EASTERN EUROPE - Tirana - Albania

No 10 Email.On the way to Tirana, Albania

From Seatle, when I first tried to find information about moving from Kotor to Tirana, I hit a roadblock. All I found is that, I had to take a bus from Kotor to the border and then another bus from the border to Tirana. I was sure that once I go to Kotor I would find the right infos.

Well, it seems that there is sort of a black hole south of Montenegro. First, in Kotor, I went to five different banks to exchange some Euros into Albanian money, not one bank had Albanian money.

Then I tried to find the quickest way to get to Tirana, and I get some very conflicting infos. I thought the one I was given at the hostel would be the most believable (the women there seemed so sure that the info’s were accurate). It will take four different buses to go from Kotor to Tirana. Two to get to the border and then another two to get to Tirana. (I wonder, am I the first one to go from Kotor to Tirane??)

I am to take the early 7.30 bus to Bar. Once there, there would be busses every 30 minutes to the border. From the border I absolutely had to catch the once-daily 12.30 am bus to Skadar where I could find a bus every 30 minutes to Tirana. Well, I took the 7:38 am bus (at the no. 6 stand, not at no.8 stand like my ticket says) to Bar and got there at 9:15 am.

The next bus to the boarder was at 11:00 am ( definitely not a bus every 30 minutes!). Anyway, still ok since the border is only 30 minutes away. This experience, so far, makes me feel that I am in back in a third world country. Come to think of it, I feel the same way in the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Seattle!

I wrote this in real time! I wrote this in a little restaurant at the “Bar” bus station. I have to wait for my next bus to continue. Right now, the sun is out, I am eating a small meal and drinking beer, life is good!

The 11:00 am bus took little more than 30 minutes to Ulcinj. I have plenty of time until the 12:30 bus to Skadar, which I suspect must be the border town between Montenegro and Albania.

It is amazing, if I close my eyes and listen to the music in the bus, and I could be back in Turkey or Morroco. Yet the characters in the papers look almost like Russian (or maybe Cyrillic) characters. Am I learning more about the world, or, I am getting simply confused at higher level?

Anyway, trip wise, this turns out to be easy, right now I only need another two buses to my destination.

The last bus is running on a road that is being regarded and the bus has to stop many times. The trip is taking much longer that it is supposed to do. I eventually get to Tirana at around 4 pm.

As we approached town, I noticed several very colorful buildings, bright red, yellow, blue, you name it!

I remembered reading that as a (over) reaction to the concrete-gray communist buildings, the people of Tirana decided to finally add some color back in their life.

I settled in the funky Backpackers Hostel for a well-deserved night of sleep. No problem as I am again alone in a 6-bed dorm. The next day I followed the Lonely Planet “walking tour” and found the town more interesting than I had expected from my first impression. However, the traffic is very heavy and the incessant honking of the horns reminded me of some other cities such as Cairo, and Tunis. Another similarity is that people will cross the traffic in places where there are no traffic lights.

There is a woman that works part time in the hostel, she plays an interesting one-string musical instrument called a huta (name of a bird).

Top left picture: Color in Tirana

Top right: Malvina playing the Huta

Bottom left: Stained Glass window of Mother Theresa and a cardinal.

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