Already time to check out of our apartment! We made our breakfast and lunch like yesterday, packhorsed ourselves and walked to the Choose Balkans Apartment offices. The lovely lady wasn't there but a young man greeted us warmly and let us leave our stuff. I happened to mention that the lady had offered us some home made raki, but it was a little early in the morning so we would try it when we collected our bags.
Our first stop today was return to the pyramid so Dan could climb it. My shoes are too slippery - it would have been a disaster! I set up my cameras and away he went - the "third" slope is the easiest as it is the least steep. He got a good amount of momentum and was on the top in no time! Another guy was trying at the same time and neither he nor his girlfriend were having much luck. I took a few photos of Dan on the peak before he slid down - literally. I took a video and I couldn't stop giggling - he slid down like he was on a slippery slide! I'm sure most people just try to run down - this was far more sensible. Only made his pants a bit dusty. He inspired a big group of teenage girls who started trying once he got down.
Next we needed to find magnets and postcards. We had seen only one place that sold them so we returned there. The selection wasn't great but it'll do - they're not totally geared up for tourists just yet! It was good not having crappy tourist stores every second shop.
We walked down the leafy street until we came to one of te stops from yesterday and we remembered it was an art gallery with artwork from communist times. That sounded interesting and upon inquiring at the price, only 200lek we grabbed ourselves some tickets.
We both find communist propaganda so interesting. It's just mind boggling. Here were all these painting of stoic, happy people - each painting sends a message of strength, unity, happiness, togetherness when in actuality life was none of these things. The paintings go from realistic (pre- communism) to cartoonlike and stylised. Just fascinating. As our guide had said the day before, "look at these weird paintings. Well, I grew up with them and they weren't so weird then."
We had heard of a fast food chain called kolonat which was like a fake McDonalds. On that note - there are no Maccas in Albania. They got their first KFC two years ago - not even a Starbucks...yet. Anyway the kolonat had a kind of "frie" logo and we went looking for it. Where it was supposed
To be was all closed off. Bugger. There was supposed to be another near the bunker park that we wanted to go return to do we gave that a go.
And Lo and behold we found it! It no longer had the cool logo - probably legal action from Maccas did this? And they only take cash. This was a problem. We had come all this way and we only had 400lek on us. This could buy us two cheeseburgers so we thought we would compare it to Maccas cheeseburgers. It was tasty! And pretty close.
We took some photos in the bunker park and made our way back to the Choose Balkans offices to collect our bags and hopefully try some home made raki!
At the offices he seemed to have forgotten about the raki but when I paused in the collection of my bag he then asked. He poured three shots (one for himself as well) and offered to the others in there and cheers! Down the hatch. It wasn't too bad - I didn't shudder wven though it was very strong. The American who was being served took it upon himself to tell us in great detail the method for making raki, and then the Choose Balkans guy poured us another little one. He said it's tradition to have a photo with it, so we posed and downed the next one.
This would numb the pain of having to walk to the international bus station - at least about 25 minutes away in the muggy warmth. We had one small pause with 10 minutes left on the walk but made it there relatively easily. We will be having to do a lot more of this over the coming months!
At the bus station I checked us in and asked where the toilets were. Squat toilets, my favourite. Our bus was already waiting and when it hit 3pm (we had been quite early) we could put our bags on and soon after get on the bus.
The few people getting on were all squashed up the back (us included) - I figured we would pick up a few more people along the way. As usual my travel sickness pills knocked me out almost immediately so I indeed up missing durres! Dan assured me there wasn't much to see from the bus. Unfortunately this hour is about the sun total of sleep I got on the journey.
At one toilet stop was a particularly hikarkous cat. He had plonked himself right in the doorway to get inside the snack bar and toilet and would flinch but resoultutely stayed put. He shied away from all advances and Dan only managed a brief pat. What a silly place for an unsociable cat to stop! Someone everntually kicked him out of the way.
When we set out I was a bit apprehensive about our 15 hour bus journey and sitting on a bus for nigh on 15 hours. This isn't what actually happened. What I hadn't bargained on was the border crossing. Now there was a song and dance!
Three hours it took to cross the border from Albania into Greece. This three hours must be quite standard because we got into Athens at the expected arrival time. The first thing that happened was we pulled up behind a convey of other buses and stopped. Immediately had we come to a standstill and our doors were open, the bus was flooded with people. Were these people security or police or border control? No these people were shop owners and selling things. Everything. From bread rolls to pot plants, salespeople piled onto the bus from every available door.
Outside of the bus was a cafe, bar and lots of shops. Obviously they knew that there would be a wait...
Eventually after about an hour and a half, our driver passed down the bus to collect passports. I'll mention here one of our delightful fellow passsengers who insisted on talking with people on her phone on FaceTime or speaker for the duration of the journey so far. Then when time to hand over passport she wasn't ready. We had been sitting here for almost and hour and a half and she somehow wasn't prepared.
After another age we all piled off, grabbing our belongings. This was very confusing as some people were moving and others weren't but it just turned out They were moving very lazily and not hastily. I grabbed most of my stuff and hopped off the bus, where everyone had collected their luggage and was opening up.
Wut. Really. We have so much luggage this is gonna take an ice age. By the time we even found space on a table a lot of people had already been checked and so we opened every bag and waited patiently. The man had long moved on from our position and I was certain we would be last. Another man appeared from nowhere and literally patted my bags, but his Hand slightly inside Dans big purple bag, patted the top and moved on. Seriously we had gone to all that effort for that? So we struggled our bags closed and our locks back on, and were one of the last people back on the bus.
This whole spectacle started at 8.10pm and ended at 10.10pm. Two hours. And it wasn't quite over yet.
Back on the bus we received our passports back and drove through the Albanian border crossing. And stopped on the other side.
Piling back out of the bus again it was time for some performance on the Greek side. We all made a mass near the building office, some hanging back others pushing to form a bit of a queue. Eventually our driver starting calling out names and we realised we needed to line up in our seat order (to make it easy on security I guess.)
About halfway through our driver read out a name with no response. He looked puzzled and continued reading a couple more names, including and ending with Dans name. Not everyone's name had been read out as we watched or driver go back on the bus, find a bag and take it off and bring it through security...I think we may have left someone somewhere!
Phone lady was infront of me but pushed herself forward so she could lean on a wall. Eventually it was time for me to go up, pretty quick and easy - this time we got a stamp for entering Greece (no Albania stamp sadly!) and Dan and I were officially in Greece.
As is my wont I needed to pee and so we circumnavigated a nearby building eventually realising the door being guarded by a troll was in fact the toilet. He was shouting all sorts at us (I think it may have been about the toilets) but I was too scared to go alone so I made dan come trough with me and go to the men's. The troll ran up behind us which gave me a fright but it was just to show which one was he men's and which the women's.
This is a bathroom worth mentioning. Along the mirror was the remains of about five sinks, all smashed in with buckets trying to collect some of the water flowing out of the taps. The entire floor was flooded and I was presented with some questionable squat toilets.
I tried to spend as little time in there as possible and literally ran past the troll on my way out - dan had given him a couple of coins.
By the time we were all back on the bus and through the border it was well after 11pm, bringing the whole shemozzle to approx 3 hours.
Over the next few hours I dozed but mostly just willed the time to pass. At about 5am someone up the back of the bus started shouting extremely loudly and persistently. When he got off about a half an hour later I realised that Mr Shouty had wanted to be let off before the Athens stop. No discreet walking down the bus to the driver, no, let's shout up and down the bus. I was fully awake now (as awake as one can be on no sleep) and just sat there waiting to arrive into Athens.
From my googling I thought we would arrive into the international bus station which was a 40+ minute walk from our accom, or deal with metro or taxis at 6.30am after no sleep. This was a stressful thought. Now we were in Greece our phone data works again (yay, EU!) so Dan checked and actually we were somewhere else only about a 15 minute walk!
I shall leave this post here as our accommodation in Greece deserves a chapter of its own - it was *quite* the experience, so I will finish with the picture of us walking through the streets of Athens in the pitch black before sunrise, laden with all of our luggage.
Til next time
xx
Our first stop today was return to the pyramid so Dan could climb it. My shoes are too slippery - it would have been a disaster! I set up my cameras and away he went - the "third" slope is the easiest as it is the least steep. He got a good amount of momentum and was on the top in no time! Another guy was trying at the same time and neither he nor his girlfriend were having much luck. I took a few photos of Dan on the peak before he slid down - literally. I took a video and I couldn't stop giggling - he slid down like he was on a slippery slide! I'm sure most people just try to run down - this was far more sensible. Only made his pants a bit dusty. He inspired a big group of teenage girls who started trying once he got down.
Next we needed to find magnets and postcards. We had seen only one place that sold them so we returned there. The selection wasn't great but it'll do - they're not totally geared up for tourists just yet! It was good not having crappy tourist stores every second shop.
We walked down the leafy street until we came to one of te stops from yesterday and we remembered it was an art gallery with artwork from communist times. That sounded interesting and upon inquiring at the price, only 200lek we grabbed ourselves some tickets.
We both find communist propaganda so interesting. It's just mind boggling. Here were all these painting of stoic, happy people - each painting sends a message of strength, unity, happiness, togetherness when in actuality life was none of these things. The paintings go from realistic (pre- communism) to cartoonlike and stylised. Just fascinating. As our guide had said the day before, "look at these weird paintings. Well, I grew up with them and they weren't so weird then."
We had heard of a fast food chain called kolonat which was like a fake McDonalds. On that note - there are no Maccas in Albania. They got their first KFC two years ago - not even a Starbucks...yet. Anyway the kolonat had a kind of "frie" logo and we went looking for it. Where it was supposed
To be was all closed off. Bugger. There was supposed to be another near the bunker park that we wanted to go return to do we gave that a go.
And Lo and behold we found it! It no longer had the cool logo - probably legal action from Maccas did this? And they only take cash. This was a problem. We had come all this way and we only had 400lek on us. This could buy us two cheeseburgers so we thought we would compare it to Maccas cheeseburgers. It was tasty! And pretty close.
We took some photos in the bunker park and made our way back to the Choose Balkans offices to collect our bags and hopefully try some home made raki!
At the offices he seemed to have forgotten about the raki but when I paused in the collection of my bag he then asked. He poured three shots (one for himself as well) and offered to the others in there and cheers! Down the hatch. It wasn't too bad - I didn't shudder wven though it was very strong. The American who was being served took it upon himself to tell us in great detail the method for making raki, and then the Choose Balkans guy poured us another little one. He said it's tradition to have a photo with it, so we posed and downed the next one.
This would numb the pain of having to walk to the international bus station - at least about 25 minutes away in the muggy warmth. We had one small pause with 10 minutes left on the walk but made it there relatively easily. We will be having to do a lot more of this over the coming months!
At the bus station I checked us in and asked where the toilets were. Squat toilets, my favourite. Our bus was already waiting and when it hit 3pm (we had been quite early) we could put our bags on and soon after get on the bus.
The few people getting on were all squashed up the back (us included) - I figured we would pick up a few more people along the way. As usual my travel sickness pills knocked me out almost immediately so I indeed up missing durres! Dan assured me there wasn't much to see from the bus. Unfortunately this hour is about the sun total of sleep I got on the journey.
At one toilet stop was a particularly hikarkous cat. He had plonked himself right in the doorway to get inside the snack bar and toilet and would flinch but resoultutely stayed put. He shied away from all advances and Dan only managed a brief pat. What a silly place for an unsociable cat to stop! Someone everntually kicked him out of the way.
When we set out I was a bit apprehensive about our 15 hour bus journey and sitting on a bus for nigh on 15 hours. This isn't what actually happened. What I hadn't bargained on was the border crossing. Now there was a song and dance!
Three hours it took to cross the border from Albania into Greece. This three hours must be quite standard because we got into Athens at the expected arrival time. The first thing that happened was we pulled up behind a convey of other buses and stopped. Immediately had we come to a standstill and our doors were open, the bus was flooded with people. Were these people security or police or border control? No these people were shop owners and selling things. Everything. From bread rolls to pot plants, salespeople piled onto the bus from every available door.
Outside of the bus was a cafe, bar and lots of shops. Obviously they knew that there would be a wait...
Eventually after about an hour and a half, our driver passed down the bus to collect passports. I'll mention here one of our delightful fellow passsengers who insisted on talking with people on her phone on FaceTime or speaker for the duration of the journey so far. Then when time to hand over passport she wasn't ready. We had been sitting here for almost and hour and a half and she somehow wasn't prepared.
After another age we all piled off, grabbing our belongings. This was very confusing as some people were moving and others weren't but it just turned out They were moving very lazily and not hastily. I grabbed most of my stuff and hopped off the bus, where everyone had collected their luggage and was opening up.
Wut. Really. We have so much luggage this is gonna take an ice age. By the time we even found space on a table a lot of people had already been checked and so we opened every bag and waited patiently. The man had long moved on from our position and I was certain we would be last. Another man appeared from nowhere and literally patted my bags, but his Hand slightly inside Dans big purple bag, patted the top and moved on. Seriously we had gone to all that effort for that? So we struggled our bags closed and our locks back on, and were one of the last people back on the bus.
This whole spectacle started at 8.10pm and ended at 10.10pm. Two hours. And it wasn't quite over yet.
Back on the bus we received our passports back and drove through the Albanian border crossing. And stopped on the other side.
Piling back out of the bus again it was time for some performance on the Greek side. We all made a mass near the building office, some hanging back others pushing to form a bit of a queue. Eventually our driver starting calling out names and we realised we needed to line up in our seat order (to make it easy on security I guess.)
About halfway through our driver read out a name with no response. He looked puzzled and continued reading a couple more names, including and ending with Dans name. Not everyone's name had been read out as we watched or driver go back on the bus, find a bag and take it off and bring it through security...I think we may have left someone somewhere!
Phone lady was infront of me but pushed herself forward so she could lean on a wall. Eventually it was time for me to go up, pretty quick and easy - this time we got a stamp for entering Greece (no Albania stamp sadly!) and Dan and I were officially in Greece.
As is my wont I needed to pee and so we circumnavigated a nearby building eventually realising the door being guarded by a troll was in fact the toilet. He was shouting all sorts at us (I think it may have been about the toilets) but I was too scared to go alone so I made dan come trough with me and go to the men's. The troll ran up behind us which gave me a fright but it was just to show which one was he men's and which the women's.
This is a bathroom worth mentioning. Along the mirror was the remains of about five sinks, all smashed in with buckets trying to collect some of the water flowing out of the taps. The entire floor was flooded and I was presented with some questionable squat toilets.
I tried to spend as little time in there as possible and literally ran past the troll on my way out - dan had given him a couple of coins.
By the time we were all back on the bus and through the border it was well after 11pm, bringing the whole shemozzle to approx 3 hours.
Over the next few hours I dozed but mostly just willed the time to pass. At about 5am someone up the back of the bus started shouting extremely loudly and persistently. When he got off about a half an hour later I realised that Mr Shouty had wanted to be let off before the Athens stop. No discreet walking down the bus to the driver, no, let's shout up and down the bus. I was fully awake now (as awake as one can be on no sleep) and just sat there waiting to arrive into Athens.
From my googling I thought we would arrive into the international bus station which was a 40+ minute walk from our accom, or deal with metro or taxis at 6.30am after no sleep. This was a stressful thought. Now we were in Greece our phone data works again (yay, EU!) so Dan checked and actually we were somewhere else only about a 15 minute walk!
I shall leave this post here as our accommodation in Greece deserves a chapter of its own - it was *quite* the experience, so I will finish with the picture of us walking through the streets of Athens in the pitch black before sunrise, laden with all of our luggage.
Til next time
xx
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