Day 25-28: Albania

We entered Albania at 7 o’clock in the morning. Ben wanted to hit the road as fast as possible. The first kilometres showed us a really beautiful landscape: huge mountains, rough cliffs and lakes in the valleys. 50km before Tirana, we stopped o split up. Ben wanted to rush through Albania and Greece to have more time for Turkey. And my priorities were just the other way round.

I drove up in the north to Teth National Park. The road got worse when I left the highway but in the Nation Park, they build brand new serpentines. Up on the pass, the road ended and a gravel path with rough stones continued. 

Compared to Bosnia, this was way more difficult. 16km took me more than an hour, but it was fun. The great view on the mountains compensated for the exhausting drive. Finally I arrived in Teth. The town is really small. Pigs and sheeps ran free along the road and it felt like time stands still in this peaceful valley. 

When I tried to drive a little further, the road ended in a mass of rocks. It looked like the river just expanded its bed as wide as the valley. 

I returned to the rough road and made my way to arrive in Tirana. My timing was perfect: 5PM, rush hour. The driving discipline got way worse. On each crossroad and each entrance to a roundabout, a police officer was needed to organise the chaos. Fortunately, I made it into the city centre without an accident. It took me only 2 hours :D

Tirana is a pretty modern city. In the evening, many bars and cafes are illuminated in all colours to gather attention. At daytime, the wide roads and alleys are quite impressive. And the number of building sites too… they build new buildings everywhere.

Leaving Tirana was way easier and faster. The highways are for free and in good shape. I visited Appolonia, an old Greek and Roman city at sunset. 

In the dark, I drove to Vlore. It is a really rich and modern city. In summer, there are a lot of tourists in the countless number of apartment buildings but in December, I could hardly find an open sea food restaurant. At “Ristorante San Giorgio Al Porto”, I found a place with delicious fish and good wine.

After a night near a pier, I followed the coastal road. The hills south of Vlore are a beautiful contrast to the caribbean-like cyan blue water. And they hide some wasted bunkers which are quite spooky. 

Finally, I arrived at Gjipe Beach, a unique place: A deep canyon leads from the mountains to the sea, opening for a beautiful beach enclosed by cliffs. And the temperature was even warm enough to jump in the sea on my completely private beach! 

 

I believed that you could only reach the beach by foot but got proofed wrong when I arrived. A big truck stood in the canyon and I found a “path” wide enough to drive. Following the path was already difficult by foot. It was way worse than Bosnia and Teth National Park. The rocks showed scratches of bottomed cars. Up on the hill, I found a wrecked Land Cruiser, rotting as a silent warning. Stupid me thought I should give it a try:

In 30 minutes, I made the 3km down to the beach. With all the happiness and adrenalin rush, I wanted to get the best spot as parking place… and digged in my car at the beach. This made me miss the sunset while I tried to bring my car back on solid ground. 

I found a small hut, alike Robinson-Crusoe-style with drinking water next to it. Behind the hut was a garden with many citrus fruits and olive trees. Ienjoyed my personal paradise for one evening. 

In the morning, I left the canyon and drove south to the Greece border. Before leaving Albania, I spend my last Albanian Leks on a car wash: 400Lek~3€. That’s pretty fair for vacuuming, prewash with water, shampoo, cleaning with water and rubbing dry by hand :)

All in all, Albania was a great adventure. In the future, the beautiful nature here will most likely make me return to these places.

Day 19-24: Kosovo

Wow... Kosovo. Actually, i just planned to visit 1-2 days. In the end, I stayed a week :D Entering Kosovo was easier than expected. No extensive control, we just needed to show our passports and buy a car insurance.

Ben's friend Ilir organised a motel in Peja. Actually it was a petrol station but with motel, restaurant/bar and supermarket. The owners, a Kosovan couple from Switzerland cared lovely for us.

Following their advise, we discovered "Rugova" valley, a huge canyon formed by the "Lumbardhi i Pejes", a cyan blue river. Once more, the road was a wonderful gathering of tunnels and curves crossing rough rocks along the river.

After Peja, we drove to Mitrovica. The city was no remarkable beauty but a symbol for the deep rift in the Kosovan society. Flowing through the city, the river "Ibar" also divides Albanian Kosovars from Serbians. Both sides of the city live on their own. The connecting bridges are secured by KFOR-troops.

Luckily, we met Floriana, a Canadian, who just moved to Kosovo again. She showed us Mitrovica and even accompanied us to Pristina. Pristina is quiet modern and we arrived at the national holiday of the albanian independence.

Donald Trump even reached Kosovo. On the right side: Floriana

Thanks to our tour guide, we visited two great cafes nearby the governmental building: "Dit' e Nat" (Day and night) and "Soma's"

Dit' e Nat'

The famous table of SOMA's

We stayed some days in Pristina because I needed to get a new radio. Finally, we left the city with a new radio and new friends. I met Ardian and Oscar in a hostel. Ardian wanted to show us his hometown Prizren. It is one of the older cities in Kosovo and the most beautiful for me.

Ardian, Oscar and Ben

We met two more travellers in Prizren: Beatrice and Kathrin, both from Switzerland drove through the Balkan states for three weeks. We had a great evening with great fun and some "Appenzeller" too.

Day 16-18: Montenegro

Montenegro, the country of the "black mountains" was a huge experience. We entered Montenegro in the late evening after our Maglic-Trip in Bosnia. The Border Patrol officer was really nice. "Your first time in Montenegro?" - "Yes" - "I hope you like it, welcome.". Even the streets were welcoming us... Bosnia's streets ended with a 3,5m wide pavement and 1m of gravel on both sides of the road to sidestep, if cars of the opposite direction appear. Montenegro had a proper road with enough pavement for two-way traffic and an unbelievable number of short tunnels blown into the rocks.

We stopped in the first village to stay for the night.

The new day greeted with a great view. We found our selves in a valley surrounded by mountains. We followed the road along "Pivsko Jezero", a lake surrounded by cliffs.

Right before "Pluzine", we took the road to Durmitor National Park. The panoramic road was an epic adventure. As soon as you leave the valley, you feel like in another world. Suddenly, it is quiet, only a soft breeze of wind.There are wide grasslands in the beginning. Later, rough mountains appeared with bizarre formations. The road has only 17km but we spend more than 4 hours driving slowly and enjoying this beautiful landscape.

In the afternoon, we became friends with a Swiss Montenegrin we met in a restaurant. Vlatko was super friendly and open. He invited us to the restaurant of his mother in Berane for the next day. Spending the night in a cheap hotel in Zabljak, the winter sport centre of Montenegro, we decided to follow the invitation. The way through a large valley was nice. Only trash alongside the streets is disturbing, but its quite common in the Balkans.

Berane is a smaller city but we were overwhelmed by the welcome in the restaurant of Vltakos mother. Her restaurant "dwa jelena" (two deers) was just about to be reopened. She was a known cook in Montenegro and she was even cooking for Tito in former times.

The evening was a orgy. We started with a spirit "Slivovitz", followed of a plate with bacon sausages and cheese, accompanied with salad and pickles. Afterwards, we had Polenta, cabbage rolls, a delicious fish soup until we arrived at the main dish: Meat with one of the best baked potatoes i ever had. All this was finished with a Turkish coffee and a wonderful apple  strudel. I haven't eaten that much since years. Thank you so much, I will never forget this hospitality. Sorrily, i have no more picture of the family :(

Starter

Right before the main dishes appeared... The starters still remain on the table, if you should get hungry :)

We planned to leave for Kosovo in the morning. When we arrived at the border patrol station, we learnt that this border is closed. In exchange, we had a funny conversation with the friendly officers of the border patrol.

Still, we had to return and take a different border station to enter Kosovo but i will remember Montenegro as a great country. Thanks a lot!