Albania!

My first stop out of Greece is Albania. There are many Albanians living in Greece (including one of my favorite co-workers of all time), but despite that, I knew very little about the country. But what a country it is! My first stop was on the southern coast. I stayed at a wonderful boutique hotel on the top of the cliff.

I had an interesting start to my stay, which only enhanced the experience for me.

As I showed before, I have a small car pulling a small trailer. Everywhere I am staying I am reaching out to make sure that there is parking for both. For this place, I read the reviews and it said things like “drive up not for inexperienced drivers”, and I am no novice, but it gave me a little unease, but the manager said you should be fine, but call me if you have any issues and I will come help. GPS took me a different route than he was hoping I would take (I had no idea until after) and it took me from a side road instead of the main one, and at the grade and angle of it, I got stuck and couldn’t make it up. The car just kept stalling. A guy who was on the side of the road tried to help, no luck, eventually the bar woman for the hotel came out and said that the manager was on his way to help. And he did! He unhooked the trailer and half pushed my car up the hill (the poor thing was exhausted from all the tries), and then hooked the trailer to his own vehicle and brought it up. He seemed both impressed by my willingness to drive around Europe with that small of a car pulling a trailer and slightly concerned for my sanity for the same reasons.

But the view from the hotel was stunning, and I honestly just spent my 2 days there sitting on the patio of my room, working on my website, and relaxing. The bar lounge was a total throwback to the 60s, and I was obsessed. It looks like a place my grandparents would have visited. The food was delicious, and the staff super helpful. I would absolutely stay again.

From there I drove north towards the capital to stay at an Agrotourism boutique hotel. The 5 hour drive went through various landscapes that at times was lush and green, others aired and dry, sometimes flat, mostly with mountains, always changing. It was an interesting view the entire way.

This hotel could not be more different than the last, but was no less hospitable. There was a happy hour drink of fresh made lavender lemonade, a tour of the farm (from Alex, who was wearing a New England Patriots shirt, and interestingly enough has not really been to New England, but he really liked the shirt. Fair enough Alex.), and then I ate at one of their restaurants that was a chefs menu where you choose only your protein. I dined with a couple from the Netherlands that I met during our little tour, and had a really enjoyable meal getting to know them, and sharing our thoughts on the state of the world. They also gave me suggestions for places to see other than Amsterdam, when I go through there, so now I have new places to look into!

One absolutely fascinating detail I noticed in driving through the country as there does seem to be more car washes per Capita than I have seen literally anywhere else. It’s a little wild.

So, my interactions with Albanians was mostly limited to the hospitality folks I encountered on my stays, but all those were very pleasant, and my stay has been refreshing, relaxing, and tasty. I would absolutely recommend the country and the places I stayed, if anyone has been thinking of visiting Albania.