Tirana > Vlorë

We had a late start today so did a nice 4 mile walk through town and into a park about 30 minutes away. I must say, my first impressions of Tirana are it’s a great, vibrant, hip city. Maybe it was the glow of yesterday’s beautiful afternoon and today’s picture-perfect early Sunday morning but with lots of trees, parks, futuristic buildings clean streets, sculptures, statues, cafes everywhere – I’m liking it!

At 9:30am we wheeled our luggage out to the minibus to begin our drive south to Durrës. Ted, our new guide, gave a detailed history lesson on Albania, and I took notes, but I think I don’t really need to transcribe them here. Ted’s an archaeologist by training too so I’m sure we’ll learn lots!

One interesting tidbit: in describing the years Albania was under Communism Ted said in comparison North Korea is an “open” country vs how restrictive Albania was during those 50 years.

Durrës is a seaside town very important in ancient Roman times as the gateway from the Adriatic Sea to the eastern empire along the Via Egnatia. It had 100,000 residents in its heyday and ergo lots of ruins, mostly buried under modern constructions.

We strolled to the beach, had lunch, then a leisurely walk back along the promenade to the bus for a 1.5 hour drive to Vlorë.

I’m sure Ted told us some interesting facts about Vlorë but….? It was the place that the Treaty of Independence for Albania was signed in 1912 (= big statue), and it’s an important coastal port.

It’s got a small old town of only 2 blocks of beautified buildings from the ‘20’s & 30’s with cafes and souvenir shops; and a big, prosperous looking new town (no pics).

Our hotel is right on the beach and at 9pm I’ve got the party going on beneath my bedroom window 🙂 Being a Sunday maybe it won’t go on too late?