Fascinating Country!

“You are going to Albania” shrieked our friends in Australia …”why on earth would you go there?” Murmuring that it had always been on our bucket list we replied that we couldn’t wait to see the country that had been shrouded in mystery for so much of our lives.

Well now we’ve had a week in Albania we can tell our friends what we experienced and why they should come. It is a fantastic country to visit! The weather in late August was perfect: blue skies, hours of sunshine and beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables everywhere we went.

The history of Albania is fascinating and the remnants of these earlier civilisations are scattered around the country. We flew into Tirana where we picked up our rental 4×4 from Elton at Albanian Trip and then drove off to Vlore, Sarander, Gjirokaster, Berat and Kruja. We had to keep pinching ourselves – we just couldn’t believe we were actually driving around Albania.

Everyone we met was friendly and some went out of their way to help us to find our hotel or to to give us directions to a poorly signed archeological site. (And yes, the signage is often very sparse.)

We picnicked along the way buying bread, cheese, lovely red tomatoes and juicy, golden peaches and nectarines to eat in the pine groves or by the magnificent ruins we visited. We stayed in lovely (and inexpensive) hotels and everywhere we went we were welcomed with warmth and generosity.

It was a unique experience and we loved every moment that we were there.