Day 17 was a lot of doing not a lot again. We had a long transfer from Montenegro to Albania and then we saw just a little bit of Tirana before we were off to Berat where we spent the night. Impressions of the day are 1. driver are bad in both Montenegro and Albania (but Albania is worse) and 2. Albania is a little different than the rest of Europe. It was pretty so far and I am glad we came, but it does seem to be like 40 years behind other parts of Europe that we visited. Also I didn't know much about their history, but it seems awful. And now pictures of the day
Breakfast was again in the Hostel. I forgot to take a picture until we were almost done, but breakfast was good thanks to the bakery breakfast pies
Zach waiting outside the hostel for the ride to leave. We waited on a couple that was trying to get euros before heading into Greece
And finally in the transport. It was a van that thankfully had 8 seats for 5 people. We had the couple from Australia/New Zealand by way of France and a girl up front who is starting Yale medical school in the fall
Leaving Montengro. This was the longest boarder crossing ever especially since there was like 10 cars ahead of us. It took like over an hour to get through and it was another van that the driver refused to turn on the ac.
We aren't in the EU anymore! The Albanian countryside reminded me of a cross between India and Europe. There were horses and all sorts of other animals next to and sometimes on the road.
We got to Tirana over an hour late. At this point it was 2:30 and we hadn't had lunch yet. Luckily our guide George from Albania Trips brought us to this great little restaurant where we had some traditional dishes including kabobs.
After lunch we had about an hour tour of Tirana. Mostly the city is a little ugly but it does have some old buildings and signs of new life. This here is something we saw a lot in Albania. It is a bunker from the dictatorship time. Albania had a very bad comunist government that was at first with the Russians and then the Chinese and finally nobody. The dictator was paranoid and built a bunch of the bunkers all over the place. Our guide said the metal in them is worth about 5000 euro.
Government building on the main square. This mural was from communist time although it is a pretty good looking part on an ugly building
The mosque on the main square. This mosque is older and very beautiful inside and out. After the mosque visit we hopped back in the car for the 2 hour drive to Berat.
Our room at the Mangalemi Hotel. This place was amazing right in the center of the old city great bed, great views and great service plus not very expensive
After checkin we had a beer on the terrace with our guide
The white city of city of a thousand windows at sunset. This is the view from the Muslim part to the Orthodox part (although they are now a little mixed)
Donkey in the middle of town
We walked the main parts of town for a while and then had dinner at the hotel restaurant. This view was great, the food was great. We had a bottle of wine, a salad, 2 entrees and 2 desserts for $15 and this was the most expensive place to eat in town
Baklava for dessert.
After dinner we were off to bed. Tomorrow our guide shows us parts of Albania before we end up in Ohrid Macedonia.
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