Albania by Road – Orikum to Skhroda and back to Tirana
We picked the hire car up the night before so we could set off early the following morning, given we were looking at a gruelling 6.5 hour drive plus the sightseeing time of course. The car itself was a oldish Skoda with 211K km´s on the clock, which became apparent as soon as I (David of course) put my foot down once we were out of the city limits, on a dual-carriageway on our way to Durres, some 85km´s up the road, as black smoke was visible coming out of the exhaust. I subsequently found out from the lady I hired it from that this was due to the poor quality of diesel in Albania, but I had my doubts.
We had a lot of preconceived ideas about Albania, but we are happy to say that whilst from a sailing perspective, they certainly weren´t set-up for yachts, the people were friendly, approachable and whilst being a generally muslim country, you didn´t get the feeling that there was any edge to the place, even after the recent communist rule that they were under.
Our general views were, firstly, you need cash, if your planning on using credit / debit cards, forget it, hotels, car hire, fuel, restaurants et al, were strictly cash only, which required a few trips to the ATM as a result. The prices in Albania were generally higher than we expected, but it compared to Greece, evidently the exchange rate a little while ago was 140 Lek to a Euro, but now it was 100 to 1. The drivers, apart from Tirana, were considerate and patient, which surprised me. English wasn`t widely spoken, but again enough to get by on, given our limited Albanian !
Our first, albeit brief stop was in Durres, a port city, known for its huge Roman amphitheater, Venetian Tower and expansive beach on the Adriatic
Durres
Durres Amphitheatre & Tower
Durres Beach
Our next stop was Skhodra, and the drive had started well from Durres, but when we hit the A1, which was the main road from Tirana to Pristina in Montenegro, the road went to single lane and the traffic increased 10 fold, so it was a crawl for most of the way there. We did however note that there a lot of high end cars, Mercedes, Lamborghinis and Porsches, that mysteriously were all RHD and on UK plates, maybe an ingenious way of getting assets out and back home to other family or gang members.
Skhodra is one of Albania’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, with roughly 2,200 years of recorded history. It is surrounded by the waters of three rivers; the Drini, Buna, and Kiri with Roxafa Castle sitting above it.
Like all ancient works, the castle comes with a popular local legend. Rozafa was the name of the bride of the youngest of three brothers who originally built the castle. The three men worked tirelessly by day laying mortar and stone but the walls always crumbled overnight.
Consulting a wise man, they learned that to expel the evil attacking at their daily work and protect their friends and family with a strong castle that would last through the ages, one of their wives needed to be entombed within the walls. The brothers made a heart-wrenching pact not to alert their wives to this danger, and whoever brought her husband his noon meal the following day would be sacrificed. The elder brothers broke their word however, and it was Rozafa alone who came with food and become a living part of the walls so that the castle could be built.
Skhodra
Rozafa Castle and Views across the Wetlands
Sadly, given the time it took to get to Skhodra, we didn´t make it a further 15 km to the infamous Mes Bridge, one of the oldest in Albania, so we will have to make do with an image pilfered from the internet!
Our Evening in Tirana!
The drive from Shkodra to Tirana, was similar to the long painful drive on the way up to Shkodra, that was until we approached Tirana from the north. Around 10km´s out from the centre of Tirana, it was akin to being transported into a scene from Wacky Races, suddenly all patience and compassion for other drivers disappeared, and I am sure the authorities just decided to give everyone a full license without taking a test. I needed eyes in the back and side of my head to avoid collisions with, well almost everybody! We took what we believed to be the main artery into Tirana, only to end up driving through construction sites galore, It was plain to see that this place will not look the same in another 5 years, as I guess the criminals only route to laundering money through their ill gotten gains, is to put it into funding massive building projects.
Finally we were close to the hotel we were booked into, but after driving round the same roads 4 times, could we find it. We had to resort to phoning our contact, explaining where we were so he could come to meet us and show us the way… Actually we were right the first time, but hadn´t spotted the hotel sign that was behind a tree! Still we were there, the hotel turned out to be a single floor in a block with only 8 rooms. But the manager was very helpful and pointed us in the direction to a traditional Albanian restaurant some 10 minutes walk away, which proved to be a great choice.
We had a highly entertaining evening, even if the food wasn’t great, but the music and dancing kept us highly amused. Still the chairs really were worse than Greek ones, if that is possible and even after acquiring a couple of cushions to soften them, we were ready to say goodnight at 11, head back to the hotel and grab some much needed shut eye, ready for tomorrows delights.
6th July 2023
