Liz, Mark and I decided to go to Durres, a beach town about 45 minutes by bus from Tirana. We met around 9am and made our way to eagle square which is where all of the domestic buses in Tirana depart from. We were in Durres by 11am and were able to make it to our hostel in about a half hour on foot. The hostel was really cute with a big outdoor cafe space and an indoor communal lounge/kitchen space.
The rooms were themed and ours was named after Ernest Hemingway. We dropped our bags and set out to explore. My boss had recommended a seafood restaurant about an hour walk from our hostel so our plan was to walk along the ocean and leisurely make our way toward lunch. Our first stop was a small corner bakery with delicious looking treats. After each of us enjoyed a chocolate, we continued along toward the ocean.
Once hitting it we wandered along the beach and came to a boardwalk with a lot of shops and restaurants.
We chose a Mexican place with a big patio. We ordered margaritas (sidenote: I've tried twice to order margaritas at bars in Albania and have come to the conclusion that they just aren't good here, so I've stopped ordering them. However, since this was a Mexican restaurant, I figured I had to try again. Third time was definitely not a charm and I won't be ordering one again until I return to the states). We also ordered a plate of nachos. We were super excited for the guacamole, however, the wait staff informed us that they couldn't make it because they were out of a special type of salt. We tried to communicate with them that we didn't need a special salt in our guac and that they should still make it but they weren't having any of it. The guac-less nachos were still delicious but very different from traditional ones. They were made with these cheesy chips and this special sauce that was quite good.
We continued along the beach until we came to a large restaurant with picnic tables and beach access to chairs with umbrellas. We wanted to inquire about rental prices for Sunday, so we sat down and enjoyed a beer while we scoped out the best seats for sunning. The last leg of our walk was tiring as it was mostly uphill and in direct sun. However, the views of the beach from this restaurant were gorgeous so the trek was definitely worth it.
The restaurant was really crowded when we got there though, so we ended up sitting at a table for over half an hour before we got any drinks. We ordered some dishes to share and found that everything was quite good. At Albanian restaurants, instead of getting your check at the end of the meal, the waiters bring you a new check each time you order a dish. It gets a bit confusing by the time the fourth or fifth check is placed under the ash tray, but we were expecting this so we thought we had everything settled up by the end. We were about 20 minutes away from the restaurant when we were flagged down by a car. Our waiter was catching up with us to let us know that we had not paid for our wine. What? Well where was the wine check? Umm... He was upset because he had forgotten to give it to us and because we never asked for it. Well... we had four checks that were all in Albanian so we assumed our wine was included in those. Guess not. After a little bit of back and forth we paid him and continued on our journey back toward town. We sat in some chairs on a more secluded area of the beach and figured we would watch the sunset from there. However, when we headed up to the wooden shack that they were attached to in an attempt to order drinks we were met with bartenders who were barely able to see over the counter. They were 13 or 14 years old, tops. There was no way I was ordering drinks from these kids, so we wandered down the beach a bit to a restaurant with an outdoor terrace overlooking the ocean. Our waiter was a much more appropriate age, so we ordered some drinks and enjoyed the view from the padded outdoor couches. The sunset over the water was very beautiful.
One of my and Liz's colleagues, Esther, has a house in Durres. She invited us to come by for drinks after sunset. The only problem was figuring out where she lived. Again, we ran into the problem of addresses not existing, so Esther told us to head to a local hotel that was down the street from her house. She met us there and walked us back to where she, her husband and son lived. They had a nice big outdoor space with snacks and drinks. Esther's husband even brought out some Albanian moonshine for us to try. I stomached a glass of it whereas Mark seemed to quite enjoy the stuff and had more than a glass or two (if you know what I mean). Esther's son went down the road and picked up pizzas for everyone. At the end of the night, we headed back to our hostel in a taxi and went to bed in anticipation of a beach day tomorrow.
Sunday we got up and had breakfast at our hostel, which included hardboiled eggs, cheese, cucumber and tomato. We set out toward the beach but first had to stop and see the amphitheater, which was built in the 2nd century and was used for performances in Durres.
We also went to see the Roman baths which are mostly ruins.
Walking further down the street we saw a sign for 'Aldi' so Jimmy we're hoping this means you'll come to Albania :)
Next stop: lounging in the sun on some beach chairs.
After enjoying a delicious late lunch (I had Albanian fish soup and salad) we made our way back toward the buses so that we could be in Tirana by dinnertime. On the bus ride back we met a really nice local Albanian girl who showed us where to get on the buses that would take us from eagle square to the zoo. It was a really fun weekend and I'm so glad we got to explore one of the beach towns before the weather turns.
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