Montenegro and Albania

Montenegro and Albania. Two counties I didn’t ever think that we would visit, but I am glad that we did. We spent two nights in Kotor, Montenegro, and two nights in Tirana, Albania, and like other places we’ve visited, it wasn’t enough.

As we left Dubrovnik by bus, about a 2-hour ride (well, more like 3 hours), we stopped halfway at the border. All our border crossings in Europe thus far have not required anything formal (passports) since all the countries are in the EU (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia). We crossed the border into Montenegro after a rigorous search by police at the border (must have been 30 minutes). Despite the slow border crossing, the bus ride was actually pretty good since we had great views of mountains and lakes. To get to Kotor there is a very short ferry crossing (about 200 m) or you can drive an hour around a big lake. Being on the bus of course we took the latter route, however it was quite scenic.

Kotor, Montenegro

Our apartment was a short walk from the bus station just inside the old town. The entry through the old town is across a small draw bridge and through an ancient stone archway. These medieval towns are very cool! We met with Keko, our host, and after showing us the apartment, he gave us a few tips for restaurants and hikes in the area. After a short walk through the old town (it was like a mini-Dubrovnik, but way less touristy and pricey) we went to a BBQ restaurant called Tanja. As we walked in, there was a huge butcher counter full of every cut of meat imaginable. We picked up the menu and the lady behind the counter looked at us and pointed to an option suitable for our group of four. We were given a number and told to go to the back garden and grab whatever drink we wanted from the fridges. It was quite busy, but worth the wait – the waitress brought out a huge tray full of BBQ meats and sides. So simple and so good. It was so good that we decided to go back the next day for lunch!

The next day we checked the weather forecast and things were not looking good. Lots of rain. It had rained all that night and was drizzling in the morning. At 9:30 the sun peeked out, so we quickly wrapped things up and got our gear on to hike up to the castle. As we left the old town walking up the stairs there was a river of water pouring down the steps from all the rain. We hiked up towards the castle along a huge set of old stone stairs which took about an hour. We knew we had a short window with the weather, so we booked it up in record time. The reward was beautiful views over the city and over the mountains without any other tourists.

We decided to take a different route back which involved going through a window opening in the stone wall and down a small ladder. It was a bit sketchy, but I went first to make sure I could help Mel and the kids through. We walked along the path towards an old church with an etching in the stone dating it to 1534. It looked like it had been completely untouched over the years with no restoration efforts made. You could still see traces of the fresco paintings on the ceiling and walls. Beside the church along the hillsides were old stone foundations from an ancient village. We made our way down the switchback trail to the edge of the old town of Kotor. Although we entered the switchbacks at about the halfway mark, they continued all the way to the top of a hill with a total of 72 switchbacks!

We made our way over to the BBQ restaurant for lunch, and as we settled in under the cover in the back, the sky opened up, and it started to pour a mix of rain and hail. There was another small break after lunch, and we made it back to our place before a full-on hailstorm started. Needless to say, we nailed it with our timing! We had contemplated visiting the cat museum, but the weather was kind of crappy, and we were tired from the hike, so we were happy to chill. Side note: Kotor is full of cats! They are absolutely everywhere!

The next morning, we grabbed the 8:00 am bus to make our way to Tirana, Albania (not to be confused with Ta-rah-na, Ontario)

Tirana, Albania

We arrived at the bus station and immediately went to purchase our tickets for our next leg of travel to Greece. As we purchased the tickets there was an old man waiting at the doorway. Turns out he would be our taxi driver. We hop into his 1980’s Mercedes Benz Wagon and make our way to our apartment. Sidenote: On our bus drive through Albania, every other car we would see would be an old Mercedes Benz. Albania – looks like the Germans left behind a legacy after their invasion during WWII.

Our taxi turned down a couple of side streets and into the middle of a street market. He started to yell at some random people through the window and then backed up down the street, back up through the market, and then stopped at a corner where our host was waiting for us. As we drove our guy kept saying “moment, moment”. I think it was the only English word he knew because he probably said it 30 or 40 times during our trips to and from the bus station.

Our host led us through a sketchy alleyway to a sketchy building. As we ascended the stairs, I thought to myself – uh oh, what have I gotten ourselves into. It turns out that despite the ugly exterior, the apartment was very nice. Can’t judge a book by its cover!

We got settled in, did a quick grocery shop for breakfast materials, and then walked around the main downtown core which was centred around the main square. After some walking around we headed back to the apartment for dinner, movie, and then off to bed.

The next morning, we grabbed a taxi to head to Bunk’Art. This is an old, abandoned bunker that was converted to an art/historical exhibition. The bunker was huge and included several rooms, hallways, and assembly rooms. We learned all about Albania’s history which was fascinating but sad. Previously a monarchy, in the 1940’s it was invaded first by Italy and then occupied by the Germans before an uprising by different groups which would eventually become the communist party of Albania headed by Enver Hoxha, described as "the lunatic who took over the asylum", who would go on to rule for another 45 years until his death. In one articleThe bunker we were in was one of 100,000’s that were built by Hoxha over the years. They were used to spy on the Albanians to look for any anti-communist activity and quash it. In all it was estimated that Hoxha murdered 25,000 during his rule, often including internal purges within his own government. Hoxha built fences along the borders of Albania to ensure that no one could get in or out.

After the bunker visit, we grabbed a quick lunch at a café. The café didn’t serve food, but the guy was nice enough to order us a couple of pizzas to the café. We finished up lunch and walked around the block to the funicular. We got our tickets and were on our way up the funicular (ski gondola) to the top of the mountain to take in the views over the city. On the top there was mini golf so of course we played a round. It was a lot of fun!

In the evening we went to a very funky restaurant called Tymi. It was plastered floor to ceiling with all sorts of musical paraphernalia. If you have ever been to Flying Monkey’s in Barrie, it was similar, but had even more crazy stuff. The food was fantastic too – kebabs, Greek Salad, grilled feta, goat sausages, olives, tzatziki, etc. It was a feast.

The next morning, we got up - Mac and I went shoe shopping (his shoes were falling apart) – and then we met up with our taxi driver (“moment, moment”) and made our way to the bus station.

We had a wonderful time in Montenegro and Albania. The people were very friendly and warm, and the countries have a lot to offer – only wish we had more time!

As I write this, we are on a bus crossing the border into Greece on our way to Larissa.