Where in the World are Aimes and Hobbes?: Bunkerama

After the relative comfort of Croatia and Montenegro it was with some trepidation that we headed south to Albania, the last of the eastern European states to open itself to the outside world and hence a step back into another time. Initially only added to be itinerary to allow us to travel overland from Croatia to Greece, some research had me quite excited about Albania being the hidden gem of Europe with the unspoilt beaches of the Ionian Coast and the little villages where life continues as it has for generations - were these reasonable expectations? We'll see...

Bunkers guarding Dhermi Beach

Welcome to Albania

Mother Teresa was Albanian

As there are no transport links between Montenegro and Albania we had to sign up for a bus tour which we were to leave on arrival in Tirana. This trip was quite an experience in itself and was representative of tourism in Montenegro, with the contrasts between and western outlooks being prominent. Speaking with our Ukrainian friends not believeing we were staying in Albanian (why would you stay there rather than go back to beautiful Budva?) while some Norwegians wished they could do the same if they had more time. Before arriving in Tirana the bus made a few stops, in Shkodra (with it's many mosques more evidence of the complex religious tapestry of the Balkans) and then the port of Durres (one of the oldest cities in Europe with Greek and Roman heritage, though now not really one of the most inspiring). Along the way there was time to share out some duty free congac as the bus wound its way along the windy roads, another nice Eastern touch!

The remains of a Roman Amphitheatre in Durres

Statue in Durres

Albania is perhaps most recognisable by the thousands (perhaps more than 60,000 of them) bunkers which were constructed by a paranoid Enver Hoxha and line every road, beach, hillside and valley throughout the whole country. Such is their durability (costing several times more to demolish than to build) that most remain as they were when built, even if they are located in someone's front yard. You get the first glimpse of them as you cross the boarder from Montenegro as the Hoxha regime didn't even trust their communist neighbours in Yugoslavia (as they were too progressive and did not follow true Maoist principles).

After a long day on the road a Birra Tirana was sorely needed

The national hero Skanderbeg overlooking the capital

Tirana was a surprisingly nice little capital, with wide open squares and boulevards (very Soviet style) and unlike Shkodra and Durres really clean and tidy. Much of this is down to the Mayor, Edi Rama, who in an effort to beautify what was otherwise a drab concrete jungle, has painted all of the communist style buildings with bright primary colours which has made an amazing difference when compared with other Eastern European capitals. Tirana was much more modern and cosmopolitan than we had expected, perhaps epitomised by the Blloku district, once the exclusive enclave of the communist party elite, and now a massive area of continuous bars and cafes packed with people (though almost predominantly men), even on a Monday night.

Some good old communist mural action in Tirana

Us enjoying some fergese

Hoxha's former mausoleum, soon to be a shopping arcade

One of the first things we noticed about Albania (probably about one minutes after marvelling at all the bunkers) is that absolutely everyone drives a Mercedes, everyone, though unsurprisingly apparently this is due to the large expat Albanian population in Germany helping themselves to someone else's wheels and then driving it back down to Tirana.

Brightly painted former concrete monstrosities in Tirana's Blloku District

More painted buildings

Interesting...

After a crazy taxi dash across Tirana to find a mini-bus (more reminiscent of transport in Laos than anywhere else we have experienced in Europe) we were on our way to the UNESCO listed town of Berat. The well preserved little town really is amazingly beautiful, with rows of white Ottoman Houses lined up around a castle topped hill. Apparently towns like this were at one stage common throughout Albania, though Hoxha made a pretty good effort of demolishing most of them except for Berat and Gjirokaster which were preserved as museum cities. Unfortunately it was while climbing up to the castle that we had our third observation about Albania (following the Mercedes) being that they have a very liberal approach to garbage disposal, with any and every corner, edge, valley being used for the dumping of rubbish - quite dissappointing when you consider how the otherwise beauty of the place.

The Ottoman Houses of Berat

Cobbled laneways winding up the Berat's Kala

And then they go and spoil it all....

We were expecting the next leg of the journey to be the most difficult of the whole trip and it didn't disappoint. From Berat we had to take a bus for the couple of hours ride to Vlore, where we were hoping to be able to change to a bus to the beach of Dhermi further down the coast. The first part was easy enough, we managed to flag down a Vlore bound bus near our hotel, and in accordance with our fourth observation about Albania (that is, that Albanians are amazingly hospitable and will go out of their way to be helpful) were dropped off on the side of the road in Vlore where a Dhermi bound bus was waiting randomly. The only problem was that the bus wasn't going anywhere soon, in fact there was no driver to be seen, just a sign on the back outlining the route. A couple of words and several hand signals with the woman in the nearby shop suggested that the bus might be leaving in a few hours so we decided to wait by the side of the dusty road and see what happened. After a couple of hours people started getting on the bus (still without driver) so we did the same, and eventually after several uncertain hours of waiting we were on our way.

The remains of Berat's castle

Orthodox Church above Berat

It was a steep climb up to the Castle

The wait wasn't all in vain as just outside Vlore the road heads over the Llogaraja Pass after which it descends via one of the most spectacular and windiest roads in Europe, with the white lines of the Ionian Beaches stretching out to the south (a welcome sight considering the stifling temperatures on the non-air conditioned bus). After a somewhat scary decent in the ricketty bus we arrived at the top of the turn off down to Dhermi Beach, a half hour walk from the main road (no problem on the way down, but we weren't looking forward to having to do it in reverse).

After waiting several hours we finally got our bags on a bus bound for Dhermi

Cow vs Traffic 1

Ribbons of road running down from Llogaraja Pass to the beaches of the Ionian Coast

I had been quite looking forward to getting to Albania's beaches as being located on the coast between the renowned Croatian and Greek beaches and with the island of Cofu just off the coast, I had hoped that they might be a bit of hidden secret and a taste of what these former beaches may have been like years ago. Arriving in Dhermi our thoughts were mixed, there were all the right ingredients, yet more spectacularly clear water lapping white stone beaches backed by soaring green hills, though in typical Albanian style this was let down by an overload of rubbish, both on the beach and unfortunately in the water. After a couple of days our view was that the Albanian beaches are undoubtedly unique, it's not often that you lie in the sun with rows of concrete bunkers at your back, though while having lots of potential the signs of uncontrolled development were a little disappointing.

One perspective of Dhermi Beach

And another - no escaping those bunkers

Beach Bar

A beautiful Dhermi sunset

If getting to Dhermi was difficult, moving on was probably even more problematic and had us questioning whether the search for a hidden beach paradise was really worth it. After much asking around town we had no idea when we might expect a south bound bus to head through, so decided to rise early and get up to the main road as early as possible. If nothing else this proved a smart decision as the 30 minute downhill stroll became a long uphill struggle with our packs on and would have been near unbearable during the heat of the day. Unfortunately after getting up to the main road at about 6:30 there was another long wait for a bus to arrive, leaving us sitting on the side of another dusty road for several hours. When a south bound bus did finally roll up there were some 7 or 8 people waiting though only room for 4 on the bus - having been waiting for a good 3 hours and being there the longest there was no way I was going to miss out so we crammed our bags on, squeezed into the last seat and headed off on the windy (and subsequently spew filled) trip south to Saranda. Fortunately after a quite uncomfortable ride we found a waiting bus in Saranda headed for Gjirokaster which knocked off the last few hundred kilometers in a few relatively quick hours.

Aimes not looking forward to another long wait for a bus

Cows vs Traffic 2

Our final stop for Albania was Gjirokaster, another well preserved Ottoman town, just across the border from Greece. Perhaps even nicer than Berat, if not quite as "perfect", Gjirokaster is more of a rambling town with the historic houses in varying states of repair and disrepair. We could definitely have spent more than a day there, even if just to enjoy a few coffees sitting under the grape vine covered cafes reading a book (the streets in Gjirokaster are way to steep to encourage TOO much walking ;).

Shingled roofs in Gjirokaster

Some more Ottoman architecture in Gjirokaster

Another town another castle - Gjirokaster

The remains of an American spy plane in Gjirokaster

2004 was obviously not a great year...

As we had come to expect in Albania, details of onward transport into Greece were vague at best, we might have been able to get a bus direct to Ioannina in Greece or we may have to get a bus to the boarder and walk across and hope to get an onwards bus on the other side, of course no one was sure what time a bus might leave either. After another early rise to maximise our chances of getting a bus, we were overjoyed to find a bus waiting for us which was going to go all the way through to Athens, although a good 10 hours on a bus, better transport conections than we could have hoped for! So after a week of challenges, great friendliness, awesome little towns and a little too much rubbish in Albania we were on our way to Greece.