All about Albania

Albania.  Where to start? Perhaps with what we knew before we got there, which wasn’t much and consisted of some very strange things I must confess. 

·         Albanians used to regularly turn up down the road from my Uncle Richard in Greece with an empty truck and relieve you of your entire house contents while you are out at lunch (oh but wait when I think about that statement I realise the Poles did that too, so does that count as just an Albanian thing?!)

·         The Greek’s don’t mind the occasional misdemeanour that gets committed (see above) because the Albanians are a cheap labour force.

·         Albanians love Mercedes cars and regularly help themselves to the rest of Europe’s using the the five finger discount method (I think there might be a theme forming here)

·         Albania is on the coast between Greece and Montenegro and on our way to Croatia.

·         It’s a very poor country… maybe a lot of working donkeys will be making an appearance??

·         It’s a really cheap country to visit.

·         There are wolves in the mountains… lots of them!!

·         We might end up being held hostage in some village for committing a social indiscretion.

·         Albania is the world’s only atheist country despite being approximately 70% percent Muslim, and 20% Orthodox catholic.

·         Up until the early 1960’s it allied itself with Stalin’s Russia and then when that didn’t go so well they had a go at making friends with China. (Take note New Zealand!!)

·         Until the early 1990’s the country was pretty much closed to visitors and seriously paranoid.

·         We were sure we wouldn’t be allowed to anchor and take a dingy ashore and if we did we thought we would probably have a long swim back to the boat if it was still visible (there it is, back to that theme again!)

And that my dear friends, was about the sum total of our knowledge… I apologise wholeheartedly here for my rudeness and ignorance, but in my defence social studies was never my strong suit… that’s why I travel now.

 So it was with much anticipation that we set sail from sunny Greece and chugged (there hasn’t been a lot of wind this year) the four miles or so to Saranda in the south of Albania.  To our great surprise we were greeted by a flashy little resort town and a very nice little concrete quay attached to a brand new honking great cruise liner quay.  So much for undeveloped and isolationist! 
Agim and Alana (the port agents) helped us in and for the princely sum of 55€ (wow, not cheap!!) handled our paperwork in about half an hour flat.  However, everyone was very friendly (despite my inadvertent reversal of hello and goodbye while attempting Albanian  – why does no one correct you when you do that??!) and getting in and out of the port easy as pie (if a little confusing as we had to traipse backwards and forwards through the passport control booths.) 
So far so good. 
A trip round town revealed that the flash harry appearance of town is only skin deep (is that good news or bad?) and although there is a mad dash to throw up as many buildings as possible the infrastructure (roads, power, footpaths, rubbish disposal etc) to support it all, just isn’t getting a look in.  This is an unfortunate theme that is set to continue throughout our entire trip.  The Albanians are desperate to cash in on the tourist trade but haven’t really thought it through as to who their target market is and what they want their country to look like in 50 years’ time.  I hope they wake up soon before it’s too late to form some sort of coherent plan that protects their business interests as well as the environment they live in.

So we here we are now in Albania and our first impressions are, quite honestly, it doesn’t look that different from Greece; maybe just a few years behind.  Even the food on offer is Greek.  This mystery is solved for us when we learn that most of the people south of Llogara Pass identify themselves with Greece, have Greek identity cards and receive a lot of aid money from Greece to stay that way.  (Ah ha I hear you say… so that’s where some of that EU money went that Greece claims it can’t afford to pay back!)  Somewhat disappointing but there you go another example of the homogenisation of the world at work.  On the other hand this has to be the most religiously aware country we have been to.  For an atheist state they certainly wear their religions on their sleeve or round their neck as the case may be and they aren’t afraid to ask you what yours might be.  That being said they are also incredibly superstitious and you see “monkeys” (stuffed toys) hanging off lots of buildings to ward off the evil eye.
Other things that jump out at you are it is very LOUD (!!!!) but, luckily, only until 11pm and then it’s really quiet except for all the street dogs getting together for a good old shindig.  It’s grubby but not as bad as Sardegna (sorry guys but you really need to get on top of that rubbish issue!), there are a lot of bugs and is overrun with small children (this comes as a shock after spending so much time in Italy and Greece where the birth rates have dropped significantly in the last 5 years, as does their constant need to know if you have children!).  The people are friendly but on the whole reserved and we stand out as tourists a most unnerving sort of way at times.
Bramble also discovers that she is a rarity as a pet dog and is either fastidiously avoided or stared at in amazement.  They don’t mind her going everywhere with us but just can’t believe she is happy on a bit of string and that we acknowledge her presence like she is a member of the family.  A bit like a reduction in the amount of rubbish lying around, fountains, parks, money for conservation, designer clothes and anorexia, animals as pets is a sign of social prosperity that just hasn’t reached here yet.  In fact Albania, despite the brief skim of concrete and the odd dulux overhaul here and there, is still a very poor country and any allusions to the contrary are swept away when you see how many people are raking through the rubbish skips for profitable recycling items.  It’s a most definitely a land on the edge of prosperous Europe and they have a huge chip on their shoulder about it.

While we are in Saranda we share a taxi with a couple of other kiwis (thanks “Butania”) and head off to Butrint.  A lovely spot of layered ruins (Greek, Roman, Venetian, Byzantine etc) all beautifully maintained and undergoing sympathetic restoration.  Good on the Americans for putting their hands in their pockets.  Well worth the visit.  We return on the local bus (at 100 Leke = less than 1€ an absolute bargain) and kick back in town some more.

So far there are two highlights on the nature front are; Bramble “finds” a tortoise on the road and returns it (reluctantly) to its owner and we get offered a wolf’s head… hummmm I think we’ll pass.  Apparently when wolf numbers increase to the point they are impacting on the Albanians hunting grounds they poison as many as they can.  So they are not exactly conservation minded then and wildlife tours are probably not going to feature highly in the near future which is a shame as we find Albania to have one of the best arrays of wildlife anywhere in Europe.  And don’t even get me started on the geology of the place with massive crystals bulging out of the rocks all over the place!

Anyway the pilot book shows some intriguing anchorages and we are sick of the chaos of town already so we set about finding out if we can use any of them.  At first we are met with blank faces.  And then, as we won’t be swayed for our goal, many “friends” are phoned and finally the police say it is OK for us to head of south to Ksamil.  The amount of puzzled and worried questioning hasn’t inspired us so we produce a list of anchorages we want to stop at for the Police but no one wants to look at it or even discuss it.  Each boat has been told something different but I think we have a good rapport with the local guy and so we get the go ahead… Ok then, off we go… quite honestly I’m not sure how the people here cope with this level of policing… it’s all very politely done but not exactly confidence inspiring.  No one seems to know what the rules are and who might or might not come along and enforce them.  Turns out Ksamil is a hideous place.  Maybe that’s why they were trying to politely dissuade us.  Once a lovely anchorage behind off-lying islands it is now a loud and obnoxious hole with a horrendously unplanned village sprawling behind it.  We suck it up for the night but locals make it difficult for us to land the dingy as they are worried about getting in trouble with the  police (sure enough the police patrol around us incessantly in the morning) and we are glad to head north again in the morning.  What a shame to see what a mess people can make of their environment in a few short years and there is no way of easily rectifying it unless you bulldoze the whole lot and start again.  Let’s hope that the whole of Albanian is not like this.

 

With our dramatic red and black be-eagled curtesy flag a fluttering we drift back past Saranda and head in to our first unnamed bay… lovely…. Goats tinkling, cows lowing and not a hotel in sight… a great place to stop.  Even the farmer kindly prevents his dog from nipping Murray on the butt when we walk ashore… long may it continue.  As we edge up the coast we can see signs of “development” everywhere but a lot seems to have ground to a halt.  What happens in the future is very much up in the air.  Porto Palermos, where Ali Pasha had a fortress, is a well sheltered stop with a rickety concrete quay and a tyre jungle gym to help you get off your boat.  There are hundreds of concrete structures along the Albanian coast, leftovers from the reign of Hoxha, all slowly crumbling away.  Along the shores you see the ubiquitous tops of the rounded bunkers, sprouting like magic mushrooms from the surrounding rocks.  Around 700,000 of these are dotted all over Albanian and at 5 tonnes of concrete and iron are apparently indestructible - tell nature that! The man that designed them was so sure of their durability he had one bombarded by a tank while he was in it.  If he could see them now he might not have been so keen to try that stunt!



Bramble and Ali pash(a)

 

Anyway I digress.  Porto Palermos (Palermos means night winds – katabatics – that’s doesn’t bode well in an anchorage so it’s a good job we are tied to the quay) turns out to be the scene of our first shakedown and some pleasant police encounters.  First “Aurora” arrives to ask us to pay money to tie up.  Confused as to why this should be the case as we have been told there are no authorities here we politely suggest she phones Agim in Saranda.  The phone call doesn’t go well and she leaves in a polite huff 30€ worse off in her view.  Next to visit is the military but luckily we are at the restaurant and having already ascertained we have the right to stop, we remain there and watch while the rest of the boats are made to leave.  It is now 2230 and we are just about settle down for our regular viewing of an episode of “Shameless” (if you haven’t seen this American TV show… do.  It’s great!) when, low and behold, the police turn up in a rib.  Fantastic!!?!  They turn out to be very polite (yes that is a reoccurring theme with all our dealings with officials) and after a brief viewing of our papers they avail themselves of coffee and wine before continuing on their slightly merrier way.  Next morning after visiting the fortress (wonderfully atmospheric but I am not sure how his harem of 150 women fit in that wee room) we are again approached by the police.  A crappy old car turns up and a fat bloke gets out and asks to see our papers… seeing Murray’s puzzled look he realises he doesn’t have his uniform on!  With a grin it is back to the car for a quick shirt change and so out come our papers and this time its beer all round.  It may be 1000 but Murray gallantly chokes down one to be sociable.  Word is obviously getting out about our now dwindling liquid supplies so we opt to motor round and anchor off Himara to restock should more lubricant be required for the wheels of justice to operate smoothly.  (A quick note here is that my Italian comes in very handy here when dealing with potentially tricky situations as most Albanians speak it as a second language but hats off to the government for making its employees do 4 hours of English a week.)

So far it has been smooth but not entirely relaxing sailing but Grama Bay puts us in a great frame of mind.  Beautiful and dramatic it is home to ancient quarries and lays claim to the fact that Caesar once set foot here on his way to kick some butt in Orikum.  There is one summer beach bar and nothing else.  We anchor up next to “Paguro” the only other yacht that seems to be trying to anchor anywhere and kick back a spell.  Steve and Howard are recovering from a social night ashore and are thoroughly enjoying themselves! Murray joins in an impromptu game of Robin Hood on the beach while Bramble and I hunt snakes in the quarries and military buildings above.  Even the 3am tsunami ferry wash doesn’t put us off the place.  Just lovely.
 
Albania is full of undiscovered or unexcavated archaeological sites like this and it will be interesting to come back when they have had a go at seeing what’s really there.  It is a country with a vast potential for unique finds as the army and navy kept the coastal area clear for miles back into the hinterland and even before that it doesn’t seem to have been heavily farmed judging by the lack of terracing etc.  We hear that there are even places along the shallow northern coast where you can snorkel over wrecks of roman galleys with their entire cargo of amphorae etc still in place.  Due to the fact that for many, many years Albanians were banned from boat ownership without a special licence so they couldn’t run away to Italy (that’s if they could afford a boat!), there are many of the places we are going that no Albanian has seen for generations and I just hope that conservationist and historians get to some of these finds first before they are ransacked.
 

Next stop Bristani Bay.  Another lovely anchorage.  The mouth of the bay is dotted with fortified gun emplacements and the dull grey concrete domes of pill boxes sprout like fungi around the rocky shores and up into the surrounding hills.  An enormous eagle circles above, climbing the thermals and casting a giant shadow over the shimmering vegetation below.  There are some nice walks here to the old military installations and we spook tiny bats while trying to read the azimuth tables that cover the walls.  Bramble then suffers indignity going into a bush and coming out coated in huge ladybirds.  As I said before if it is one thing Albania does well its bugs and wildlife!  In particular it would be an entomologists and herpetologists dream as tortoises, terrapins, frogs, lizards and snakes competing with the bugs for plentifulness.  Awesome!

We are out of the Ionian now and go into Orikum Marina for a couple of nights so we can hire and car and tour the interior.  This is the only marina in Albania.  There were big plans 10 to 15 years ago and many others were started but then the moratorium on owning boats came into effect and it all ground to a halt.  Luigi (it’s Italian owned) is an incredibly laid back and welcoming.  We “hire” a car (like a Turkish one it seems to belong to “someone” rather than a “company”!) and head off to

Vlore (busy, busy!) and Berat.  Driving in Albania is not for the faint hearted.  The road surfaces aren’t too bad but where there are giant potholes the good bits are fair game for both directions.  All road signs are hints rather than rules and who dares wins.  Murray is right into it and gets really good at playing chicken.  Bramble wisely stays in the footwell where you can’t see what’s going on!  Berat is a lovely spot.  Quite tranquil and full of old ottoman houses.  The communists turned it into a sort of living museum so it was spared the fate of most of the old buildings here.  Albania does not have a lot of old dwellings left and those that are tend to be in the hills and no one lives there anymore.  In fact locals seem to think you odd if you suggest that country living could be pleasant.  Maybe this is hangover from when

they were forced to work on the collective farms of Stalin’s generation.  Anyway again everyone is really friendly and the although the countryside isn’t particularly startling (although it is novel to see some oil wells) it’s fun hooning up and down past the hubcap stalls on the side of the road (fantastic to see so much recycling of spare parts – drive shafts hanging like sides of beef, intriguing water bottles full of dark liquid and every imaginable nut or bolt) and zipping in and out of the scooter driven “wheelbarrows”.  (What a fabulous idea. Take a huge tray on wheels and weld half a scooter to it and bobs your uncle; a high speed wheelbarrow).  Some rotavator and donkey carts are still used here, as well as some very nifty three wheeled Chinese mini trucks.  Next we roar past a 100 and one carwashes (everyone wants their highly prized Mercedes looking its best) and up the hill to Llogara Pass.  It’s really lovely to be in the hills but, again, the Albanians need to appreciate their natural side more.  They seem to only see it as a place to come and eat in a roadside restaurant rather than a place to wander and wonder about in.  No wolves here either.  Poor Bramble, she was so looking forward to that.

From here on up the coast there isn’t much to see with the coast being very shallow a long way out and not many indentations.  We find places to anchor for the night thus avoiding the costs of harbours but other than Cape Laghi, where a marina is now under construction, they are for the most part open roadstead anchorages and not very inspiring, however, on shore we continue to be astounded by the multitude of animals large and small.  Outstanding!
 

Shengjin is our last port of call in Albanian.  The Harbour master is an excitable but friendly man and makes the agent Marcelo work for his money as well as buy us beer and coffee out of his takings.  Very entertaining! After much debate they put us on the disintegrating fisherman’s quay.  (Torch very much required for night perambulations!)  Marcelo organises a “guide” for the next day as we are keen to see inland.  Alex turns up bright and early in the morning for a trip to Lake Shkodra and Rozafa Fortress on the border with Montenegro.  A bluff and ready sort of guy who works for the local radio station, Alex has had an interesting and varied life and is a mine of

information and a real insight into the Albanian mentality.  He is not ashamed to launch into a tirade on almost any subject and is refreshingly frank about the problems Albania has had and is still having.  (Albania has the third strongest “mafia” in world for example!) They seem to be a proud people who don’t like the fact that they have been keep in the dark for so long and now are way behind the rest of Europe.  They can also be very touchy and don’t like being told what to think or do and certainly don’t like to have their opinions questioned too much by strangers.  I think it would take a long time to get to know them well enough to have a proper discussion about the good and bad points of the country.  That being said we totally enjoy Alex’s company and his haphazard approach to tour guiding.  Sadly the country lacks a clearly defined cultural identity due to its long isolation under communism (they were so pissed off at the Russians when they left that they burnt all the Russian books and art in Shkodra on a giant bonfire) and now they don’t seem to have a plan as to how they want to present what is left to the world but Alex assures us this is changing. 

As we don’t want to eat the endangered trout on offer at the lake, Alex decides we should go to a little place he knows in the country.  Now listen up here people because if there is one reason to come to Albania, it’s this place!  Mrizi I Zanave www.mrizizanave.com (I think that the name is something to do with wood nymphs but the translation might have been lost in a slightly alcoholic haze!) has to be the highlight of our trip.  Set on a small rise in the fertile plain behind Shengjin this small farm restaurant is an absolute gem.  The inspired man running it has inherited it from his father and is a slave to slow food revolution and traditional fare and completely passionate about local produce and producers.  He grinds corn in a tiny solar mill for the restaurant bread, cures his cheeses, sausages and hams in the old military bunkers and raises his own meat.  We are shown to a table under the trees and plied with local aperitifs and fantastic beer before it is decided that we should be filmed by Albanian TV having fun with the local girls dressed in traditional dress to promote the restaurant and tourism in Albania.  Cue the beautiful young girls and more drinks.  No sure if what we said made any sense but I pretty sure we were complimentary!  And the food… Scrummy!!!! You eat what you are given, lots of nibbly bits, then roasted meat, vegetables, more nibbly bits.  You eat till you are pretty sure you can’t anymore and then they tempt you with a fantastic array of desserts that you just couldn’t say no to!  A fabulous, relaxing and surreal lunch among the wood nymphs indeed! (and I am pretty sure Bacchus was there too).  Needless to say it was a slightly giggly trip back for all concerned and a fantastic way to end our trip in Albania… Falemenderit, Albania; we will send more people to enjoy your hospitality.

 

Oh and by the way, were any of our pre(mis)conceptions right???

·         Albanians as robbers and thieves.  Albanians seem to be as honest as anyone else but we were repeatedly warned in Shengjin to lock up the boat and leave nothing on deck… so who knows really…

·         The Greeks use Albanians as a cheap labour force. Yes but lots of them seem to be coming home now so Greeks might have to get their hands a bit dirtier.

·         Albanians do love Mercedes cars but now they tend to buy their own.

·         Albania is on the coast between Greece and Montenegro and on our way to Croatia. Absolutely true! (Nothing wrong with my geography!)

·         It’s a very poor country… yes but its getting there slowly, however, unfortunately there weren’t that many donkeys to be seen.

·         It’s a really cheap country to visit. Yes, but not for yachts.  The port/agent fees are pretty crippling.

·         There are wolves in the mountains… less than we hoped for but hopefully attitudes will change.

·         We might end up being held hostage in some village for committing a social indiscretion. We committed many social phopahs but it didn’t seem to matter.

·         Albania is the world’s only atheist country. Yes but the flip side was it seemed to be one of the most overtly religious to us.

·         They used to be communist but its definitely capitalism all the way now!

·         Until the early 1990’s the country was pretty much closed to visitors. Tourists are more than welcome now but don’t expect a huge infrastructure to cater to your ever whim.

·         We were sure we wouldn’t be allowed to anchor and take a dingy ashore. Anchoring not a problem and going ashore not an issue… thank goodness; not sure Bramble could have kept her legs crossed that long!