After North Macedonia, I travelled by bus to a country I dreamt to go for many many years : ALBANIA.
When I was young , it was impossible to believe you will travel freely one day in Albania. This country was the most closed country around the world with a dictator who ruled the country for many years without contact with most of the other countries of the planet.
Therefore, I was very enthusiastic to go there, and I arrived directly in the capital city of Albania, Tirana.
Today, the country is open and you have more and more tourists from all around the globe who are coming to visit Albania.
I went first to visit the city center with the historical museum and that something you have to visit definitely. I spent almost 3 hours there, because I love history.
Then, I went downtown just walking randomly in the city center, discovering the atmosphere of the capital of Albania.
You meet a lot of young people, enjoying life and freedom.
I decided the following day to catch the metro to go to the outskirt of the city where you have a mountain from which you have a nice point of view. I did half of the trek because there were nobody there, and then I went to visit the Bunker Museum. Hundred of thousands of bunkers were built by the dictator to prevent invasion and to prevent locals to leave the country. In this main Bunker, you can see rooms for president, ministers, ....
After that, I went back by bus downtown and appreciate evening in the city.
I left Tirana to reach Durres on the coast, but to be honest, it is not the most beautiful beach you can see in Albania. Durres was famous during History of the country, sort of limit between Western Europe and Ottoman Empire.
Then I travelled to Shroder city, at the border with Montenegro, and this is a marvelous city to visit, with its castle, its market and that's where I caught the bus to Thet , to make one part of the Peakofthebalkan trek ( I wrote an article on it ).
The castle is couple of kms away from downtown so you can walk and then you have to climb the hill to reach the medieval castle. The view on the lake is gorgeous.
Back in the city, I walked around and felt the atmosphere of happiness during this summer time. I found out where to catch the bus the following morning to Thet.
Thet is the " place " , in the mountains on north west of Albania, where you can begin for 10 to 12 days the trek called " Peaks of the Balkans " . You need online to feel a document , because you are going to cross border to enter Kosovo as well as Montenegro. It takes a week to receive this " permit ".
I didn't have it, so I walked the first day of the trek to the border of Montenegro and back. Second day, I went to see fabulous waterfalls, and the last two days , I walked the other direction to Valneva, where I slept one night, and back.
I am sure I will walk once the entire trek, because it is " a must " if you like nature.
I went back to Shkoder from where I left Albania to Montenegro.