Albanian Roads

I was not looking forward to driving today.  My memories of the roads in Albania were not good. However, there is no other easy way to get from Macedonia to Montenegro by car. The last time I passed through here, Jon was driving, I was sightseeing, and Sam was quoting his English teacher's comments on the book Broken April by Ismail Kadare, set in northern Albania. Initially there was some confusion as to whether this was the same place as Elbonia, in the Dilbert strips.

The road starts out with a steep descent from the border crossing, with hairpin bends and a view of the valley below. I was anticipating the barrage of car washes along the road, but was disappointed to find that their water supply must have dried up over the summer. There were a few guys spraying hoses around, and an inappropriate number of men soaping up the unusually high number of Mercedes vehicles on the side of the road. I'm not exaggerating when I say that 4 out of 5 cars here are Mercedes. If you want a possible explanation for this, and a good laugh, watch Top Gear's Driving in Albania .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyH-351Z_-0

I made sure I stopped to take a picture of one of the many bunkers dotted about Albania.

Tens of thousands were built years ago to repel an imagined invasion, and now stand abandoned. Since I was driving, I was able to stop the car on the side of the road for a photo op. 

There were many other things to stop for on the road: fallen rocks, pot holes and the men fixing the pot holes, stray dogs, cows, horse-drawn carts, bicycles, motorcycle-like contraptions, bus stops, and crossing pedestrians.  By the time we got to Tirana, I was ready for a break. We stopped at a local shopping mall out of curiosity for some lunch. The shoppers behaved in the mall like they do on the road, not bothered by rules. I was almost glad to be on the road again after an hour of that.

I was grateful to make it through Tirana without an accident, getting lost, or getting stopped by one of the many traffic cops. The GPS steered me true, and I had the benefit of having past experience.  Lanes seem unimportant, everyone is in a hurry, and there are no stop lights at an intersection.

Now, I think everyone who drives here should receive a certificate as they leave saying, "Congratulations, you successfully drove across Albania!" I certainly felt like celebrating when the car was safely parked outside our delightfully historic guesthouse which is part of a carefully restored 17th century house that once belonged to a famous Shkodran writer.