Albania

Easy boarder crossing is always good. Immediate old men on bicycles in the middle of each lane even better. All the negative things people said about the place aren’t true, and all the positive things are true. Looking hopeful!

First stop is right around the corner, Shkodër. All driving rules went out the window when entering this town, but driving to the arena and parking amongst a lot of cars nicer than my own is a good start. Short walk in the town to a free indoor playground cafe. Serious language barrier, but Freya got to play and we got coffee. So everything worked out.

For lunch a small stop at the walking street, then into a pizzeria with surprise, a huge indoor play area.

Even tried to haggle a guy at a hardware store on the walk back. I lost as always but did get some materials I needed so all good.

Next was a drive of death to Durrës. They love their umlaut Ë here. No idea if it was Friday rush hour but we crawled for what should have been an hour ended up being 3. Made it to our campsite where the Finnish we met the night before and asked for recommendation took the 2nd to last spot. Shout out to Thorsten and Gina and their trip to Greece and beyond. We joined them for dinner, exchanged jokes stories and drinks, a good night.

Extra day in Durrës as everything was open and half happening (still offseason so perfekt) and cheap cheap cheap. Got some much needed laundry done, shared the afternoon and evening drinks with the British, and had a great stay. Not sure what to do, we took their advice!

Next stop, Gjirokastër. we start driving as earlier every bar/restaurant/rest stop had a big playground and looked inviting. All of that stopped but we still went to a place for lunch. Open the door, record scratches, a table of 60 just staring at us. We were told we could stay if we eat outside. Next place, we were very welcome but it was awkward as hell as the table of 60 there was a funeral lunch. After that disbanded though everything became chillax. Freya had a mile of clean tile floor to crawl and race around on.

Campsite was a parking lot, next to a playground, that opened up at 19:00 but all good.

And that was as south as we made it. Goal was Greece but we were happy in Albania as it was open and we were too close to the turn around date. So instead of pushing it, we decide to inch our way back and spend some more time in this surprise country.