The host of the apartment gets the AC fixed for the next guests (good for them!) and we get packed up and head to the other side of old town to a beach called Jaz. The beach here is pebbly but so clean and the water is so nice. We spend the 10 euros to get an umbrella and two chairs right on the water and spend 2 luxurious hours laying in the water and looking through all the lovely small stones/pebbles on the beach. Our bags are a little heavier now from all the pebbles the girls collected!
We head back to the apartment to gather our belongings and our tour van meets us here to pick us up and drive us to Albania.
The drive starts out pretty good but then we slowly realize that the AC in the van doesn’t seem to be working either! Arggghh…we are doomed to be hot. It must be 42 degrees outside and the driver is a total nutcase to boot!
After sweltering in the hot van until we are over the border into Albania we decide that having the windows open and at least having a breeze is better than sitting in the sweat box.
The driver is erratic and at the border does a crazy manoever to blow past a bunch of cars. At one point he is running back to the car with his shirt flying open and cigarette dangling from his mouth like some kind of crazed man. He actually gets pulled over by the Albanian police for trying to pass 4 cars on a blind corner in a no passing lane. He actually argued and yelled at the policeman, then tried to pay them off and in the end ended up with a ticket that he could pay on the spot. His behaviour would have landed anyone in Canada a nice place in the back of the police car!
They had included a nice good looking young woman as our guide and she coaxed him to calm down and we told him no more passing! We still found the rest of the drive very colourful thanks to him, and he seemed to cause quite a few very near misses once we hit Tirana but we ultimately made it to our hostel safe and sort of sound - although incredibly dehydrated and sweaty.
Our hostel is super trendy and has air conditioning that works! We have cold showers, get changed and have a nice beer in the cafe attached to the hostel. We are feeling much better!
We head out to the recommended restaurant, Era, and have one of if not THE best meals of our trip. The traditional Albanian food is amazing! Beautiful fresh salads and hearty meals. The service is impeccable - our server Ansi was fantastic! Generally, we have found the people here super friendly and helpful and while the city is obviously still going through some growing pains since its freedom from communism in 1992 it is lively and colourful and has a really great vibe.
We stroll back to the hostel and have an amazing sleep in the cool clean rooms. Let’s hope the trials of the last 24 hours are behind us!
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