Albania

#15 Albania – October 2023 – Age: 29

Loved this holiday – proper road trip. Hadn’t been on one of these since Belgium back around 25 years old. I went with my dear friend Clemmie who’s always up for an adventure in an obscure country. 

We flew into Tirana and spent the best part of two days of exploring. The Albanian government were about to host an EU summit in order to convince them they were ready to join the EU, so there was a nice hustle and bustle of activity. We explored various museums and galleries, including the Bunk Art gallery, which is an underground bunker built out of old war shelters as well as the beautiful patterned buildings in Skanderbeg Square.  

We also explored the central boulevard and found the interesting art installation called ‘The Cloud’ which was rather thought-provoking… I think… before heading for dinner in the centre. The food was reasonable and very good value for money – strolling home, we walked past the Pyramid of Tirana, which, very fortunate for us, was warming up for the EU summit with a stunning lightshow, lighting up the Tiranan night sky. 

Much as I enjoyed Tirana, Albania is really much much better when you get out of Tirana. Although it is possibly the most dangerous driving experience I’ve ever encountered, apart from Tunisia, the roads offer stunning views and the coastline is second to none in my experience so far. 

Driving down to Himare for our next destination was like driving through a minefield. Cars driving on the wrong side of the road, without lights on – it’s literally the wild west, or the jungle, whichever is more difficult to traverse. Odd bits of unfinished infrastructure lie around. You might be in a 90 limit and there’s just a fallen stop sign in the road with weeds growing around it, as if it has been there as a permanent fixture. Got to have your wits about you. It's a pity we did this at night but it would only serve our wonderment on the drive back. 

Himare is a gorgeous beach and I’m sure, in-season, a vibrant place full of young people. We’d arrived just at the end of season and it was largely dead, but we were not complaining, we went on some lovely coastal walks. On the second day, it actually rained all day, and we ended up playing Monopoly Deal and getting extremely drunk in a bar with a lovely couple we met. On the drunken walk home, we also made friends with some gorgeous little puppies who followed us on the road for a little while. 

The next stop was Kotor bay in Montenegro where we were meeting our dear friend Maddie. This remains one of my favourite drives ever. The journey was about 7 hours from Himare. We took the coastal route. Every headland and every bay offers a different view out into the Adriatic. 

We stopped at Durres for lunch and coffee. Clem had prepared an excellent series of road snacks and entertainment, from a playlist, to getting through the entire podcast for Sweet Bobby – I was hooked. 

Another gorgeous drive once over the boarder to Montenegro and our next stop was Kotor Bay.