After a few weeks in the Baltics I headed south back to the Balkans and warmer weather. My first stop back in the Balkans was to Albania, one of the three final countries in the Balkans that I hadn’t yet been to. In Albania I was able to visit towns both in the mountains and along the coast for a range of scenery.
Getting from Finland to Albania was a tiring travel day as my flights were in the evening and in the middle of the night. Both of my flights ended up delayed and I didn’t arrive at the Tirana, Albania airport until 3:30 am. Since it was so early in the morning I ended up hanging out at the airport for a few hours until my hostel's reception was open. Once I arrived at my hostel I hung out there for the morning before eventually heading out to shop for new sandals. After trying two separate shoe stores I found a mall and got lucky and found sandals there. Once I finished my shopping and had a late lunch I headed back to my hostel and checked in. I then proceeded to take a nap because I was exhausted from running on no sleep. That night, after waking up from my nap, I went out to dinner with Madeleine, Deanna, and Loren, three girls I met in my room. It was a really delicious dinner and such a fun evening. The next day the four of us explored Tirana together; it was a fun day. Since it was so unbelievably hot we ended up spending some of the hottest part of the afternoon in our air conditioned hostel room before again that evening going out for dinner. It was a great day and I enjoyed exploring the city with others. The next two days in Tirana were again super hot days. I spent most of both days doing admin work and figuring out where in Albania I wanted to visit since I hadn’t researched things to do in Albania before I arrived. During both of the days I wandered around the city some, but not a lot, since there didn’t seem to be much to see or do there.
After a few days spent in Tirana, I headed south to Berat, an old city in the mountains known for its stone Ottoman houses. Again it was super hot there, even hotter than Tirana because Berat is in a valley and the heat is trapped in. On my one full day in Berat I ended up spending some of the morning talking with another traveler who was volunteering at the hostel. After talking for a while I left to get lunch before going out to wander around the city and to explore the small stone streets. It was a super cute city, unfortunately I wasn’t able to see everything I wanted to see because it was just too hot and I was suffering from heat exhaustion. While it was only a short stay, I enjoyed my time seeing and exploring Berat.
I was looking for some beach time so my next stop in Albania was to the far southern town of Sarandë. I spent my first day in Sarandë at the beach. I decided to splurge and treat myself to a sunbed for the day which ended up costing about $10. It was a nice day relaxing at the beach; the water was crystal clear and really cold, which was nice because it was another hot day. My second day in Sarandë was a lot like my first, I spent the day at the beach again, this time laying out on my towel. After two days relaxing on a beach, for my third and final day in Sarandë I took a day trip to Gjirokaster with Rebecca, a girl I met in my hostel room. Getting to Gjirokaster ended up being an interesting experience. We went to the “bus station” and ended up being put on a later bus than we had planned on taking. After driving for about an hour the bus pulled over in the middle of nowhere and we were told that it was the Gjirokaster stop. Rebecca and I were super confused but luckily two others got off as well. Once the four of us were off the bus there was a car parked next to the bus and we were told, using very broken English, that the car was taking us into town. In Gjirokaster Rebecca and I headed up the mountain towards the old historic area of the town. It took a while to get up to the historic area of the town but once we did, it did not disappoint. The town was full of old stone buildings and cobblestone streets. Our first stop in the old town was to the castle ruins which were further up the mountain. The castle was cool to explore and most of what we saw were ruins since you had to pay to enter the inner areas of the castle and we didn’t want to pay the entrance fee. The views from the castle looking over the town and valley were breathtaking. After wandering around the castle for a while we left and went in search of a place for lunch. After finding a place and having a delicious late lunch we continued to wander around the town. Similar to Berat, Gjirokaster was a really charming town. Once we felt like we had seen everything we wanted to see, we headed back down the mountain to the bus station. We were hoping there would be an earlier bus than the last bus of the night but unfortunately there wasn’t and when asking to book a ticket the woman at the shop made it sound as if it was possible there wouldn’t actually be a spot on the bus for us. Luckily, trying to leave at the same time as us was the couple who had arrived on the same bus as us, so after taking some time to discuss the situation, the four of us decided to split a taxi back to Sarandë. Since it was four of us going back, the taxi didn’t end up costing much more than the bus would have cost.
After spending three days in Sarandë I headed north to Himarë, another beach town. When I got to my hostel I knew immediately that I was going to like Himarë. The hostel was really nice and had an amazing garden space and to top that off Himarë was a small, relaxed, beach town with a vibe that I could already tell I was going to like. When I first arrived at my hostel I met Marcela in my room and we ended up going together to the beach in town. Back at the hostel that evening I met even more people and I ended up spending a great evening hanging out with everyone at my hostel. On my second day in Himarë, Marcela and I spent the day together again; this time we hiked to a viewpoint and then hiking further to the beach a ways outside of town. The viewpoint was stunning, with views of the wooded mountainside to the crystal clear blue water. After taking in the views at the viewpoint we continued the hike further to another beach. There had been a storm the night before so the water at that beach wasn’t crystal clear, however it was still a beautiful bright Gatorade blue color. Before it started to get dark we hiked back to the hostel. It was a really fun beach day. There was a great group of travelers at the hostel so I spent another fun evening hanging out at the hostel with everyone there. The next day Marcela and I were joined by Riki, another traveler staying at the hostel, and the three of us hiked to a beach even further away than the one Marcela and I visited the day before. It was another great beach day. It was a nice beach with crystal clear water with a beach that was busy but not too busy. Since it was such a long hike to the beach in the morning, we didn’t feel like hiking all the way back to the hostel so we hiked to the main road and then hitchhiked to get a ride back into town. In Albania hitchhiking is really popular and since there was only one main road headed back into town it was easy to get a ride, even as a group of three. Again, that evening was spent at the hostel hanging out with everyone.
My fourth day in Himarë was another repeat of the days before. I spent a relaxing day at the beach, this time though I just went to the beach in town, and then in the evening I hung out at the hostel. I really enjoyed the town, hostel, and being so relaxed. I wanted to extend my stay in Himarë but unfortunately the dorm rooms were booked far in advance and there wasn’t a bed available for me. Luckily though, my hostel had tents that weren’t available online and I was able to extend my stay in a private tent. I really enjoyed sleeping in the private tent. For my fifth and sixth days in Himarë I didn’t end up leaving the hostel space. I simply spent the days enjoying the weather and the beautiful garden space of my hostel. I spent the days reading in the garden and hanging out with some of the travelers who were volunteering at the hostel and spending time with the hostel dogs. The days were really nice and relaxing and the evenings were spent hanging out with people at the hostel. On my seventh night at the hostel I was awoken in the early morning hours by a strong shaking. I was really confused as to what it was, but I fell back asleep pretty quickly. At breakfast that morning I found out that the shaking had been an earthquake and everyone was talking about it. Fortunately it wasn’t a big earthquake, it was a 2.9 on the Richter scale, but we felt it so strongly because it was a super shallow earthquake, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) deep, and we were only 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the epicenter. This was the first earthquake I’ve ever experienced. On my final day in Himarë I went to the beach for a few hours with three people from my hostel. I enjoyed spending the morning at the beach and the afternoon hanging out with people from my hostel. After spending seven days in Himarë I sadly had to leave. I headed back to Tirana, but just for the night as the next morning I was leaving for a new country.
I spent three weeks in Albania and the time went by really fast. At the start and end of my time there I met a bunch of really great people which made my time there more enjoyable. My favorite stop in Albania was definitely Himarë where I spent an awesome seven relaxing days. I really enjoyed the town and especially the beautiful hostel I stayed at as well as the people there. If it wasn’t such a great hostel I definitely would not have stayed as long as I did. I was so sad when I finally had to leave and continue on.
“Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, and know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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