Jaunted

My view on Albania

A country I would also like to visit but many also shake their heads as if I was crazy. I'll get kidnapped! Shot! But after seeing the photo albums of friends who have been a bit more mobile than me over the past two years, I want to go even more. Basically: if you are looking for exciting metropolitan life, Albania is a big mistake. But if you want nature and a trip back in the time machine -- back in the days when the pace was slow and water came from the town well -- Albania is the choice. The countryside is breathtaking: rocky cliffs leading down to the Adriatic, rolling hills with ancient little stone houses nestled right into them, theatres and other "ruins" left from ancient Greek times. A friend of mine and his wife went in a "caravan" of (Czech) backpacker-tourists, pitching tents on fields that the tour company agreed to ahead of time with the owner. They both loved it, explaining that Albania is how one would imagine Greece or southern Italy in the 1920s: sleepy, poetic -- and yes, very poor. As far as religion -- don't think that this is the Saudia Arabia of the West -- in the photos my friends were regularly dressed in shorts, though in villages it is recommended that women wear skirts and something that covers their shoulders and navel (this is also the case in Romanian villages, as I have experienced first-hand, and they are not Muslim -- just conservative esp. in the rural areas). My friends explained that while the countryside is lovely, the cities (Tirana) are horrid. Streets with more potholes than road, blocks of flats that look like they will fall down at the next sneeze, stray dogs and various dubious characters ... Spend as little time in Tirana or anyplace urban as possible. Although in a group, my friends did have a chance to meet local Albanians -- although they are very poor, (at least out in the rural areas) they are very welcoming, inviting travellers to their homes, sharing their food with them, speaking in the international hands-and-feet language. But yes, crime is an issue and my friends were happy to be travelling in a larger group (I think there were about 20 of them). Had they been camping out on their own, they would have certainly been robbed within the first night (if a villager wouldn't have rescued them into their own home first). The way my friends went sounds perfect. Find an "adventure" group that will travel the countryside as a group; camping out sounds like a great idea, especially as the country is very warm in the summer (but it can cool off at night up in the hills!) and the hotels are ... well, few and iffy. Make sure the group escort is a native Albanian, the organiser has been to Albania and done trips like this before, get references, and make sure if you are camping out the organiser has received the land owners' consents in advance! My friends' trip included Macedonia with Lake Ohrid and the Croatian coast including Dubrovnik. They loved it and once my kids get a little older (the youngest is 2), we will do something similar. Hope your trip turns into an adventure travel PS My friends were neither kidnapped nor shot. No one in their group got kidnapped, shot, robbed ...