Operation: “The World” is a Go

9/4/07 - 9/6/07

Rolling into Albania, to us, was like entering a new world. Patch wooden bridges, sheep herders, people with baskets on their heads, and warm, friendly people welcomed us. Our fist stop on our whirl-wind Albania experience was Shkodra. Our mini-bus dropped us off on the edge of a giant, chaotic round-about where we risked life and limb to get to the bus on the other side. As the friendly bus driver’s assistant loaded our bags onto the bus to Tirana, he used his hands to explain the bus did not leave for another hour.

We followed him to a very narrow cafe bar that was filled with men. As we walked in, all eyes fell on us. The bus driver’s assistant explained we were English and waiting for the bus by pointing to us and saying “Tony Blair!” “Tony Blair!” He was having so much fun with the explanation that we didn’t have the heart to tell him we were American. We sat down at a table and ordered drinks. After a couple of minutes a man with a tight black shirt and short curly greased black hair (think the scene in “Coming to America” where the family with wet looking hair leaves three marks on the couch). He was followed in by his young, what looked to be, apprentice. He immediately greeted everyone in the bar including us. Before we entered Albania we read that it is disrespectful to deny gifts of any sort, so as the curly haired guy offered us cigarettes and tea, we decided we had to give in. Yes, we thought this was a strange combination at 8:00am, but what could we do? Immediately after we smoked the cigarettes, two more were thrown onto our table. After about 45 mins. of this we headed for the bus buzzed up on caffeine and nicotine. The experience, although a bit uncomfortable, was certainly a highlight of our trip through Albania. It was amazing how welcoming the people in the bar were and how generous the culture is.

As we got on the bus the bus driver’s assistant again started pointing at us and telling everyone we were British Prime Ministers. Everyone seemed pleased. The bus fired up and we were off. At one point an argument broke out behind us and the bus driver’s assistant quickly got involved shouting at a couple. The bus pulled over to the side of the road and couple angrily got off. Very strange.

We pulled into Tirana about an hour and a half later and were hurried off into another crowded street. We didn’t know the language, the city, or where we were. We didn’t have a map, not that it would have helped because we didn’t know where we were supposed to go. Sarah asked a young woman who directed us about six blocks down the way. When we got there we saw taxis and drivers pleading for business everywhere. To our luck and amazement a young man came up to us and in English asked us if we were headed to Saranda (the cross over point to Greece). We replied yes and he turned to a taxi driver and in Albanian explained the situation. He was going to a town about 40km from Saranda. I asked him how he knew Albanian, and he said he was Albanian, which seemed very odd because he had an English accent until he explained that he currently lives in England. If that isn’t dumb luck. I don’t know what is. If he hadn’t showed up we would have probably ended up in the wrong town on the opposite side of the country.

This is how the craziest taxi experience of our lives commenced. Albania is not part of the EU for several reasons including its “highway” system. The main road is a (sometimes) two lane road that winds through forests, cliffs, dirt, and sometimes even water. We navigated this road in a beat up Mercedes averaging about 100 km/h or 60mph - mind you that is average speed. We felt completely out of control the entire 5.5 hour trip. The taxi driver asked the English/Albanian guy if he could get a job in England as a driver and he laughed…hard.

Even though it was hard to pay attention to in a car that feels like a roller coaster, the Albanian country side is rather pretty. At one point we stopped on the side of the road and followed the taxi driver to a group of people standing by a natural spring coming out of a rock face. We filled up our water bottles and enjoyed very fresh, great tasting spring water.

We screeched into Saranda at dusk and went into the nicest looking hotel near where we were dropped off. It was very cheap but surprisingly very nice and comfortable. We had a great view:

We stayed two nights in Saranda experiencing the Albanian culture. We bought dinner for $4 and ate great “gyro sandwiches” for less. In the evenings we went out onto the promenade next to the sea like the rest of the residents of Saranda and walked up and down eating freshly popped popcorn and watching the community. One odd custom that we had to get used to was that men of all ages hold hands while walking with their male friends. Women did the same. Again, very warm and loving culture.

We picked up a bus in the center of town to bring us 10 hours to Athens. We just caught it. When we got to the boarder everyone got their passports out for boarder control…except one guy. An older gentleman who was either senile or just really brave was asked to show his passport. After a bit of hesitation he tried to pass the boarder control official a piece of meat. No kidding…a piece of meat. The boarder control guy could only laugh and then the whole bus bursted into laughter. As the old man was being ushered off the bus he complained and then all of the sudden pulled out a passport. The passport was looked over and accepted as valid. The old man returned to his seat. Perhaps he should keep his meat to himself next time and use good old fashion documentation when boarder crossing. In English all we could think of him saying was (with a sly grin) “I may not have my passport, but this fine cut of meat thinks I should cross. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Traveling through Greece vs. Albania was like floating on a cloud. Wide paved roads at normal speeds. Not as exciting but very welcomed. We got into Athens in time to see the Parthenon on the Acropolis light up like a beacon of order and tradition shine over its city.

9/1/07 - 9/4/07

Over the next week we had to find a way to get to Athens, Greece to meet our good friends Lindsay and Luke. After extensive research, we discovered that there was no easy way to get to Greece from Croatia. There were no direct flights or ferry routes so we were left to travel the 22 hours by bus. A journey it would be. We decided to take our time getting there and enjoy some of the countries along the way.

Our fist bus ride was pretty short and it brought us to Budva, Montenegro. We wanted to find a nice place to stay since we would be spending two nights there including our one year anniversary. We found a 4 star (former 5 star…) hotel with a pool just outside the main strip and the old town. One star literally had fallen off of the top of their building. Our hotel room came with white terry cloth robes and slippers. We pretty much wore them the entire time while in the hotel.

Budva is located on the coast of Montenegro and is a very happening town. While it was an unheard of tourist destination to us, other Europeans have been coming here for years. The streets were packed full as well as many of the hotels. The street promenade along the coastline was scattered with shops and restaurants. It had a fair-like feeling complete with rides, go-carts, and street vendors. I referred to it as a supped up Mexico.

We had a very nice anniversary. When we woke up we dressed in our robes and slippers and headed down to the pool where we had breakfast outside and then lounged the morning away. In the afternoon we walked down the coast into old town where we had some appetizers and a drink and explored the town a little bit. We stopped and played some wooden flutes with a guy who was selling them on the side of the street and, of course, we had to buy one so Brian could add another instrument to his collection in the studio and my dad could have a new toy. We then found a nice little restaurant where we ordered a great lobster dinner and had some of the best service we have ever had by our waiter. We definitely were getting the star treatment! It was a great way to mark our one year together as husband and wife. However, we did realize that we took no pictures these days. I guess we were enjoying our time off as “travelers” and enjoying being “vacationers”.

The next day we boarded another bus to bring us closer to the boarder of Montenegro. We stayed one night in a town called Ulcinj. There was not much going on in this town and things were overpriced for what you were getting. So the next day we woke up early and boarded a mini-bus to cross the border and get into Albania. There were two ways to cross the border, either by taxi or mini-bus. We selected the mini-bus since it was only about $5 a person compared to a taxi ride of about $70. The mini-bus was interesting and a lot better than we expected and it took us right into Shkodra, Albania. Here we would have to board another bus to bring us to Tiriana, Albania, the capital.