Albania
Tirana
From May 20th to May 22, 2023
Day 1
We drove in from Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia into Albania across the Dogana Qafe Thane crossing. The crossing took ~30 minutes, which was to be expected.
The Albanian countryside is very pleasant; we saw many farms, rivers, tall bridges, and urban-like property along the road. Just barely after we crossed the border we passed a large number of military trucks and equipment. A little further down the road we found we were blocked by a large tree that had been blown over onto the street. Wanting to make good time on our trip, Max jumped out of the car to try and help the other local Albanians remove the obstacle from the road. Within 10 minutes the tree was somewhat moved so that cars could now pass and continue along their way.
We pulled into Tirana and were greeted by colorful street art and advertisements for a Colour Day Festival starting that night (yes, we end up going).
We went for lunch at ODA Garden, a highly rated local restaurant. The place was exactly what we were looking for and the food was delicious. We had a traditional Albanian soup, lima bean plate, stuffed peppers, a spinach quiche/cake, roasted vegetables and beers. After an incredible start to our trip in Albania, we walked through a mini market called Pazari I Ri where we found locals selling all kinds of other goods, like a farmers market.
We went to two museums later that afternoon. House of Leaves shared the history of surveillance that took place in Albania in the building that served as the Sigurimi's (Directorate of State Security) headquarter during the communist era. Next we went to Bunk Art 2, a previous war bunker turned into a video museum exhibition dedicated to the victims of communist terror.
After a somewhat somber past 2 hours in strange historical museums, we knew it was time to brighten things up by going to the Colour Day Festival hosted in Skanderbeg Square. We bought the color packets and attacked each other with blue, orange, yellow, and purple, had some drinks and danced to the DJ lineup they had on stage.
We went back to the hotel and showered before heading back out into the city for dinner at Pizza Hut (we needed a little comfort food) and drinks at Radio. Radio was a cool bar with interesting people inside and unique decor. As we walked home, many people were out in the streets celebrating all kinds of things, mini festivals were set up, and people were dancing in lines in the parks on this Saturday night.
Day 2
Apparently we had had too much to drink the night before, so when we woke up we needed a meal that was going to bring us back to life. We chose to go to Mrizi I Zanave and knew immediately that we made the right decision. The served one of the best meals (if not the best meal) we had in our trip through the Balkans. Our favorite was the blueberry pasta (yes, blueberry), but we also ordered many other things on the menu. All the food was very traditional Albanian and our server was so friendly and wanted to answer any and all questions we had about the country. She was young and aspirational.
After lunch we took a cable car up to Dajti to see the number of things that had the area had to offer: paintball, mini golf, horse rides, a restaurant, adventure park, chicken coop and paragliding.
We walked our way down after checking out the tourist area and stopped for a drink at Komiteti Kafe Museum and were blown away at this eclectic watering hole. We got a few drinks, marveled at all the unique memorabilia along the wall, the plants all around, and people popping in and out.
We walked through a food-hall style street near the Fortress of Justinian and decided to have dinner at one of the Italian restaurants on that street.
Day 3
We woke up ready to head to Montenegro. We left Monday morning around 11am and crossed at the Kompleksi Celiku border near Sukobin.