THE LONG AND THE SHORT- Albania travel details

......read about our time in Berat and Gjirokaster in Albania in our previous blog post.......

Sun going down from our Sarande apartment, Albania

We've added this small additional blog post with a few more details about some of the practical parts of travelling in Albania, for anyone that's interested............

Our main means of long distance transport in Albania was buses, mostly the smaller type of bus known as furgon. These were not exactly spacious, but fine for trips of a few hours. The drivers were blissfully careful and safe, we never felt in danger of lives (unlike in most countries we visit!!). Generally we found the furgon prices fair. In bigger places, local city buses around towns were cheap, frequent and comfortable. The rate was set at 30 or 40 lek/£0.22 or 0.30 a trip (depending on the town), which seemed a very sensible system. Another note about Albania transport- the popularity of bicycles in Tirana. There were many special bike lanes, and if pedestrians were not extremely vigilant about walking in the correct lane, they could be wiped off the path by the many insane riders!

An idea of our trail through Albania

An Albanian furgon

Compared to South East Asia, accommodation was expensive for us in Albania. But, of course, there was also a completely different level of comfort. That's not to say it's what we needed or wanted, only that's all that was available. It was slightly cheaper than Serbia. Prices also depended on where we were within Albania. Apparently, prices on the coast skyrocket during July and August, but even in September and October, they were higher than elsewhere in the country, and we had to search a little bit for the best bargain. The exception to this was our luxurious apartment in Sarande that we rented for one month, and as a result had a much more reasonable price. Overall, accommodation prices varied between 1500 lek/£10 in off-season Ksamil to 2400 lek/£17 in very limited and expensive Himare. Mostly we paid something like 1800 lek/£13. 

A very typical Albanian room, with a small kitchen, bathroom and balcony (and sexy legs!)

Albanian food was typically Mediterranean with salty cheeses, simple salads, fish, olives, yogurt, stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, lots of dishes with beans, eggplant, potatoes and slow cooked meat. Turkish, Greek and Italian influences were seen in dishes such as souvlaki and kofta, pizza and pasta. During our stay we were able to try a few national dishes of Albania, including fasuli (white bean casserole/soup), pastice (a kind of quiche with pasta inside) and fergese (baked dish with lamb and vegetables). Fun fact- Albanians are the fourth biggest eater of onions in the world! 

Turkish influenced gyros meal

Never seen that flavour before!

Lunch special in Vlore

Pastice and a kind of tiny pasta with chicken

We think this was fergese verore, an eggplant dish

A common bean dish,  fasuli

Baklava and similar deserts were popular in Albania, but normally these are not to our tastes, we find them too sickly sweet. 

Super sweet baklava

We were happy with the affordable food prices in Albania. A few examples- olives were 300 lek/£2 a kilo, giant juicy peaches 130 lek/£1 a kilo and a killer cappuccino was 100 lek/£0.73. Drinks menus were inevitably priced as follows- soft drinks the most expensive, followed by bottled water, then beer and cheapest of all, raki!!

Fruits that were in season during our three month visit included peaches, melons, figs, plums and grapes, and later on pears, apples and citrus. Travelling around, we noticed the many fruit trees in people's back gardens, most noticeably grape vines, but also oranges, persimmons, pomegranate, apples, figs and SO many others. It was fantastic to see a culture that valued home grown produce.

Albania had the strongest coffee culture we have ever come across, and some of the strongest coffee too! Cafes were literally every few steps in Tirana and Sarande, and even small places had more than their fair share. Albania has, in fact, the highest number of cafes per capita in the world. Love that!!! One local told us the story of his visiting Germany and being appalled at what passed for coffee there!

Our local cafe in Sarande, Albania

Raki was deliciously fruity and easy to drink, and we often partook in an afternoon sip (or three!). We quickly learnt to look for the cafe/bar where the local older men were sitting, and this was unfailably the best and cheapest option for a drink. Common varieties were grape, mulberry and plum, and the 50 lek/£0.35 price tag for an always generous shot was very welcome!! Mostly we were lucky enough to be offered the far superior home made stuff- it is a strong tradition for Albanians to make their own booze. Muslim beliefs didn't seem to interfere with the pleasure of drinking alcohol.

One quirky thing we noticed whilst travelling around was an affinity for naming things after American leaders. George W Bush street in Tirana was near the statue of Thomas Woodrow Wilson, who apparently helped defend Albania from Italian occupation (obviously not successfully!). Hilary Clinton's bust was a somewhat strange attraction in a park in Sarande- that's a phrase I never thought would be uttered in a blog post of ours! As this is not a political log, we won't comment on what kind of bizarre reason there could be to idolize that woman!

Old Woody in Tirana, Albania

Old Hilary in Sarande, Albania

Even old Dubya gets a sign!

Albanian language was a bit of a challenge. The main reason for this is that is has no relation to any other language in the world. It therefore meant learning new words and really starting from scratch! All signage etc is in Latin languages, which did make things more simple, although many letters are pronounced completely differently than they would be in English. As usual, a few words and phrases went a long way, and was appreciated by people, often bringing a large smile to faces. Sign language was still, however, our main means of communication.

We were impressed with how the rubbish was handled in both Serbia and Albania. Large skips were placed in every road, and people simply took their own trash out and dumped it in the bins. Sometimes this included large items such as furniture. More disadvantaged people in society then came along and rifled through the rubbish finding recyclables and other items they could sell. Big trucks came around to collect the rubbish once a week or so. We're not making comment on the state of poverty in these countries, only that the system works well for rubbish removal.

Overall, we were very impressed with Albania, and although it may not have been our first choice for a travel destination, we really loved our time there. So much so, it will be definitely on our itinerary for future travels. The gorgeous beaches and coastline, combined with an interesting culture and plenty of ruined castles for us to ramble through was very appealing. It's fantastic weather was a huge draw- wearing T-shirts and shorts at the beginning of December seemed amazing for somewhere in Europe! But perhaps for us, the relaxed way of the Albanian people had us most charmed. It was the perfect destination for the current climate. Next up we'll hibernating for winter in Serbia- that should be interesting!! Stay tuned!