Tirana, the Capital, Colourful, Captivating, Pedestrian Friendly
That's where huge numbers fly in on WizzAir, of the national carrier, Air Albania.
Others do a grand tour of adjacent countries, eg flying from New Zealand or Australia, taking in Croatia, and maybe other countries.
Very near our hotel, The Crown, was the castle, basically and stone arch gateway into a winding short alley of restaurants and souvenir and clothes shops. I bought two lace necklaces. Asking price 10 Euros each. I negotiated two for a total of 15 dollars. Our Crown hotel receptionist confirmed that you can bargain.
Theth - Remote, old Albania
I visited Theth in the north, a remote area for hiking. We had rain in June. You do expect that the gren trees on west coasts of mountains get rain, especially in Spring. But we have had good weather in Romania, Bulgaria, Madeira, Greece, and Greek Cyprus. Our hiking orgnizer was so diappointed in the weather he vetoed return trips hiking to any of the adjoining countries. I suggest that short hikes of a couple of hours are always possible. But those who want all day 6 hour hikes should check the weather for the week or month they are visiting over the last three or more years. In August it might be too hot. In June it might be too wet. In July fares ight be too high. Make columns until you find the coutnry, city, and so on.
The road north of Tirana to Theth has isolated car show rooms, unfinished buildings with ground floors only, and scaffolding, or two empty floors. Are they being built, abandoned because of the reession caused by Covid?
Theth Visits
The blue eye (lake). The waterfall. (You can walk along the riverside from 'The Bridge' where hikes start at the two restaurants with a fish farm canal around the three sides of one, and a small food and drink mini-market.
The huge white palace-like wedding event palaces pop up Disney-like. Big weddings are big, one hundred to five hundred people. One recption on the day, one the night before. One for the groom's family. One for the bride's family
Mountain Driving
Up in the mountains, I found the Z bends alarming. I liked the trees. Not arid like my memories of France and Spain in high summer.
Food and Flies
But still, flies landing on your food plates. They should have folding net plate covers.
Packing Success
We packed two pairs of poles each. Bought on other trips. Or camping shops in the UK or your home or online in advance, if you don't mind carrying them on board a plane.
As we left checkin and went towards the escalator at Tirana, a pair or parading seurity guys walked past and shouted to us that we had to check in our sticks. (My husband shouted, 'This did not happen at Luton.' He replied, 'This is not Luton.' We are in our seventies. My huband shouted, we need our sticks to walk.')
Security marched off. We carried on walking with our sticks. We were not stopped at Security.
Packing extras
If I were to hire a studio flat for a week for my family, I would pack,
1 Folding net plate covers,
2 Mustard to go on the meats at restaurants.
3 Toilet roll or kitchen towel holders for the bedrooms in the Theth hotel,
I would print out in large type a guide to pronunciation, and the four or five names of the cities and hotels I was visiting.
What to bring back? Towels or caps in red with the double black eagles symbol of the flag. Small red milk jugs at the airport about 12 Euros, if you have money to use up.
I like old Albania, the small groups of three or four cows wandering on the road, the single cow being marched along by an old man and his smiling wife wearing a headscarf and a long thin stick to direct the cow away from traffic.
Dhermi Beach Hotels
My other major stop was a couple of nights at Dhermi, a strip of hotels along a beachfront from blaring beach bars. The beach is gravel, the promenade is cobbled. You need beach shoes. Not a Croc in sight, not even imitation crocs. You can buy thongs 9flip flops) in the lobby of La Brisa. Kiosks sell plastic backlesss shoes, and lace up thin sneakers at high prices. I asked the price of some nasty black and white plastic sandals with no sides or backs or adjustment. 70 Euros. What! I would have paid 7. No bargaining.
We stayed three nights at the luxury hotel. My husbands birthday week, our treat.
What is you are in Albania for a cheap holiday? Further along, at the end of the beach, is a public area. Uphill are cheaper hotels, a kosher hotel, and guest houses.
The gravel beach shelves steeply and alarmingly. I sank into gravel up to my ankles. I would not even step out into the fast current. The hotel told me it was dangerous for children who are non swimmers.
La Brisa told us the pool closed at 7 pm. So I missed a swim after my long day's drive from Tirana. The swimming pool does not close. The fresh towel service stops. You can take your hotel towel and hotel bathrobe up to the rooftop pool.
Artuer\s restuarant is Balinese style. We tried one other place and came back to Artur's. The breakfast buffet is for hotel guests so you give your name and room number. But lunch and evening it is just open to everyone and you cannot charge the bill to your room as the hotel is under different management.
In Artur's the main courses of meat have no vegetables or potatoes, which annoys me. Three huge pieces of chicken and no vegetales which have to be paid ordered speaaarately and paid for in addition. (Quite a relief to be back in London where a one course lunch is meat and 2 veg in a Italian restaurant.) However, our helpful waiter gave me chips with my chicken. We ordered one salad as a starter. The salad was easily enought for four. A good place for family or group of four or more, where you each order a different plate and share. Desserts were also enough for two to share.
No wonder, with such huge portions, the Albanians are like the Duch, the men not unusually near 6 foot tall, with broad shoulders. Since many are bald, mouths hidden by black beards and moustaches, black eyes sometimes hidden by sunglasses, at first they all look alike, and like the mafia. However, find one to make your friend and they are all smiles, eagerly call another if you speak only English and French and they speak only Albanian, Greek and Italian.
Why is so much Italian spoken? Italy is across the sea going west. Italian tourists come here to holiday or study because it is cheaper. Albanians go to Italy to work because they get better paid jobs. Lots of Italian restaurants and bars,
Super, Sloping Sarander
A cheaper option is Sarander. The name should have a double dot above the last e, making the e sound like er. If you want to type it correctly, copy from another article (eg Wikipedia) to get the double dot, or hold down the e, and move your mouse along and release it on the correct e of your choice. to see Sarandë.
Another beachfront place is Vlore. This is nearest Tirana, accessible by a fast four lane motorway, hence the popularity. The beachfront is separated from the hotel strip by a road and we had trouble parking. The two bars we tried had no food and seemed astonished when I asked for a menu.
Ask For Menus When Making Stops When Touring
it is always worthwhile asking for a menu. Not just to see the prices. You can photograph the name of your bar and if you like it find it again. I spotted Turkish coffee which I prefer. Otherwise you end up with just the one choice of coffee which the waiter suggests. They might have freshly pressed juice, flavoured teas, and other alternatives. By week two I had discovered that when you are driving and dont want park at a bar for an hour or so like most of their local customers, but just want five ninutes for the toilet and a coffee for the driver, it is quicker to run to the bar, grab a menu, and look for the toilets which will be by the bar, or you can ask and find them beyond the bar, outside, or upstairs.
Berat Scenery
Berat is a town on the mountainside inland. The main attraction is the scenery, and a rooftop castle for walks taking views, more like a walled city containing two churches.
The pretty bridge below can be seen if you simply drive through the city in a hurry on your way back from Dhermi to Tirana airport. You can drive up to the castle complex entrance.
Berat has wine tours. Two big places take coach parties.
Luani
In the city centre is Luani cellars, a mock castle hotel with wine cellars below and a vast hall where I saw coach parties were sitting all eating the identical dessert. Assorted prices depending how many wines you want to try. Must book. When we arrived, the day's tours were already all full. So said the girl in the small lobby, who was busy on the phone with another potential customer.
Cobo Winery
On the outskirts is Cobo winery, rustic, family-run, all beams and beaming family members. Pictures of the family include a painting of grandfather playing a table game with his wife (pre mass TV days) and the grandfather on a bottle label. As usual, a choice of prices depending on how many wines. (You need to be on a tour, or have a driver used to tasting, which means only sipping, and/or spitting out, into a spittoon,) not drinking. You get olives, hot bread and olive oil, and two kinds of Albanian cheese, one hard, one softer.
Dorres is on the coast from with a Roman ruin and tower, which you can see online. We did not divert because we were busy with hiking. However, Shroder is a pleasant little town with an apparently pedestrian centre with lots of pretty cafes and ice cream shops. Watch out for bicycles and local cars which come along behind you.
My friends chose to eat pizza in a jolly Italian place nearer the car parking before the pedestrian area. Great decor.
However, after eating the boring restaurant dessert with vanilla, we discovered that the multiple choices of delicious ice cream in the pedestrian area was cheaper and better. I tried a scoop in a wafer of zinging lemon. Others in my group had, flavourful red berries, assorted kinds of chocolate, pistachio or other nuts and so on.
Vlore
Vlore is big and busy and nearest to Tirana. Vlore has a long straight main colourful coastal hotel and bar strip. I loved the modern and colourful hotels in Vlore, every one different, competing for attention in style with the next.
Parking places were hard to find. We managed to make a coffee stop on our way to Dhermi, and on the way back.
My husband has reviewed the hotels in Tirana and Dhermi in booking.com through whom he booked. I shall write some restaurant reviews on Tripadvisor.
From Vlore going south you reach the mountains, long z bends, tiring. Nice views, occasional panoramic small restaurants or hotels at vantage points.
Plus the occasional cross, portrait photo, and flowers, for some man who presumably died on the road, (or fell/drove off it? !) rather than being memorialised in one of the cemeteries which have crosses and flowers. I was tempted to stop and take a photo. But that's asking for trouble to stop at an accident spot. We did see signs warning of falling rock.
A tunnel being beult though one mountain towards Dhermi should cut the driving time by half an hour and by ready for the 2024 summer season, politicains have promised the Dhermi hoteliers.
Budget Sarande
Sarande is furthest from Tirana. Less convenient for locals with weekend and summer homes, and guest houses and studio apartments for them. Also furthest for foreigers. But a budget option.
I liked Sarande. it has more character with its sloping to the sea main street.
Saki Winery
Another advantage is the best winery, Isak winery. The name came from Isak, a Jewish vineyard owner, from whom the current family owners bought the place. They have gardens or fields of white tunnels containing tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables growing. They supply supermaaarkets and hotels.
For tourists, it is a place suitable for families, not just wine drinkers A big gift shop with, in addition to many wines, fig jam, fridge magnets, souvenirs to look at and buy.
Seasons
On the road to Dhermi you will see signs for snow chains, and poles which indicate snow depth. Is their a ski season ? Apparently not. So no need to worry that your family will decide to come back and drive on those z bend roads in winter.
At our hotel in Dhermi, the luxurious La Brisa (The breeze), the receptionist told me that their busiest time, fully booked, is August. The holiday season is April to November They close in the winter, when the hotels, bars and beachside kiosks are shut.
Useful Websites
https://www.tirana-airport.com/
Tirana
Dhermi
Vlore
Sarander
Shkoder
Isak Winery Visit
Cobo winery visit
Luani winery visit
No comments:
Post a Comment