Our Second Hike in Albania

January 26th, 2019

Mark knew that I wasn't about to put up with another random hike he'd selected from his so-called hiker app, so he asked one of his coworkers who lives on Dajti to recommend a route for us.We took the bus up the mountain and then started our hike near the terminal for the Djati Express Cars. The weather was sunny and warm and the trail (which we were able to follow for our entire hike!) provided some excellent 360 views.

Along the way there were many bunkers, tunnels and caves to explore.

On the way down we were able to walk through the towns along the base and stopped for a coffee at a small Albanian shop. After, we hopped on the bus that took us back into Tirana and grabbed lunch at a really delicious really cheap greek restaurant. That night we went to an expat organized games night at a bar near our apartment. There was a big turnout and we ended up playing until 10 or 11 at which point we decided to continue the evening with Shelby, Callie and Andrew. We checked out a new irish pub where we were given complimentary raki shots. No. Thank. You. We finished the night at Charl's with live music and dancing, which was a great end to an (not so) adventurous day.

Our First Hike in Albania

January 19th, 2019

Our plan was to hike four hours through the mountains and up to a castle that has been restored as a restaurant overlooking the city of Tirana. We set out and our route led us into a brand new subdivision that dead ended. Oops. So we backtracked and cut through a field that backed up to a fence. Oops. Back through the wet, squishy field we went, out to the main road. We decided to just follow the road to the base of the mountain. There was SO. MUCH. TRASH. while at the same time, SO. MUCH. BEAUTY.

We climbed higher and higher until we came to an abandoned military bunker that we obviously had to explore.

We left the paved road and continued on a wet, muddy narrow grass path up the mountain. There was rain, but it wasn't terrible. We finally reached the top (after having to climb through a hole in the fence that Mark assured me existed for hikers on this "path") and the views were gorgeous.

We could see the city on one side of the mountain and the country on the other. We tried to make our way down the mountain into the country but we lost the path. This time our way was crowded with shrubs, bushes and branches, but we were able to push through it.

Finally though, we came to thickets as far as the eye could see of tall thorn bushes. We attempted to climb through but after only a minute realized that we wouldn't make it so we turned back. The sun was starting to set and we weren't sure how we were going to get down this mountain.

Mark kept pushing us farther and farther horizontally along the mountain, hoping that the thicket of thorn bushes wouldn't wrap all the way around. Sure enough, we found a passage and hurriedly climbed down the side of the mountain.

There was no clear way to the road, and multiple times we wandered into backyards of the mountain folk, only to find ourselves stuck. We made our way horizontally toward the other side of the mountain and finally found a passageway that dumped us out onto a side street that eventually led us to the main road.

At this point we had already been hiking for four hours and we were only just at the base of the mountain. We looked at a map and determined it would easily be another two hours of walking before we made it up the castle. We found a small coffee shop in the country town and convinced one of the patrons to drive us to the castle. He was greek and spoke little english, but we were able to communicate enough that we would pay him and that we would really appreciate his help. Although his gas tank was on E the entire way, we ended up making it to the base of the castle. In order to get to the top we had to climb a hundred plus stone steps that curved along the side of the mountain. The view was breathtaking. We sat in the tower of the castle to eat a well deserved dinner consisting of delicious cheese, bread, salad and lamb chops. We even enjoyed a bit of a traditional dessert from the diners at the table next to us. (They noticed us eyeballing it and heard us trying to ask our waiter what it was, so they brought some over for us to try!)

Walking down the stone steps after dark and after some wine wasn't my favorite part of the day,  but we made it to the base all the same.

 We taxi-ed back to Tirana and had to laugh at ourselves because the ride was a mere 15 minutes compared to the four plus hours it took us walking. Nevertheless, it was an adventure all the same. I've made it very clear to Mark however that the next time we hike there needs to be a designated trail for THE ENTIRE TIME.

29 And Feeling Oh So Fine!

February 7-10th, 2019

Thursday night two of the American girls I've become friends with, Callie & Shelby, came over for appetizers and drinks. They brought me a sweet treat with a candle in it and sang happy birthday to me. It was a wonderful, low key celebration in the comfort and warmth of my own apartment. Win-Win!
Friday morning was even better because I awoke to the smell of homemade breakfast- bacon, eggs and oranges from my wonderful husband. On my way to the kitchen I came across the birthday signs he had made. Birthday signs are one of my favorite birthday traditions from childhood and the fact that he brought it here to Albania with us was really sweet. At breakfast he introduced me to "birthday roulette" a term he had coined for the game he wanted me to play. There were 4 playing cards on the table that represented the four destinations we could end up traveling to for the weekend. I picked a card and was then given a full itinerary for Ohrid, Macedonia. Woo! We had never been. I was really excited!

After work Friday I met Mark at his office so that we could get dinner before going to the bus station. We ate at a local albanian chain and I had souflaque e hapur (an open faced doner sandwich) which was delicious! We purchased tickets, which were 25 euro each, for the 7pm bus. We asked the woman if we could pay in lek (it is Albania after all) and she informed us that we could but that the exchange rate was terrible. We looked at her conversion and it sure was! Damn. We headed to the exchange so that we could swap our lek for euro. It was a great lesson for us to remember to always ask if there is another currency option and if so what the exchange rate is. We were in the back row of a packed furgon (small van that fits 16-20 people). The van stopped four times during our journey. Two of those were before we even made it out of Tirana! At one of the stops to find the toilet I had to walk through a restaurant and into the dark backyard where there was a squattie with no running water. Was I in Thailand again? When we arrived at the border we were all ordered out of the van and made to stand in an open garage where they searched all of our suitcases. While this was happening, men were also searching the van. We then boarded the bus, gave our passports to border control, drove the bus 25 feet across the border and waited to get our passports back, only to hand them over to another border agent on this side. The entire process took longer than 45 minutes. Mark and I have driven vans across the border before and this has never been our experience so we were definitely shocked. Two men were detained at the border however, so maybe there was something "special" going on in our van. Anyway, we were finally dropped on the side of the road in Ohrid at 12:15am. It was below 30 degrees and it was pitch black. Thank goodness we found a taxi driver who spoke English (we later came to find that everyone in Macedonia speaks really good English) and knew where our accommodation was. Thank goodness again that as we were pulling into the entrance of our hotel another car was pulling out. The car stopped to speak with our taxi driver and sure enough it was the hotel owner. He had given up all hope of us making it for the evening so he was heading home for the night. Phew! That was a close one! He ushered us inside this super eclectic lobby and showed us up to our room.

Our room was cute and spacious. We later came to find that the heat was subpar and the blankets weren't large enough for the bed so instead they had put two single comforters for us to share 😆We were exhausted after our trip so headed to bed pretty quickly. I woke up in the middle of the night to find that we had very, very little toilet paper in our bathroom. Surely there had to be another roll. I searched high and low. There was not. I quickly prayed that I wouldn't have to use the toilet more than once and made the decision that Mark wasn't allowed to use the toilet at all. Unfortunately I did have to use the toilet once more and so I had to resort to using makeup removing wipes. Never again will I travel without my own TP. Mark hurried downstairs early the next morning hoping that the hotel owner would be there so that he could get some toilet paper. And yes he was! Thank goodness again! Although the weather was cold, the sunshine was gorgeous, so we set out to explore Ohrid. We wandered down the cobblestone path and found a fresh squeezed juice bar. The juice was delicious although it was definitely not as cheap as it had been in Morocco. We continued exploring and wandered past shops, restaurants, cafes and exchanges. We stopped in at a small pizza place with a great view. We sat inside, but we were right next to the sunny window overlooking the beautiful outdoor courtyard. The greek salad and pizza were absolutely fabulous and we both ate our fill.

After enjoying our meal, we walked through the outdoor courtyard to see the historical buildings housed there. Unfortunately the placards were in Macedonian, so we're not sure what we saw, but we do know that it was charming.

We continued exploring and came to a paper making museum. We went inside and chatted with the man who had been running the shop for over 25 years. He was really friendly and went through the process with us, step by step. His shop also contained an exact replica of the printing press, which there are only three of in Europe.

After saying our goodbyes we entered the old house of a prominent Macedonian family turned into a museum. Seeing the different rooms in the home, as well as the clothing and furniture was fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the large meeting room with a beautifully carved wooden table and chairs with a matching armoire. The detail was absolutely spectacular. 

Our next stop was a small one room woodcarving studio with ceilings to low for Mark to stand fully upright under. The artisan was incredibly friendly and explained to us that Macedonian woodcarving is an ancient tradition and that he and his father own one of two shops left in the town. The styles of carving between the two shops are very different. He explained that there are three levels of carvings. To use his words, "the first is on flat wood. The next stands but is still connected to the wood and the third stands but has disconnected parts." The carvings take hours and hours to complete and are usually given as wedding gifts.

After learning so many things about historical Macedonian culture, we decided it was time to explore the Macedonian drink culture. Ohrid is famous for its homemade wines so we stopped to enjoy a glass from one of the local vineyards that was served at a tiny table along the cobblestone street. We enjoyed watching the passersby and could see the lake and mountains in the background.

We decided to walk along the lake which provided stunning views. The wind was terribly cold though.

 We went into a bar with huge windows so we could watch the sunset while enjoying a local beer. (I liked the wine better.)

 We walked back to our hotel to have a shower before making our way out for the evening. I needed to put on some warmer clothes as the temperature was expected to drop. For dinner we went to a lovely traditional restaurant named Dalga. There was a four man band playing and singing beautiful Macedonian songs while we dined. We started with local wines and then ordered an appetizer. We told our waiter that we wanted to try Macedonian cuisine, so he recommended a warm cheese dish. It arrived and it was literally two huge mozzarella stick triangles. You mean to tell me that our frozen and then fried bar food from America has made its way to Macedonia? My main course was delightful and definitely made up for the "mozzarella sticks". I ate grilled trout that had been caught fresh from the lake that day while Mark ate a breaded cheese and pork kiev. It was about 9 when we finished dinner.

We walked from bar to bar looking for live music or at least a good spot along the water to enjoy a beer. Unfortunately bar after bar was closed. We found one that was open and asked the owner about having a drink. Apparently we missed the memo because he told us that the music in Ohrid doesn't start until midnight or after so we'd need to wait. That's also why all of the bars were closed now, because they would stay open until five o'clock in the morning. What?! Didn't he know I was celebrating my 29th birthday and not my 21st? There was no way Mark and I could hang with this crowd. What were we going to do for three more hours? We tried one place that was supposed to be a jazz club but all we found was a smoky casino. On our way home we stopped by the grocery store to grab two beers that we could enjoy while skyping with Hank during his first birthday party. (Now that's more our speed.) After the call Mark gave me a pair of earrings he'd purchased to match my ring that he'd been hiding since November. I was truly taken aback because he had done so much for my birthday already so I definitely wasn't expecting a gift. It was a really, really sweet gesture. And it's a gift I absolutely love.
The next morning we took another walk around the lake and had breakfast at a cafe with big windows overlooking the water.

 I ordered fresh squeezed orange juice and could not have been happier about it. We walked from breakfast to get a taxi to the bus station but on our way encountered donuts. Yes, you read that correctly, donuts, my most favorite treat ever. Mark had tried so hard to get me a donut for my birthday in Tirana but had no luck so finding this in Macedonia was like a small birthday miracle. We shared an apple filled one before continuing on our walk to toward the taxi stand.

At our hotel they told us that although the bus drops off in Ohrid it doesn't pick up in Ohrid. Weird? So we would have to take a taxi 25 minutes to another town where there is an actual bus station. The hotel confirmed that there was a 2:40 bus we could take. We arrived at the station around 1:15 and headed inside to order our tickets. The woman behind the counter told us there was no bus until tomorrow. But how can that be? Our hotel read the bus schedule to us. Nope. This woman was not budging. We asked what our other options were but all she kept saying was "tomorrow". Greattt. Just greattt. Just then, one of the taxi drivers who had been sitting outside in the parking lot walked in and asked where we were trying to go. We told him Tirana and he offered to take us for 70 euro. Wait, we spent 50 euro to sit in a crowded furgon that took 5 hours to get here and this guy's offering to take us door to door in a private car for 70? We knew we were getting ripped off. We knew that this was a scheme. But what else were we going to do? Our only choice was to wait at the bus station until 2:40pm to see if a bus showed up, but at that time we would have wasted another hour and a half. We sucked it up and took the taxi. We were through the border in less than 5 minutes and didn't even have to exit the vehicle, let alone have our luggage checked. The taxi driver dropped us at our door in less than two and a half hours. We were home and it was still light outside! Score! It may not have worked out exactly as we had planned, but then again most things don't.  Overall it was a fun birthday getaway!