shkoder,  albania

September 11, 2019 
          This is going to be a rather short section because we only spent one day in Albania. Our guide picked us up at 9am after our usual mediocre breakfast, and we headed for the border. The border was interesting. The line we were in didn't have many cars at all, but moved extremely slow. The border agents did let a few cars cut around us because those people knew someone that worked for customs. Even though our guide also "knew someone", he wasn't working today and so we waited nearly an hour to get through.

Our initial thought was that this was going to be a breeze since the line was so short.

We were wondering the same as the guy that's outside his car, "What the hell is taking SO long?!"

After crossing the border, we headed to a viewpoint to take some pictures.

The winding road we took up to the viewpoint.

        On our drive, we learned several things about Albania. For a long time, it was a very closed country.  A paranoid dictator closed the borders after WWII for approximately 40 years. He built 173,000 bunkers throughout Albania. Because the people were very poor, many of them tried to escape. Smuggling people out of Albania across Skadar Lake was a lucrative business. The countryside was definitely a mixed bag. We saw some modern homes and other buildings, but most of what we saw showed that it is still a developing country.

However, the roads were far better than most roads we see in the US.

             After the viewpoint, we continued on to Shkoder. Shkoder turned out to be dirty and chaotic. In many ways, it seemed similar to Hanoi. Our guide explained to us that there are basically no rules at all on the road. The people on bicycles would just dart across several lanes of traffic. We actually almost hit the same woman twice. Once when she cut in front of us and then again about 15 minutes later when we had turned around to try to find parking. She was completely unfazed to her near death both times.

It was impossible to capture how haphazardly the bicyclists rode through the streets. This woman was probably the best example I have. She just decided to cut in front of us. It was as if they're all catatonic robots that just blindly ride wherever.

      We couldn't find any parking, so we decided to go up to Rozafa castle. The castle sits high above the town and dates to BC times. 

​             When we drove back to the city center, it wasn't as crazy. So we were able to find parking and then walk to the restaurant that was recommended to us. We walked past many loose dirty dogs, scraggly cats, and tons of stinking garbage. Albania was the antithesis of Slovenia when it came to trash. The sidewalks and alleys were full of fetid, rotting garbage. Of the four countries we visited, three are listed as a developing country (not Slovenia). But Albania was definitely the least developed of those three.

Was thrilled to find a regular toilet rather than a squat toilet even if I had to pay one euro.

​          We walked a long ways to get to the restaurant. Thankfully, it was at a hotel that accepted euros so we didn't have to convert to Albanian Leks. The cost for pizza, spaghetti, and three sodas/waters? Less than $10. So super cheap. Our guide told us that many people come from Montenegro to shop for clothing, shoes, even wedding dresses because it's so inexpensive. But then you "have to know someone" to get over the border without paying taxes (I put that in quotation marks because we heard that phrase so often).

        We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Shkoder. There were some nicer areas and I did get some interesting photos.

I'm assuming that this is another abandoned communist era monument?

However, this monument is about the despair of communism (and next 2 photos).

Dr. Freddy Krueger can work on your teeth.

You'll see many statues dedicated to Mother Teresa since she was from Albania.

We were surprised to see the US flag in many places. The US and Albania have had a friendly relationship (pre-Trump) and many Albanians work in the US. Along with the US flag here were the flags of Rozafa Castle, Albania, and the European Union.

Until we googled this... I had no idea that some pigeons had a genetic variation and were born with feathered feet.

             Unfortunately, the lines at the border into Montenegro were very long. It took us well over an hour and we almost got to see an altercation. Apparently, motorcycles just drive to the front of the line. Well one guy had had enough. He got out of his car and went up to the three motorcycle drivers and started yelling at them. Then he went back to his car and floored it around several other cars to cut off the motorcycles. I told our guide that in the US that may have resulted in a road rage incident and someone ends up being shot dead. Our guide was quite shocked to find out that many people in the US own guns and that many carry them with them - like in cars, churches, stores, etc. In Montenegro, you can only have a gun with a license to hunt, and even then it can only be certain animals at certain times of the year. I've found that people that live outside the US are pretty shocked about our obsession/addiction to guns.
           Thank You, Universe... I am so grateful to have spent this day in Albania!

So thankful we weren't traveling in this van!