Many buses leave at 5 or 6am so we have to get up early. The buses in Albania have air conditioning and many have windows that do not open and when it is 35-40 Celsius outside it is stifling inside the bus. The driver likes to smoke so he has his window open and the air conditioning cannot cool the bus interior. Under those conditions it is very difficult to stay awake the whole bus trip. The locals don't like the sun coming in so they close all the curtains and it can be difficult to see the scenery through the gap in the curtains - when we are awake!
The bus to Vlora was very full with 8 or 9 people standing in the aisle. Luckily it had windows that opened so we could get some air through.
We had read that it would take us 2 1/2 hours to chug our way up the Llogaraja Pass at 1027 m. Fortunately it only took 35 minutes as the road was recently upgraded. At the top we stopped so everyone could eat in the restaurant. They served rice, stewed mutton soup, tomato and onion salad with feta cheese. This is the farmers standard meal. Many of the locals don't eat breakfast when they take the early buses and those that get motion sickness don't eat till after the windy pass.
We had no accommodation booked as there are no hostels so we found an older style hotel near the ferry terminal and managed to get a lovely room there. All day the ferries were arriving and leaving for Greece and Italy.
During the day we saw groups of men catching some kind of sea creature with long pieces of wire. We were unable to find out what they were.
Vlora is a large city and other than a 16th century Muradi Mosque and an old square there was not much to see or do. We headed for an internet shop to catch up on some blogs as there is no Wifi in Albania (so we cannot use our computer) and some internet paces have had terrible equipment.
We had a lot of difficulty trying to find bus stations in Albania. The places where the furgons (small buses) or tour buses leave from changes often. It seems only the taxi drivers know where they leave from. Because of this it has been difficult traveling and we have to keep asking and get sent in various directions by different people. of course the taxi drivers don't have meters. They put a plastic sign on the roof and call themselves a taxi.
So far we have managed to get where we want to go!
