So away from Croatia we drove this week, over what has to be said were pretty poor road conditions towards the end; at one point the road devolving into a gravel track which required slowing to a speed of around 20mph just to negotiate safely. An hour queue at the Croatian exit border, followed by another 45 minutes waiting at the Montenegro entry border was made difficult as ever by that sweltering midday sun; some good route tips from a Slovakian fella earlier that morning had been very helpful but made us later than we'd have liked heading off. Anyway, no border hassle this time, and the required vehicle insurance was purchased very swiftly for a mere 20 euros. Onto the fjord, we couldn't wait for this, and set off for the road which skirts the whole way around it. Montenegro disappointment number 1: the beautiful Unesco fjord has been spoilt somewhat by the usual tourist eyesores. This is save for a 10k stretch leading south from Kotor, which is genuinely beautiful. We tried to camp as close to this area as possible, but the creeping of time unfortunately left us making a mutually bad choice of campsite - atrocious facilities, blaring euro pop...oh lordy, at least it was very cheap and just for one night. Campsites are very competitive in Montenegro too - as soon as they spot the top of your campervan approaching from their well positioned balconies, they are all literally bearing down on you "hey! hey! you want camping?? come, you come stay with us". Empty promises of wifi are later realised when the only place for a signal is with your back pressed up against the front door of their family home...so apologies to all those we hoped to skype, but we thought it was a pretty inappropriate location!
Up early the next day we headed for the old town of Kotor. Yes it's another old town along the coast but this one is well worth the visit; the city walls extend all the way up the side of the mountain, this must have been a seriously impenetrable fortress. We had learned our lesson from Croatia and got there earlier than perhaps any other tourists and had a great morning. Kotor is definitely a rival to Dubrovnik in beauty, and feels somewhat less 'discovered'. We grabbed a chicken and pickle sandwich and headed back to the van to head south. We could only have been two minutes away when the policeman by the side of the road thrust out his arm and beckoned us over...ugh, what now? "you no lights". Aha, of course, this dipped beam law that literally every other time we had remembered had caught us out. "Two nil, you pay or write ticket for post office thirty, you no lights". Hah! This guy was actually wanting us to slip him some money the crafty bugger. We let him repeat himself a few times and looked puzzled "we no understand" and thankfully he tired and eventually waved us onwards empty handed. Phew...so Montenegro disappointment number 2: corrupt police.
South of Bar, we headed for campsite Uhjeha recommended by the Slovakian guy the previous day, which was tucked into a fairly touristy bay. Met by the usual stampede of campsite owners plying for trade we managed to manoeuvre ourselves into a very tight spot, rather too close to a Macedonian family in their tent but thankfully they didn't mind. Nothing really to see here, but we decided to stay a couple of nights, partly because it was so cheap yet again, and also we felt we had earned a day on the beach relaxing before Albania. The family from Macedonia turned out to be an absolute joy and we spent our last evening with them squeezed into what little space was left between our van and their tent. Suzanna spoke very good English, from her 6 month stint living in Brighton when the war in Yugoslavia temporarily moved her, and she was camping with her parents and young son. Her mother couldn't speak a word of English but that didn't stop her coming over and chatting away to us...she called Michael "London" and chirped away about how we should have lots of babies as we could surely fit four of them in our van! They showed us amazing hospitality, bringing us plates of their wonderful food to share, and even better - some of the fathers home brewed ouzo. We were truly spoilt by them, and it really touched us as they clearly had very little in terms of possessions; it was a reminder that we must be prepared with little gifts to offer in return of such kindness...there's only so many times you can offer English tea bags to these wonderful people.
We rose early the next day for our entry into Albania, both feeling a little off colour and not sure if it was the ouzo, some dodgy water or heat exhaustion. Just 5k before the Montenegro exit border we found our route blocked by a very recent and nasty looking traffic accident. Thankfully, aside from a nose bleed and cuts and scratches to some of those involved there were no serious injuries, just some very shaken people. There was of course though a hefty wait for the police to arrive and with no other way around we duly waited with the ever increasing queue of traffic both sides. Eventually we moved onwards and sailed through the exit border into Albania. Right then, where's the Albanian border, and our opportunity to buy insurance? Nothing in sight, and after 20 minutes of driving we realised there either wasn't one or we had overshot it. This did nothing for our anxiety levels; after all the stories of terrible road conditions and crazy drivers, Albania was the last place we wanted to be without insurance. Anyway we pressed on to just south of Durres, hoping to get things sorted the following day and to be honest, fairly pleasantly surprised by driving conditions. So much work is being done to the roads in Albania, and yes there are some ropey parts and the occasional pothole to swerve around, but we felt that everything we had read prior to our arrival was greatly exaggerated; we had seen worse roads in Montenegro, and the drivers in Croatia are as yet unrivalled in the crazyness-stakes. So, we arrived at Pa Emer campsite feeling reasonably relieved, to an extremely warm welcome from the owner Leonado who beckoned us up for a free espresso once we had found a pitch. I really needn't say anything about our pitch as you will see from the photo that this is about as good as it gets. Leonado is just lovely, an Albanian chap who spent 18 years living in Milan, only to return home and create his vision of a beautiful campsite in his home country. Obviously it helps that he is a landscape architect, and it is really apparent in the design of his 'vision'. Anyway to make things even easier he says he will take us to sort out insurance the next day and really he thinks we should see the capital so we'll stop in Tirane on the way. Top man.
So this takes us to today...and what a day we've had. 10am we met Leonado, him looking very 'Milan' in linen shirt and pastel jeans and he drove us through Tirane. We didn't stop but he pointed out enough sights for us to want to come back for a city break sometime very soon. And I recommend that you all do - there's even something of the 'New York' about the streets of Tirane. We tagged along to various construction sites while he nipped in for various meetings about landscape design and then he took us for some 'proper Albanian food', beautiful rice pilaf and meat stew. Then of course we had to go for some ice cream, although it turned out this was more to do with Leonado having an eye for the lovely Albanian girl in the shop opposite. We drove back towards the campsite, making a quick stop to pick up van insurance on the way - a mere 25 euros by the way, far less than the many high figures we had been led to believe before arriving. All the while we are receiving a well-informed briefing on how much Albania is working hard to improve it's roads and actually in general it's reputation amongst it's European neighbours. But you know what, we have realised it for ourselves anyway; Albania is an absolute gem. The people are incredibly friendly, the scenery especially out towards the mountains is just awesome, it really is just sitting here waiting to be given a chance by anyone prepared to forget the bad hype and make the journey here. We love it. Anyway, back to our day - Leonado wanted to make one more stop on the way back for coffee at his friends restaurant, so in we went. A young lad then walked us through the vineyards at the back of the restaurant, and unlocked the door to an underground cellar where there were huge vats full of last year's produce just waiting for us to have a taste. Beautiful stuff, both red and white, and 'no nasty pesticides' as Leonado explains. So naturally we bought a couple of bottles, very cheaply, and headed back to Pa Emer, both of us admitting to perhaps one of the best days of the trip so far and eternally grateful to Leonado for opening our eyes to wonderful Albania.
Tomorrow we head south on the coastal road which we hear is a stunning drive from some fellow English campers that live in France (I know weird or what?!). But for now, we are enjoying a fine evening indeed, about to take a lovely bottle of Albanian red to share with new friends.
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