Since we haven't enjoyed enough bus rides yet, today will be mostly about moving to Albanian Shkoder.
Shkoder - Ebu Beker Mosque
We have to wake up early, the bus leaves at eight o'clock and it is a long way to get there. So we grab all our stuff and head out. At the bus station we see the same scene as two years ago, when we are forced to pay for the so called "tramp tickets" in addition to the tickets we have already bought. The lady at the ticket office makes me a bit uncomfortable when she asks my colleagues if they are counting us on the bus and if we can fit on it. Fortunately, so many people were counted on and two vans arrived. Ahead of us is a journey that will take three and a half hours. Of which, on the Macedonian side, it is about half an hour's drive. The border control on the Albanian side was funny. The driver collected the passports and took them to the customs office. Then he came back with the passports and off we went. No one checked to see if there was a corresponding person to a particular passport.
The boundary is at 1000 m above sea level and beyond it there is a descent using serpentines that offer nice views of the surrounding countryside. Up to Elbasan, it is reminiscent of Arizona, thanks to the ore-coloured soil. Another memorable moment was the bathroom break, where we stopped at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere and were immediately greeted by a begging boy as we ascended. I thought it was a nice welcome, but we didn't meet these prudes again after that except in Tirana.
Another culture shock came after entering Tirana. I have never seen such traffic chaos anywhere in Europe. However, we arrived at our destination and there was another failure. There are several bus stations in Tirana, two of which are the most important. One is international at Dritan Hoxha Street and the other is local, called Terminal Jug-Veri, and buses leave from it to most of Albania (but not everywhere). Then there is a third station, Terminal Juglindje (southeast), where buses leave for less important destinations such as Elbasan.
The International Station and the Jug-Veri Terminal are several kilometres apart. And that's where our problem came in. I had somewhat expected that something would run from International to Skhodera, but it didn't. And since I hadn't figured out ahead of time how to get to the other bus station, and we're out of EU, data and online information, we were a bit trapped. However, Albania is notable for, among other things, the fact that if you look like a tourist who is also confused, someone will immediately come over to help you. And it's not the kind of help known in tourist destinations, the goal is to stretch you as far as possible. Here, they will simply help you in a non-detectable way, because Albania is not yet a full-fledged tourist destination and the people here are not yet completely spoiled. Let's go back to the bus station. We're trying to figure out how to get to Skhodera when a young girl runs out of her office asking if we need help. We nod in agreement and say we need to get on the bus to Shkodera. She said, "No problem I can arrange a transfer to the other station, come and hide in my office in the meantime, it's air-conditioned".
Tirana - International Bus Station
Ten minutes later, the minibus that brought us here from Ohrid stopped at our place and dropped us off where we needed to go. However, there is a price to pay for stupidity, in my case unpreparedness, and everyone paid three Euros for the ride. You'll say it's not much, but on the way back we took the local public transport (lines L5/A, L5/B and lines on the Kamez-Tirane route) and the ticket cost about ten crowns. But what the heck, we're glad we're on the right bus. Now we have to find the right bus. Fortunately, it works here like everywhere in the East. You tell someone the name of the town and they will already point you in the right direction. But now there's another complication. We had no money to pay. Departure was in about half an hour and we hurriedly went with Janet to find an ATM in the nearby Casa Italia shopping centre to pay.
Tirana - Jug-Veri Bus Terminal
Tirana - Casa Italia
We were successful, the bus didn't miss us and we had another three hour bus ride ahead of us. The worst part of it was that we were in a traffic jam for half of the journey. It felt like the whole of Albania was one big traffic jam. Plus there aren't many highways, so you drive in a long snake of cars to your destination. But the biggest hell are the roundabouts, as soon as we got stuck somewhere, we knew there was a roundabout in front of us, where the locals don't know how to drive and drive in a who can go, who can go style, which leads to chaos and clogging of the roundabout.
Tirana - Jug-Veri Bus Terminal
Arrival in Shkoder
We arrive in Shkoder, already visibly tired. Here we get lost because we can't find our accommodation (Apartment Lika), which was not exactly marked on Booking. We find it too, though, and are greeted by a quite helpful, if a little strange, owner who tells me that I have indicated my expected arrival at two o'clock and it's four o'clock. I had no idea that someone was reading these expected arrivals. Nevertheless, he explained everything, gave us some tips on what to see in town and helpfully helped us set up our trip to the mountains. Here I would like to mention another observation from Albania. Everyone knows everyone here, and if you ask anyone anywhere that they need to arrange transport to Lake Komani, then need to arrange transport from the other end of the lake to Valbone, and then three days later a lift from Thetu, they will say "No problem" and you are all set. All you have to do is pay on the spot.
Once we have everything arranged, we finally head into town. At the nearest exchange office we exchange Euros for Albanian Lek and immediately go to spend part of it on dinner at a nearby restaurant. And we hit a really good one. It's called Peja Grill (Bulevardi Skënderbeu 70). The service was very helpful and the prices ridiculous. We're going to feast properly tonight. Janet and I ordered a selection of local sausages and pljeskavice with Chopped salad. To go with that we ordered a tower about three litres full of beer. The great thing was that with each dish, the waiter told us the story of which region that dish came from.
After a hearty meal we return to our accommodation and on the way we buy food for the following days in the mountains. We will also add a melon for the evening and some local moonshine.
We let dinner digest for a while and return to the centre. It is dominated by the Ebu Beker Mosque and the adjacent pedestrian zone Rruga Kol Idromeno. We wanted to take a group selfie here and a local immediately came over to take our picture. We expected to run after him with our stolen cell phones, but he took a picture and returned the phone. I had another incident with a local a little later when I was waiting for Janet who was taking some photos and in the meantime a lady came up to me and said I looked confused if I needed help. I just stare at her and say I'm fine, I'm just waiting for my girlfriend. We walk through the rest of the centre and by nightfall we are back at our accommodation.
Shkoder - Luigje Gurakuqi Memorial
Shkoder - Ebu Beker Mosque
Shkoder - Rruga Kol Idromeno
Shkoder - Ebu Beker Mosque
We still have to pack small backpacks with only the essentials needed for the next three days. We'll leave the rest of the stuff here. Tomorrow we'll sail on Lake Komani and move to Valbone.
Useful links:
Apartment Lika
Other accommodation in Shkoderu
Villa Jovan
Other accommodation in Ohrid
Bus Finder in the Balkans
