Tirana, Albania - An intriguing country

Because of some time pressure in reaching Istanbul 'in time' (read: incoming girlfriends), Yuri and I cheated a bit the last two days. First off we travelled almost the whole of Montenegro by bus, to sleep in it's capital Podgorica. We were allowed to sleep on the abandoned upper floor of a house still under construction - a luxurious sleepover compared to camping in one of the dark wastelands surrounding the city. The next morning we woke up to find our coffees ready and afterward headed for the border with Albania. What awaited us was beyond my wildest expectations:

Sunday, March 28 - We drive along the 'highway' to Shkoder - 1/5th of which was presumably once covered in asphalt, the rest left unpaved: a moonscape, where heavily laden trucks (preferrably with hazardous cargo) crowd the road, maneuvering between 30+ years old Mercedeses (making up for about 90% of the cars in Albania). Overenthousiast children (small thugs?) bounce around you and cling on to our bags and bikes. We can't figure out it this is childish play or worrying greed, and while Yuri inflates his tires about four times, we are presented with expressions of both joy, detest and everything in between by busloads of commuters (on Sunday).

Once in Shkoder, evidence of the first minarets shakes our eardrums, and after some negotiation, we are stuffed -bike and all- into two small vans. Two hours later I'm nervously waiting in a shimmering Tirana for Yuri's driver to find the right road so we can look for a shelter. In a side street of the 'road downtown' (piccolo of an hotel way out of our league), we find a lovely hotel for 20 bucks a night and a double bed. After two hours of feasting and exploring the streets of this atmospheric place, I find myself behind a keyboard (typing sentences no man could possibly hope to translate well). In the morning we leave for Greece....