Albania - Discovering the unexpected
Adventure 20-09-2024
Welcome to Albania. Or should I say Shqipëri?
What’s that?
Dont get scared, you probably won’t understand the language, but it’s not so far from English, or Spanish…or…
You can expect an interesting mix in this post. That’s right - Albania is in the Balcans:
Well, by looking at that gallery, you can already tell this has some cool history.
Exploring Tirana
From Tirana Airport to the center, you can take a taxi for ~30 eur, or a bus (Luna buses are ~4eur per person and shuttle from the airport parking).
But, that’s not all
You can see how the modern is mixed with Albanian traditions across the country (and Tirana’s center)
Bunkers in Tirana
Bunkart at ~9eur per person (and totally worth it)
Recent Albanian Story
Trust me, BRO
There are signatures of the trust me bro times everywhere.
The plan. And what’s good for you.
Like you can see in this Yugoslavian car.
A car, literally, from a country that does not exists anymore (maybe the one The Simpsons mentioned?).
I found an interesting spot behind the first line of houses. A bunker? Not this time. It was a machine gun spot, pointing to the beach.
Quite interesting that i have seen such places in Spain (Almeria) - but those were built by the nationalist party.
Different recipe, same result?
Or is it just the same recipe?
The grab my drink bro recipe , ill show you how to do the thing (your live is a prisoner thought, hope you enjoy it)
Had the people building this know about the opportunity cost, would have they spent time building it?
This contrast with a story from a friend’s coworker in Switzerland - She joined as an engineer to a company to design diesel injectors and she quited inmediately when she found it that they will be ensembled into tanks.
Does it makes sense what we are about to do?
From school we are taught that whatever is asked, you have to answer - Converging Logic
Yet in real life, we have to be the creators of the questions and if presented with one to ask: is that even a problem? Do i want to provide an action to that?
Thats definitely not the path that the people who built and operated these kind of facilities made.
Wouldnt the world be a better place if we started to challenge what others tell us we have an urge to resolve?
Food in Albania
Fortunately, it’s not only darkness.
Bledi, the Ottos Caffe owner, was very kind and invited us for this fantastic breakfast
You can also find such delicious cake in Turkey.
Exploring the Turquoise Coast by Bike
A Journey Through Turkish Riviera by bycicle Fethiye and Oludeniz Valley.
Adventure 01-09-2021
This drink is called Salep, apparently like in Iran…
Another example of how great ideas are spreaded in distant places of the world.
Bad ones? We are just forced to use them.
In fact, the food is a great example of cross collaboration.
Its passed and improved on every generation.
You use it if you like it, you can tweak it and make something ever better.
Or just different.
More recommendations? The Kos Fshatce ice cream I tried in Tirana was fantastic.
More Albanian History
The Archaeological Museum of Apolonia
Near Vlorë, you can find a very interesting place.
The entrance costs ~6eur and you can just pay in cash. Yet totally worth it.
What’s in there? Well, some history from the people who lived on this part of the world in the first millenium BC.
As I said, this people was in contact with Greece…
My Conclusions about Albania
- It impressed me how many people are smoking (it is still permitted in bars)
- You better have cash (euro works as well)
- Paying with card is the exception, not the norm
- Union bank 650 LEK fix price whatever you withdraw
- In others, you might find that to withdraw 50k, you will pay 5.5k LEK as comission ~10%
- There is quite a lot of italian influence (you will see many made in Italy)
- The olive oil is quite expensive though, never saw the price per liter this high, ever.
- Yet taxis are yellow (like it Turkey)
- I saw some German (speaking) bikepackers, but would not recommend sharing the road with cars (while you are on a bike).
- I guess this means i will do the route to Athens through the danube (serbia romania) hoping that it will be better!
- Expect the unexpected in Albanian roads
- Roads and German? I almost forgot, you will see a lot of mercedes cars in this country. The ratio is impressing.
- In 10 days I heard no russian at all - quite interesting if you think that this country had a comunist regime implemented until not so long ago.
- In fact it seems that there were never really close to RU even though they had similar systems at a time.
- Who can this be possible? Why wouldnt they join forces agains the capitalist enemies?
- You can estimate your costs at ~100 eur/day
- Dont be scared of the outside part of buildings, your accomodation will probably be renovated
- Drink bottled water, I didnt follow the rule and it did not work.
FAQ
- I’ve used Airalo esim and we can both get 3$ discount if you use my referal:
JESUS4593 - You can also buy vodafone sims in the airport, more gb (that you probably wont use) and more price ~29 eur
What do I bring for Bike Packing Trips?
My Checklist before going to any adventure. ''To do's and to bring's''.
