1/12-3/12
We drove back to the main road and back to Kotor. It’s a lovely old town that was built between the 12th and 14th century and is protected inside a 4 km long city wall that climbs up to the fortress of Saint Ivan. We did part of the walk towards the fort and stopped at the church to take panoramic photos of Kotor and cuddle with the cats.
After having some food we drove of and found a wonderful spot on the beach. We’re not sure if is a campsite in high season or if it’s always abandoned but we really enjoyed it! Mike went for a run and I did yoga on the beach. We had our first bbq here and Mike even had his first swim.
We made a short trip to the capital Podgorica. We didn’t really like it so instead we drove outside town and stayed at a nice spot. Tomorrow we’re going to Albania!
4/12-5/12
Wow, what a wonderful first impression! We are now in Albania and everything feels great! We have been here a very short time but already we feel that the people are friendly, helpful and smiling!
The roads are more interesting, now there are horses and carts, donkeys, cows, motorbikes with way to much load, bikes going the wrong direction on the road.
The food is lovely and the meal we had at restaurant Sofra was delicious. We asked the waiter what he would recommend, he said Tave dheu (ricotta & beef made in the oven), potatoes made in the oven and a really nice salad and everything was fantastic!
We’re staying in Shkoder, which is one of the oldest cities in Europe, at camping Legjenda which is in front of Rozafa castle and very close to Shkodra (Skadar) lake, half of the lake is on the Montenegro side. When we arrived we could not wish for a more friendly welcome!
Today we took our bikes and cycled into town. We bought a sim card for internet since we can’t roam here and sometimes it’s nice to have internet… They really think about the tourists here and have made different tourist packages for internet.
Our friends, Sanna and Jan told us that there are MANY Mercedes cars here and so far we can only agree
The waiter from yesterday told us about a vegetable market that we went to and it was just so nice to feel the atmosphere and see all the smiling people! We bought some vegetables white cheese and espresso coffee and just enjoyed the time there.
We went around the city for a while and then decided to go to Rozafa castle before going back to Snigel.
According to the legend it was three brothers that built the castle but they couldn’t keep the walls from collapsing every night. They asked a wise man and he said that they had to put one of their wives inside the foundation to keep it up!!?? It was the youngest brothers wife Rozafa that they buried in the wall. She accepted on the conditions that her right breast, hand and foot was exposed so that she could feed her newborn son, caress him with her hand and rock his cradle with her foot.
It was a really nice view from up there and it was nice to walk around the castle.
After this we went back to Snigel and Mike made a very good salad with everything we bought today.
Tomorrow we’re heading down to the beach.
6/12-7/12
We ended up staying at the parking to restaurant Brilant that is in the Patoku lagoon. We took our bikes and explored the area a bit before we went for dinner at the restaurant. We ordered fish, salad and Albanian bread. It was really tasty.
After staying one night we drove towards Durrës. We found a very nice beach called Plazhi San Pietro where we could park at beach bar Chelsea. It was only us and a very friendly, non english speaking, security guard there. Like we have said before, people here in Albania are very friendly and welcoming, so when he pointed to where he stood, saying coffee and showing 10 minutes with his hands, we thought he invited us for coffee. After about 10 min we went to where he sat but no one was there, we waited for a bit but then Mike saw that his moped was gone…. Apparently he was just telling us that he would be away for about 10 minutes drinking coffee somewhere… Ha, ha, not always easy to understand each other… We had a really nice evening and enjoyed the sunset looking over the sea
8/12-11/12
We’re now in Tirana, the capital of Albania. We found a parking very close to the center and went for a walk. It was raining on and off but it was still nice to walk around. We went to an area called Blloku where most bars and restaurants are. We wanted to find a bar called Bunker 1944, it’s an old bunker that is now turned into a bar. When we found it they hadn’t opened yet so we went to another bar called Izzy living. It was a really funky place with good lounge music and they had made a very nice outdoor area. Even though it rained we could sit outside under the heaters and enjoy our beer. After some grilled lamb at restaurant Era we went back to Bunker 1944, but they were still closed. Instead we went back to Izzy living before we decided to take a proper Saturday night out in Tirana. We ended up at a club called Lollipop. It was overcrowded and not easy to find a place to dance. But if you know us at all, you know we created a small dance floor for ourselves. We had a lot of fun and didn’t come back to Snigel until 5.30 in the morning…
The day after we had a bit of a sleep in and then took our bikes to do some sightseeing in the city. We went to see the pyramid that is in the center. It’s a big concrete building that opened in 1988 as a museum about the legacy of the albanian dictator Enver Hoxha. He ruled Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. It’s not a museum anymore, part of the building is now in use as broadcasting center for some radio stations but most of it is now abandoned, full of graffiti and looted for materials.
After this we went to Bunk’Art 2 which is a communist-era bunker and underground tunnel system below the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is 24 rooms, about 1000 m2, up to 2,4 meters thick reinforced concrete walls that was built to shelter elite police and interior ministry staff in case of a nuclear attack. It was never used. This is only one of the many military installations that the paranoid Enver Hoxha ordered to be build. There are about 700 000 bunkers all around in Albania, some are big and some are for 1-2 persons. The government built them to prepare the Albanians for attacks that never came. I read somewhere that the bunker average is 24 per square kilometer and you can literally see them everywhere around the country. Almost a quarter of the budget went to the military and much of it was spent to build the bunkers. Now Bunk’Art 2 is a museum that shows how the secret police, the Sigurimi, interrogated people that they thought were against the regime. It was horrible to see photos, videos and read about how they treated people.
Leaving Bunk’Art 2 we went for an espresso at Kafe Komiteti, it’s a bit like a museum where all the interior design and furnitures are inspired by the communist era in Albania.
Hungry for a pizza we took our bikes to Pizzeria Amantia Tirana and had the best one before we went back to Snigel!
Jan and Sanna had told us about a nice campsite outside of Durrës, so we left Tirana to try to find it. It wasn’t really that difficult, if we would have taken the right exit… We missed it and had to drive quite far to take the next exit that led us to a bumpy road towards the campsite. Finally there it was a nice place but it must be so much nicer in summertime. The sun was shining but it was windy so a bit cold.
We stayed for one night and then went to Durrës. We didn’t know where to park so we stopped just outside of the centre to try to find a good place on the map. When we drove off we couldn’t go the same way back and instead we ended up in a very narrow alley. I think we had about 1 centimeter on either side, but Mike managed to take us out from there without a scratch! We parked on the road that was next to the beach promenade and took our bikes around to see a bit of Durrës. We went to see what is left of Albania’s biggest amphitheatre. It was used for about 300 years and could have as many as 20 000 spectators. After a few hours at a small Spa with sauna and a pool we drove to a parking outside a restaurant at the beach where we had dinner and stayed for the night.
12/12-14/12
We really needed to do some laundry and found a campsite at the beach outside of Vlorë. We had nice weather and Mike did some fishing but didn’t catch anything but he still enjoyed it.
Clean clothes but no fish we drove back to Vlorë after two nights at camping Vlora. We had decided that it was a bit too cold in Albania and even if we love it here we wanted some warmer weather. So where can we get that?? The answer for us was Tunisia! From Vlorë there is a ferry to Italy and from Sicily there is a ferry to Tunisia. The plan was to take the ferry on Friday afternoon so we drove to the port to buy the tickets. We didn’t really expect it to be so busy and as soon as the people selling tickets saw us coming in our camper they started to try to sell us the tickets. We weren’t sure how much it should cost and for the first time in Albania we felt that they were trying to overcharge us.
Instead of buying tickets we drove to a parking and went back on foot to see if we could buy tickets for the day after from a travel agency. We found a place and asked the guy how much it would cost for us and our camper. He made a call and came back with almost the same price as the people trying to sell us the tickets before, 10€ different…. But, the Friday ferry already left, it was full on Saturday, the ferry doesn’t go on Sundays, but maybe we could get tickets for Monday. Instead of waiting until Monday we changed our plan and are now going to continue south in Albania. 🙂
Before we left the travel agency we asked him if he knew a good restaurant with traditional Albanian food. Of course he did and showed us a place across the street. We let the waiter choose for us and he came back with the most amazing stew! His english was very good and after finishing our meal Mike asked if he knew a tailor that could fix a new zipper in his jeans. Yes, he knew one and told us to come with him. We just walked around the corner and there was a lady sitting with her sewing machine, perfect. Since he seemed to know his place around town I tried my luck and asked if he also know somewhere where I could cut my hair. His friends mum was a hairdresser and worked around the next corner. When we came there it was closed but she lived just nearby and we all went to her place to see if she could help me. She was really friendly and of course she would come down and cut my hair! Before we left she offered us some chocolate, apparently when someone comes to visit, you give them something. We went back to her salon and without understanding each other I showed how much I wanted her to cut. She was really good! When she dried my hair she used a big brush and rolled my hair up, then she took the hairdryer and held it against the hair and pulled the brush down to make it straight.
When I was finished we went for a walk around town and then ended up at a bar for a while before going back home. What a wonderful day!
15/12-17/12
We left Vlorë after lunch and started on the winding road through Llogara National Park. It’s quite high up and there was even snow on the side of the road. The view was fantastic! We drove to Drymades beach and found a very nice parking right next to the sea. In summertime I’m sure it’s very busy here but now it was only us and a few dogs.
The plan was to go to Gjipe beach which is supposed to be very beautiful, somehow we missed the exit… well, well, another reason to come back to Albania.
We had a few stops on the way before we came to Himarë where we stayed for the night. We had bought some meat in one of the towns we stopped and made a BBQ on the beach. It was windy but we managed to make some shelter and grill the meat. For dessert we tried the Trilece, which is a sponge cake soaked in milk or cream and topped with a layer of caramel. It was very sweet. We went for a walk on the beach and found a bunker that was painted like a mushroom and around the corner, a bar/restaurant that was open.
We had a short stop in Sarandë before going to Ksamil beach. We drove to what was supposed to be a beach at the end of a road in Ksamil where we thought we could park. When we came to where the tarmac ended there were only sheep, cows and a dirt road. We took our bikes to see if we could find the beach but when we came to the end it was some kind of military base.. Instead we drove back in to town and found a perfect place to park. We had three different Burek (pastry filled with with meat, cheese or spinach) that we bought at a bakery in Sarandë.
18/12-20/12
We spent some lovely days here in Ksamil. Mike did some fishing, we went for walks around the area, did some BBQs and just relaxed. We got one dog after just a few minutes and a second a few hours later. They went with us when we did the shopping at the supermarket, went for a walk, when we did the BBQ, when Mike was fishing and slept nearby Snigel the whole time we stayed there.
After the first night when we were having breakfast we saw a lady standing up on the road and pointing at herself and down to where we were parked. I went up to try to talk to her but she didn’t speak a word of english, unless ”Euro” counts… I thought that she meant that it was her land that we had parked on and that she wanted some money from us, fair enough. It only took a few minutes and then a helpful guy from a nearby hotel came and translated. She told him that if we give her 10€ we could stay as long as we wanted. Obviously she didn’t know how long we sometimes stay in one place 🙂
One evening we were a bit bored and tried to find an open restaurant. Almost everything was closed for the season and the ones that were open mostly had the families that owned it having dinner.
We managed to find the local pub and decided to go in there for a beer. It ended up being a wonderful evening with a lot of very friendly locals that invited us for Raki and some very tasty sausages.
We don’t think the solar panels are charging as much as they should so Mike went up on the roof to have a look. Everything seems fine and we think it’s just because the sun is so low and we have a PWM charger. Our mission now is to try to find a MPPT charger. If you know about solar panels you know this is the better one.
21/12-23/12
We were sad to leave this beautiful country but now it’s time to go to Greece. We definitely want to come back to Albania and really recommend everyone to go here. The people are so friendly and helpful, it’s a beautiful country where you find perfect places to hike in the mountains and relax on the beach and everything in between! The food is good, the beer is good, the wine is good and the prices are good. I would say that Albania is the country of smiling people and it’s a wonderful place to spend a lot of time in!
After going through the custom check out from Albania and in to Greece we didn’t drive very far. We found a great place just outside Igoumenitsa where it’s a tongue of land going out in the water and has a lagoon on the other side. There was a campsite there and we really needed to do some cleaning, laundry, and charge the batteries for the living area since the panels are not giving enough power. The campsite itself was not that nice and very dirty to be honest, but the beach was fantastic! We stayed for three nights and had a good time relaxing on the beach, running, doing yoga, fishing and reading. The weather was really nice and the location was wonderful.
Mike had seen a nice spot further down the beach where we could bush camp so we took our bikes to have another look. It was perfect and tomorrow we’ll move there!
24/12-1/1
On Christmas morning we drove a few km to where our new home would be. For us it was a great spot because we could park safely on the tarmac (we don’t want to get stuck in the sand) and still have the sandy beach just outside the door!
The day before, we went in to Igoumenitsa and bought some nice meat that we put on the BBQ in the evening. It was raining a little bit but we took out the awning so it was ok to sit outside anyway. Merry Christmas!
There was an Estonian woman, Outi, and her two dogs that also stayed on the beach. She had been there a few weeks before and just came back from a trip the same day as we arrived. The time before, she had stayed here for about two weeks and she didn’t have any plans to move soon. I totally understand her, it’s a beautiful place to live!
Every day between 1-24th of December we have made a beer review to Sasha and Sabine. We felt a bit sad on the 24th because that was the last one, so we made an extension to the beer calendar and it now goes to the 31st instead of 24th.
One day we took our bikes and went in to Igoumenitsa to try to find a MPPT charger. We had seen some solar places on the map but they had all been closed during the Christmas holidays. The first one didn’t have any but sent us to another store that might have one. They didn’t… This kept happening in every store we came to and after a while we gave up and went for some nice Gyros instead. Igoumenitsa is a very nice town, there were lots of people out on the streets, cafés and restaurants which was nice and gave the town a good vibe.
On New years eve we did BBQ ribs and had a small party on our own in Snigel. Happy New year!
We’ve been really lucky with the weather while we stayed here on the beach. We have played beach volleyball, Mike has done some fishing, I’ve done yoga, we have BBQ a lot and we even got our own dog, Vovven (Doggy in Swedish). This dog was so nice, in the beginning he was a bit scared and didn’t really dare to come close. After a while he got more brave and understood that we were good people. He was quite skinny but looked healthy and after a few days with dog food and a lot of cuddle he seemed very happy! During our stay there was a Greek woman that came in her car a few times and gave food to dogs along the beach. She was happy that we took care of Vovven for a while and we understood she will continue after we leave.
This is deffinitly a beach to come back to!
