A short ride to Tirana today . Only 40KM plus. So I decided to spend the morning to explore Durres a bit. After a simple breakfast at the hostel and took a walk to the waterfront to have a look. The weather today was really incredible for late October. It’s almost as hot as summer with bright sunshine the whole day. The walk was through a nice boulevard with many cafes. The waterfront was not so interesting so I took a couple of pictures and moved on to see the Roman amphitheater. Compared to the one I saw in Macedonia this was smaller and not as good condition. So I walked back to get ready to hit the road to Tirana.
After saying quick goodbyes to the hostel folks I pushed off around 1230 noon. The road to Tirana is very straight forward and flat so I was making great time again. I was initially on a highway which I didn’t like so I found a rural road parallel to it.
I decided to make a lunch stop at a place call Vore which is around 17 KM from Tirana. I saw a place that had grilled chicken so I decided to have lunch there. It was not a great experience. The food was good but the owner lady cheated me. First she charge me the beer that I think was paid for by another guest ( Thats what I thought ) and then she gave me the change that is short. So after a few backwards and forwards we settled the issue with a lot of communication through sign language and writing down numbers. Albania has great and hospitable folks but also I find many of the vendors try to cheat you and charge you more just because you are a foreigner.
As I rode closer to Tirana the traffic became heavier and heavier. In fact around 10Km from the city, for the first time I experienced an Albanian traffic jam. It was total chaos and I have a difficult time getting into the city.
Once in the city, I phoned Adrian from the US Peace Corps to work out our meeting plan. Adrian and Cristen had kindly offered to host me for the night. We agreed to meet at around 7pm so he can bring me back to his apartment to leave my stuff and then go for dinner together.
Turns out that Adrian did a fair bit of touring himself and ridden from Alaska to Ushuaia in Argentina before. After dinner we went back and I had a quick shower before hitting the sack in a nice big room provided by Adrian and Cristen.
Tomorrow I will move to a hostel in Tirana and spend some time exploring the city before moving on to Shkoder.
Lions Project : RM 161.10
Reflective Saddle 