Up around 8 for breakfast. It wasn’t up to much but luckily they later brought out cake for someone’s birthday and I partook of that. I also got an egg from an Australian who didn’t want it, and a snack from the shop. I bought bread and made some salami sandwiches for the trip.
I set off around 10:30 and found myself weaving my way through the back streets of the capital which backs straight on to farms and mountains. Here the deprivation was more obvious. I saw trash piled on the sides of the road and people picking through it. But soon I was out into the countryside and weaving along the bottom of hills. It was relatively flat here, and indeed all day, for which I was grateful.
I passed a couple of nice rivers, and by 12 I found myself approaching the Albanian border.
Country 11: Albania
I was stamped out of Montenegro but when I reached the Albanian checkpoint I was waved through without even having my passport checked. Hopefully that doesn’t cause problems later. Just inside Albania was a Vodaphone stand complete with attractive girls inviting customers in. I ignored them, but then stopped, tempted by the data. A guy in a café sold it to me and I spent 23 euros on a sim card with far too much data (40GB). Ah well.
I was off into Albania at last. I followed a river for a while then stopped in a small town by a memorial and ate my sandwiches. It was nice. It seems that most of Northern Albania is small towns and farms crowding around a series of main roads running north to south between rows of hills. Since I was following beeline’s navigation today it kept taking me along a main road then along obscure side roads which devolved into dirt tracks and footpaths.
After several failed ventures I decided to just follow the main roads into town. I arrived at 16:30. Just as I got to the hostel the town got nice. I checked in, showered, put some stuff on charge, then got chatting to some people in one of the common areas. They eventually dispersed and I went off to a spar to by some snacks. There I bumped into Nancy (a mancunian) and Gabriel (a Frenchman who was full of endless crazy stories). They were going for food and I joined.
Eventually, on the main strip, we found a spot. We ordered some meatballs, fried cheese and bread to share, and veg too, which was the best part. Later the Australians from the foyer turned up and joined ordering their own food, including an olive salad that was 90% olives. The other two, an English couple also arrived and we chatted and drank for a while. The two couples went off to ask about a hike. Me, Nancy and Gabriel wondered for a bit then returned to the hostel. Gabriel and I played pool. I won when he potted the white and black at the same time.
After we joined the Australian couple and played cards and chatted for a bit. It was a really nice, really chill evening. We exchanged travel stories – Gabriel shared a third hand one about a crocodile attack, and I took a great photo of a kitten at our card table. I put it on my story and got lots of likes. I went to bed at half 10 and slept well.
Hozzászólások