leave the red road and turn left onto the yellow one towards Fier we are running through
some wonderful country and villages and are really in the nitty gritty of Albania. It’s a great drive this
morning sunny day with not a cloud and no wind - it’s going to be warm I think - but dust on the
road everywhere and every large truck has a billowing stream following it. It’s a road without lines,
uneven and wobbly and with a few potholes. But it is carrying a fair bit of traffic. There are cars and
motorbikes, the small van-buses – lots of them - some semi-trailers and a lot of trucks carrying gravel
and sand – quarry material. These trucks are uncovered and I guess that is where all of the bloody
dust is coming from. Its strange that I haven’t noticed any taxis – the little yellow minis that were so
prolific in Tunisia.
We drove straight through the city of Fier for another 10 kms to the ‘Ancient City of Apollonia.’
where I wandered around for an hour or so. There were half a dozen cars and a small tour bus of
15 people but that was all – a big site all but deserted. I loved the small chapel where I watched as a
candle for B burnt to the base. It was quiet and I was alone with our candle and my memories of our
life together. I don’t really know if my memories are as sharp as they were – I hope they are!
There are a lot of small one-man businesses in Albania, a mechanic, welders making ornate steel gates,
lots of people selling produce on the side of the road, cafes with coffee, water, beer and soft-drink
in the fridge (but no food other than a bag of chips) and they have tables and chairs, a number of
stonemasons or maybe a stage earlier than the stonemason as these blokes are breaking down huge
blocks of marble and granite into slabs one inch thick and polished on one face. Barbers, butchers,
internet shops, and then there is that word “Lavazho”.
It is the car-wash and for 300 lets the kid – and that’s what they often are, just young fellas - will spend
the best part of an hour vacuuming and cleaning inside and washing outside. They do a good job
and it is very good value. Phe had a good going over back in Tirane and it’s now a matter of ‘Who’s a
pretty girl now?’ Maybe these young blokes are working for a wage like Edo of 50 lets a day but if it is
their own business they could do well in this dusty environment. The car-wash bloke has to buy a high
pressure system – mostly K’A’rcher – and a vacuum cleaner and I guess he need access to electricity
and water. So rent would be a factor.
Many times they are just out in the open but many have quite a nice looking canvas shelter with sign
writing and all. Sometimes it is attached to a petrol station. It is a way many young men are getting an
income. And with all of this dust there is no shortage of work. Then, don’t forget the car wreckers –
there are a zillion of them and I have spotted a couple of very late model Mercs being driven away
from the yards late in the evening at knock off time.
Maybe because we are getting a bit further south, but today is the first day I have seen olive groves
since we arrived in Albania. And the trees are planted close together as in Greece and Crete, not with
miles of space in between that I found so strange in Tunisia. And some grapes too which are being
picked at the moment - the black ones anyway.
At Vlore I found the taxis alright – heaps of late model Mercs (what else?) - all lined up in a row at
a taxi rank waiting for customers coming to them – not out on the road trolling like the little fellas
squirting around all over the place in Tunisia.
I have mentioned the Mediterranean mist on a number of occasions when it was so very difficult to
make out the horizon, but in this instance the scenery has been badly marred in the foreground with
litter. We are 1000 metres above sea level so it didn’t just get here by accident, it didn’t blow up from
the city – it has been dumped here. Bloody disgusting. This is a magical view – stunning – a couple
of cows behind the camera with their bells ringing which just seemed to add to the quiet, and the
solitude, just all so perfectly still and peaceful.
Six km before Himare there is a rubbish tip – which I guess is the towns rubbish tip, and just opposite
the tip there are these humpies with people living there and it is like another rubbish tip. No matter
what your standards this would have to be something less than a perfect way of living.
Exactly the opposite was the small Himare hotel with our bed for the night. For 2000 lets there was
a balcony and doors that opened onto the Mediterranean Sea. It was a warm night and it was great
hearing the gentle lapping of the small waves as they turned over on to the beach.
We only passed 4 or 5 cars over those thirty odd kms and they were all going very slow like we were
because the potholes were frequent and ferocious, but the road never got to the point of being like
the first day up north trying to make it to Theth, so I was able to hang in there and not disappoint
my best mate north of the equator. Actually we came to a junction and I found that there had been
two ways to come and we had chosen the difficult one. The other would have been a straightforward
drive on a good road. Anyway – them’s the breaks, but we did it and we feel better for it, don’t we
Phe!
It was just a short drive to the city of Gjirokaster where I had intended to spend the night but when
we got there I saw that enormous castle up on the hill with a wall right around it and decided I didn’t
really want to see the inside of another castle wall with it’s meandering streets with trinket sellers
and icon sellers and the like, so I did a bit of thinking about how best to handle the next stage of this
journey of ours. I think we have seen about as much as we are going to see of Albania and it’s about
time we departed.