Shkodra, Albania

After a rain-soaked night in the town of Ulcinj (the streets were literally turned into rivers) we left Montenegro bright and early for the Albanian city of Shkoder.  Albania. Wow.  Definitely an eye opener.  Far different from its European counterparts, our first look at Albania revealed a much poorer, much dirtier country desperately trying to shake the remains of communism and the turmoil of the 1990’s.  Upon arrival, it was quite clear that travelling through Albania was going to require a bit more creativity.  With little in the way of tourist development, Shkoder had no friendly tourist information office to direct our inquiries to and no free maps of the city.  The bus pulled up to the central traffic circle (no bus station) and we disembarked.  Thanks to our “bible” (the lonely planet) we knew of a near-by hotel wakjfsoii.  Whoa! Sorry, we are riding this crazy bus through the mountains of

Albania and our seat just broke!  Literally pitched over backwards spilling us into the aisle!  No joke!  Jebus! See picture for proof!!! Anyways, where were we.  Oh, wait, now the man beside us is puking in a bag.  The roads are quite windy and bumpy here and the buses offer courtesy barf bags as you get on.  At first we were not sure why they were handing out these blue plastic bags but it soon became apparent.  O.k., back to Shkodra.  Our first obstacle was crossing the road.  Sounds simple, but in Albania this can prove a very difficult and very dangerous task.  A German fellow we met described traffic in Albania best.  There are two traffic rules to follow:  1.  Do what you want and 2.  Pray that it works!  The traffic circle we had to cross was comprised of three, sometimes four (and occasionally five when impatient drivers wanted to skip traffic) lanes of traffic, which seemed to be able to switch lanes at a whim.  Unsure of how to proceed we first watched the locals as they bravely waded out into traffic in what can only be described as a human game of frogger.  (For those of you unfamiliar with that ancient arcade game you can google it or ask a child of the 80’s).  After a couple of close calls we managed to negotiate our way through the torrent and find the hotel.  The hotel staff were very friendly and very helpful.  In fact, as we would soon find out, all Albanians are very friendly and very helpful.  What Albania lacks in organized tourist information they make up for in a people ready and willing to help travelers out on their journey.  If you ask an Albanian where something is he or she will not try and tell you but take time out of his or her day to show you, sometimes walking you a kilometer out of his or her way!  Through the hotel we were able to organize a trip to Theth departing at 7:00am the next day.  We found a place to stay and spent the remainder of the day touring the city and visiting the castle, Rozafa fortress.  The castle is of great importance to the people of Albania.  The castle itself has been largely restored but many original buildings still stand.  The walk home for the castle turned into a mad dash as we raced to avoid the rain, and rain it did!  Buckets!  Another day of rivers in the streets.  After a scrumptious traditional Albanian meal we retired for the night to get up early for our trip to Theth.