When we were living and working in Shepparton, Australia we met an elderly man from Albania and have been keen to visit the place since then. John did a trip with his friends down the coast past Albania but it wasn't open to visitors so he couldn't visit. He also caught a ferry from Corfu and saw it from the sea. Lil drove with some friends through the old Yugoslavia a year later and couldn't visit either, so we were keen to be able to visit this time.
Albania has cities on Lake Ohrid and there are less rules and regulations here to protect the lake and the endangered trout. Both Macedonia and Albania do not manage their rubbish so the lake becomes a rubbish dump.
From the border town we caught a furgon, a 9 seater mini van, to Korca. There are no timetables or signs for the public transport and we had to keep asking people we met for the furgon to Korca. After being sent on several trips across the square where the buses leave from we found the right furgon.
The road to Korca is mostly unsealed and it is undergoing construction presently. We haven't been on such dusty roads since Laos. there is quite a bit of house construction going on as well so someone is investing in the country.
The furgon driver dropped us at a hotel near the city centre. It was a renovated communist state owned hotel and they were usually called 'Turizma' or 'Grand'.
Saw lots of cow, sheep, and goat herders on donkeys. Some of the donkeys were carrying logs and other hay. This horse had a wooden saddle and a home made scythe on its back.
Korca was very quiet when we walked about early afternoon to look at the old stone houses. I think everyone was having a siesta as it would have been in the early 40s Celsius.
In the evening when we went out for a bite to eat it was hectic. The young girls were dressed in their skimpiest, most-revealing clothes walking up and down the main street. The guys were sitting in the cafes watching it all. Those with money were driving up and down with their stereos blasting. It could have been a scene from our hometown, Mount Maunganui!
Albanians have only been driving for 10 years. Under communism they only issued 2 driving permits to non party members in the 45 year reign. The national road code has only just come out and people haven't had time to change from their 'I'm bigger and more important than you' driving habits that they have been practising. In the last 10 years the number of cars in Albania has grown from 2000 to 500,000 with little improvement to the roads!
When president Hoxha died his associate took over and things fell apart. In 1990, 4500 people fled to Italy for political asylum. In 1991 over 20, 000 more fled to Italy.
There was a free-for-all free-market and many cars were stolen in German and brought back to Albania. Someone told us there is a saying "Holiday in Albania, your car is already there!" There are dozens of BMWs and Mercedes Benz cars on the road.
We have also noticed that there are many cars with Italian plates and there are several TV channels with Italian programmes or dubbed into Italian. Many people ask if we speak Italian as it is their second language not English.
A beer fest was advertised on billboards about the city but didn't go because we had to catch a bus at 6am the next day so had to get to bed early and wake before 5am. Interestingly most of the glass framed billboards advertising the beer fest were smashed. Maybe because many Albanians are Muslims.
