Category Archives: By Country – Albania

On leaving Albania

When I was back in the UK for a wedding last July, I looked in Stanford’s (London’s travel bookshop) for the guidebooks and maps we would need for onward travels. Not the easiest thing when you’re not exactly sure where … Continue reading

Posted in By Country - Albania, Personal stuff, Travel stuff, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Another chapter closes

After our couple of days in the mountains near Theth, our appetites were whetted for a last taste of the Accursed Mountains. There’s another road on the map, north of the Theth road, which curls along the Montenegrin border towards … Continue reading

Posted in Art & Culture stuff, By Country - Albania, By Country - Montenegro, Officialdom stuff, Travel stuff, Van stuff | 2 Comments

The mythical road to Thethi

Sometimes when a thing proves difficult to do or is in the end totally unattainable you yearn for it even more. So it was with Thethi, reputedly one of the most scenic of Albania’s remote settlements set in a deep … Continue reading

Posted in By Country - Albania, Personal stuff, Travel stuff, Van stuff, Wildlife stuff | 1 Comment

Komani Ferry

Our guidebook says that the Komani ferry is “one of the world’s great boat trips, right up there with Norway’s Hurtigrut”. With a recommendation like that, you can’t possibly miss it, can you? Yet it looked for a while like … Continue reading

Posted in By Country - Albania, Travel stuff, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Nearing the north

Kruja was the first bit of proper full-on tourist industry we’ve really come across in Albania. Apart from the nearby hotel which advertised camping (sauna and pool included – but migawd, you were paying for ’em!), we were guided into … Continue reading

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City break Tirana

Leaving Durrës I thought I’d selected a good route that would take us to the camping place in the suburb just south of Tirana centre, without us having to tackle the city’s notorious traffic on a Friday afternoon, and without … Continue reading

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Albania again

Our short tour around Macedonia almost over, we headed south from Tetovo towards Lake Ohrid, to cross back to Albania. The route took us through the Mavrovo National Park, meaning that, whilst we’d not spent much time in the country, … Continue reading

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An ongoing Balkan border post

As we did for the entry to Tunisia, we’ll be giving a handy how-we-did (promising nothing as generic as a “how-to”) for the borders we encounter. This post will be updated after each one – hopefully, with good news of … Continue reading

Posted in By Country - Albania, By Country - Bosnia, By Country - Croatia, By Country - Macedonia, By Country - Montenegro, Officialdom stuff | 4 Comments

Something fishy

As we entered Korça, our first impressions were less than enthusiastic. It seemed to have very few redeeming features indeed – certainly not the road surface… We found somewhere to park, conveniently right by the (modern but beautiful) Orthodox Cathedral, … Continue reading

Posted in Art & Culture stuff, By Country - Albania, By Country - Macedonia, Food stuff, Officialdom stuff, Travel stuff, Van stuff, Wildlife stuff | 1 Comment

Into the heart of the land of the two headed eagle – the road to Korça

We left Gjirokaster under leaden skies wondering if we’d ever get to see Albania fully sunny. Our first stop as we drove north was Tepelene, home of Ali Pasha who ruled southern Albania and much of mainland Greece in the … Continue reading

Posted in Art & Culture stuff, By Country - Albania, Food stuff, Officialdom stuff, Travel stuff, Wildlife stuff | 3 Comments