I decided I needed a vacation, but where to go that was letting Americans in? I turned to google and a small list of countries popped up, Albania being the first as it was in alphabetical order. This country had never crossed my radar and probably never would had it not been for the pandemic. I thought, why not? I turned to YouTube and was surprised at the number of vloggers that had content on this place and by how beautiful this place was. The more research I did the more I wanted to experience the culture, people and food. I checked tickets and found them to be reasonable, I needed no testing (I did get one just incase, I am also vaccinated) or complications (I always get travel insurance) to visit, so I was all in. I just didn’t want to visit, I wanted to explore and immerse in the culture. I decided I would get an apartment in the capital city of Tirana to use as my base and rent a car to visit the south and then to the seaside. In my preparation for my trip I got asked many times, why Albania? and my favorite was ” you are going to Albania on purpose?” You know who are guys from AAA. I chose Albania because in all my research, I discovered that Albania was safe for solo female travelers, cheap, and beautiful. My motto is Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Beautiful, Be you and this trip brought all that out. This trip showed me I was a badass.
Tirana
If you find yourself in Tirana, I encourage you to do the free walking tour that meets at 10:00 AM and 6:00PM in front of the Opera House in Skanderbeg Square. On this tour you will learn quite a bit about the history of Albania and see some cool art and remnants of the communist period. So one of the first things you will notice about Tirana is how walkable it is. So, if you are like me and you like to walk this city was designed with you in mind (not really, back in communist time which was as late as 1997, there were only 600 cars in the whole country, so people rode bikes and walked). Interesting fact: there are more Albanians living outside of Albania than there are in Albania and about 50 percent of those in country live in Tirana.
The Apartment
I rented this apartment in Tirana for 2 weeks. I loved it because it was very safe (next door to the police station), spacious and you could not beat the location. It was within walking distance of the square, the New Bazaar, countless coffee shop, and restaurants. The neighborhood was lively and really gave a sense of daily life in Tirana.
It took 2 day for me to get to Albania, there were no direct flights and I had a 9 hour layover in DC and a 4 hour layover in Vienna ( you can check out the video on YouTube). While in DC it was raining and I guess our baggage were left in the rain because when I got to Tirana and opened my suitcase all my clothes were wet. I had to hang clothing all over the apartment to dry, but luckily I had a few outfits in my carryon and all was well within the 3 days I needed to rest before going off on my road trip.
The road trip
Let me start by saying driving in Tirana is very stress inducing, but if you take your time and go slow you will be fine. I absolutely loved driving in Albania once I left all the chaos of the city behind and hit the highways. The scenery was beautiful and for me calming. Unfortunately for me, I lost most of my pictures and footage of the drive to the South.
Elbasan
My first stop was in Elbasan, where I visited the Elbasan Castle, had some traditional Albania food, which was really tasty and visited the oldest mosque in Albania, the King Mosque which was built by the Sultan Bayazit II between 1482 and 1485. After this short stop I hit the road again and headed to Korce.
Korce
I went to Korce to hike up a mountain to get to a little church on a hill that I saw in a video on the city.
This little church
I spent 2 days in Korce, but wished I had made accommodation for longer. The first thing I noticed was how beautiful and chilled the city was in comparison to Tirana. It was just a much more laid back vibe. I stayed in a guesthouse that was at the bottom of the mountain. I felt safe walking around the city even after the sun went down. I enjoyed walking around and getting lost. On one of my walks I came upon a walking tour and joined in. I learned a bit of history and went back to the hotel and hung out with a YouTuber who is based in Korce and the guy working at the front desk (Shout out to Javon), we got totally drunk off raki and uzo.
View from the top
Some more shots of the Old Town
As much as I loved Korce and it’s cobble stone streets, chilled vibes and beautiful scenery, I had to continue on my road trip. So I bid Korce farewell and vowed to return and set out to Berat. On the way out of Korce I made a brief stop at Lake Ohrid and again wished I had more time. I had the place to myself and did some reflecting and totally enjoyed the scenery.
Berat
The drive from Korce to Baret for me was very soothing and beautiful.
My first impression of Berat was wow, just WOW! The city was very alive and I did notice a lot more young European tourists than I did in Korce. My goal for visiting was to visit the castle and I found the perfect guesthouse by total accident. It was located right at the foot of the castle. This place was amazing (shout out to Guesthouse Arben Elezi and Mira) you can see more about the guest house in the YouTube video.
Places of Worship
Albania is a very religiously tolerant country and there is no shortage of places of worship. There are beautiful churches and mosques everywhere and within walking distance of each other. One of my favorite things in Berat was the Call To Prayer, there were 3 mosques near the guesthouse and they would begin one after the other.
was as they continued the journey.
To the Castle
Remember the purpose of my visit to Berat was to see the castle as I mentioned earlier. I decided that I would take the trek right after breakfast on day 1, to beat the crowd. The goal was to get some cool shots with the drone. As planned, I did the very taxing climb up the lane towards the castle and after almost dying, I got there and forgot my wallet. After a few choice words I decided that I would save going back up for the next day before hitting the road for Vlore.
Food time
Happiness!
If you know me, you know I love deliciousness and is always in search of good food. Berat came through like a boss! After way too much pasta and coffee, it was time to head to Vlore.
Vlore-day 5 of the road trip–Broken toilet seat and bellyache
The sea was the only good thing about this trip to Vlore. My first impression of the city is that it reminded me of any other city that is designed with water loving tourists in mind, but I was confident that I would be away from the crowds as my hotel had a private beach. Google maps said “your destination is on the right” and I said out loud to myself, not my damn destination because that is not what this place looked like on Booking.com. Gentle people let this be a warning to you, when you are booking dig deep for the negative reviews. If you are ever in Vlore please I beg you do not, I repeat do not stay at Vila Rahmi & Veli Dervishaj. This place was not worth the 56 euros I spent.
This was my worst accommodation. I arrived and had to wait 2 hours for my room as the owner’s son who manages the place was in town. I paid for a sea view I got a view of a lovely fig tree, a bed that I am sure was once in a Romanian orphanage or some sort of prison, and the toilet see was broken (it them 4 hours to come replace), and so was the shower head. The breakfast was subpar and the room smelled like a sewer. For about 2 hours someone was yelling and banging furniture in the middle of the night. I decided then and there that even thought I paid for 2 nights I was leaving the every next morning. Not to worry Booking promised to refund a generous 8 euros as the owners of the place would not answer the phone to confirm I did show up and not a no-show has they had me down as, after complaining that I wanted a refund for 1 night. I have yet to get that refund as of January 10, 2022.
Back to Tirana
I cut my road trip short by 1 day and headed back to Tirana where I met up with friends and ate good food and tired new ones . Also ate way too much desserts.
You know I love dessert
Summing it all up
I had an amazing 13 days in Albania, I would recommend going and experiencing it on your own. There was so much more I wanted to do, which just means I must go visit again. I drank way too much coffee and ate my weight in delicious food and would do it all again. Don’t just take my word for it go visit this amazing country on your own. I tried something new and did something that took me out of my comfort zone and I believe I am the better for it. This adventure led to more self confidence, good friends and fantastic memories. Remember to Be Bold, Be Brave, Be beautiful, Be You. Get out there and explore.
