Montenegro and Albania

 

Guess the top fort was how it used to be! Montenegro, while not disappointing, didn't quite live up to what we expected. maybe it was a victim of its own marketing hype. It was not far  to the border with Albania. We were a little apprehensive at crossing into Albania, or more correctly, Jacky was, having been refused entry 50 years earlier. There was a considerable queue, pretty much the first we encountered. It wasn't until we got our turn and more hassle about our papers, that we realised it was the Montenegro side and not Albania. Clearly we had entered with them, so eventually they gave in and waved us to the customs guards.  By contrast the Albanian officials were polite and smiling, checked our passports were in date and waved us into their country. 

No phone data put an end to navigating by google, it was back to a 20 year old motoring atlas of Europe. Not too much of a problem as there aren't too many roads to choose from. Agriculture is the main activity in Albania and there are huge swaths of very flat fertile alluvial land, all given over to fields. This leads to long stretches of straight road and presumably after the fall of the communist government, uncontrolled planning consent for commercial development. It gave an impression of a linear industrial estate, as if the whole country was industrialised, punctuated by huge petrol stations every few kilometres, big enough for half a dozen artic lorries to party.  We checked one out to fill up with petrol. The attendant understood what we wanted, but clearly didn't believe we wanted to "fill" the tank. I assume the norm was 5 litres. No cards, cash only and he would take Euros, but give change in Albanian Leks. The transaction was a blur of mental arithmetic, which I took on trust and was actually in our favour when I checked it later. Our Greek friends had given dire predictions of theft and dishonesty, before we left. We encountered only smiles and patience at our clumsy attempts to make transactions.   

We had to predict where we were going to stay that evening. Jacky had picked out a hotel that caught her fancy and we managed to arrive in the area, about the time we were ready for a stop. The map indicated that it was on top of a high ridge we could see jutting out of the plain. It wasn't on the scale of the Alps, but my, it was steep. Aimile slowed to second gear and almost first at one bend, before we entered the trees at the top and a triumphal brick arch opened onto the forecourt of the hotel. This was rather obviously 5 star and not our usual more humble fare. It was supposed to be an unbelievable 60 Euros for a double room. Jacky went in to check out if this was correct and came back with the good news, it was and they had vacancies. A beer and check out the outrageous view from this eyrie, came first. When we got to the room, the en-suite bathroom was bigger than some of the rooms we stayed in, in France. I could get used to this! We took full advantage of the facilities, before going down to dine. The food didn't disappoint and was both delicious and generous. We had a relatively short day planned next, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and reluctantly departed around midday, after a photo op with the waiters, who were intrigued by Aimile. The whole stay set us back 80 Euros including the evening meal, wine, beers and breakfast the following morning. By far the best we experienced in quality and value for money of the whole trip. Well done Albania.

Chris

Still can't figure out how to align the text and photos properly!  Sorry - Jacky