Balkan trip 14 - Albania

Today, after about fourteen days of our Balkan journey, we will finally take a dip in the sea again. From the mountains, we will cross to the seaside resort of Vlore.

Vlore - Rruga Murat Tërbaçi

We get up early in the morning. Breakfast is also included at this accommodation. But unlike in the mountains, here we are not treated to homemade products, but one oversized stuffed croissant and coffee or tea. Well, it didn't fill us up and rather upset our stomach, but better than a wire in the eye. After breakfast we grab our stuff and walk to the roundabout by the Ebu Beker Mosque where the intercity buses line up. On Mapy.cz it is marked exactly from which place which bus departs. Unfortunately I couldn't find a direct line to Vlore, so we have to go to Tirana and from there continue to Vlore. It's not many kilometres as the crow flies, but it's almost a full day's journey by local transport.

Tirana - Jug-Veri Bus Terminal

The journey to Tirana is as long and boring as the journey here. In Tirana, we find a bus to Vlore right away and fill the time until departure with a toilet and a snack at the buffet by the station. Unlike Shkodër, the road to Vlore is on the motorway all the way, and after the classic traffic jam in Tirana, we're delayed even more by the traffic jam in Durres. After that, it's smooth sailing all the way to Vlore. We are dropped off the bus at the train station, which is on Ruga Transbalkanika Avenue, which is also where our apartment for tonight is located. We left at 9am and arrived at our destination around 3pm. An Albanian who didn't speak a fart of English came to check us in, but he had the owner on the phone who explained everything in English. We got a pretty luxurious apartment on the eighth floor called The Place, overlooking the surrounding buildings, which don't look so luxurious anymore. However, the apartment shows some Albanian shenanigans, for example one of the two bathrooms was missing a shower hose.

Vlore - Apartman The Place

Vlore - Panorama

We are here for one night, so we don't get too comfortable and go straight to the beach. Vlore is one of the more famous resorts, but we've reached the beach for the locals. It was a cross between a beach and a landfill. You wonder where are we, and are these really the famous Albanian beaches? Even the skyline behind the beach, with the hyper-modern buildings on the Transbalkanica replaced by something more like a slum. But the sea was clear and warm. The beaches here are sandy. But, like the Baltic, you have to walk a long way from the beach before you find any depth. The advantage of this low depth is that you can lie on the bottom of the sea, keep your head above water and let the waves wash over you.

Vlore - City beach

We bathe for about an hour and then go for a walk on the nearby promenade that lines the Rruga Murat Tërbaçi road/street. As we leave the beach, I'm struck by the locals sunbathing at ease on the edge of the beach, with a pile of litter lying beside them.

Vlore

Rruga Murat Tërbaçi is in a different league. It's like moving from India to Los Angeles. A long boulevard with beaches, palm trees, bike paths, hotel resorts and restaurants. All nice and clean and modern.

Vlore - Rruga Murat Tërbaçi

We're hungry, so we pop into the nearest restaurant for dinner and it's obvious that this place will only be alive in the evening, because the restaurant is half empty, but the waiters are busy setting the tables. It's true that as we drove back in the evening, the restaurant was packed to bursting. Unfortunately, Albanian cuisine is not very prevalent here and instead the Italian one reigns supreme, so I have no choice but to have pizza again. The influence of Italian cuisine is a reference to the Albanian Gastarbeiters who worked in Italy, returned to their homeland and built restaurants here with the money they earned. Unfortunately, to the local detriment, with the Italian money came an Italian menu.

After dinner we walk to the end of the boulevard and on the way we manage to buy magnets and I buy a red T-shirt with Albania written on it. As the sun starts to set, the crowds start to arrive and the streets fill up with people, just like in Ohrid. This is a sign that it's time to slowly make our way back to our accommodation. On the way, we buy a melon and something for a late dinner and breakfast. That's the end of the day and we go to bed. Tomorrow we'll enjoy a bit more of Vlore and move on to Tirana in the afternoon.