A Less Mysterious Country
Place: Saranda, Albania
So yes...you guess it! I eventually make only "daytrip" to Albania.
But looking at a brighter side, I have a few extra days to rest my sore back before I continue the second leg of my trip. It is so hot here in the afternoon, so I am not sure if I am able to handle the hassle of finding the bus station in Saranda, buying a ticket to Tirana, then trying to find my way around Tirana (and Tirana is dusty and signs are bad , I heard). And by the way, I may need to accomplish all these without understanding a word of Albanian (well, two words I know, "yes" and "no").
25Euros for a daytrip is not really that bad either. Adding another 5 Euros, they will pick you up at your hotel (it is important since I stay at a resort 45 minutes' drive from the port and local bus is not frequent). However, there are other extra charges, such as £รก9 for a same-day Albanian port tax and if I want to visit the ancient site Butrinti, another 18.5 Euros.
As the boat got closer to the Albanian shore, I started to feel of visiting a complete new country. Albania is actually a quite intriguing and mysterious place. It is so close to Corfu yet feels so remote. Nobody I talked to in the Pink Palace plans to travel to Albania, not even for a day. Almost all of them continue their trip to Italy, which is an overnight ferry away, or continue to Athens and other Greek islands. Few people even show vague interest in visiting Albania.
Before 1992, when communists were still in power (more than two years after all other communist regime collapsed in other Eastern Bloc countries), Albania is the most sealed off country in Europe (as they said, "North Korea of Europe"). However, this country has opened up for almost 15 years now. Still, there seems not much interest for people to travel there. While Corfu is one of the most touristy islands in Europe, a few kilometers away on the other side of Corfu Straight. Albania remains the less traveled country in Europe. "Let's Go East Europe" did not even send any travel researcher to Albania for their newest edition and thus this country is not included in this famous budget travel guide. The only information I can use is from "Lonely Planet Western Balkan" (mainly about republics from former Yugoslavia) and "In Your Pocket Tirana" (http://www.inyourpocket.com). The former makes traveling to Albania inspiring but a little daunting, the latter just makes it so depressing.
I eventually decided to pay that 18.5 Euro extra to see Butrinti (even after last year's trip to Turkey, I have been quite tired of the ancient Greek/Roman sites). However, Butrinti is actually nicer than I thought. The site is relative huge, beautifully situated next to a salt lake. The signs are bilingual in both Albanian and English. Exhibition is well organized. Albania does try hard to attract tourists. With a lot of young people brave the sun and work on the site, it seems the excavation is still ongoing.
Back to Saranda, a seaside resort now undergone a building boom, I found it also much nicer and cleaner than I expected. Though there seems not too many foreign tourists around (unlike that island just across the Straight). Build it, then they will come. Maybe.
I also found Saranda's bus stop. It is just a small lot and no bus was there when I dropped by. The last bus to Tirana might have already gone. But that's fine, I'm going back to Corfu today, not continuing to Tirana.
Of course, I'm still feeling a little at loss to stop by this mysterious country for only a few hours. It doesn't seem as mysterious as what I had read. If judging only by the appearances of both Butrinti and Saranda, I would say Albania is no less developed than other Balkan countries. Maybe other parts of Albania are still not as developed and still quite challenging for independent travelers? Who knows if you don't travel around and experience that yourself?
I will still have opportunities to travel to Tirana before I return to Athens for my returning flight in mid-August if I travel from Bulgaria to Macedonia. We will see..
At least for now, I can claim that I have been to Albania. And by ever having traveling to Albania, I have been to every single European country with a Mediterranean coastline (well, I guess Malta and Cyprus are not a part of Europe?)
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