I recently got to publish the previous Albania travel blog and now I’m writing a new one. Sometimes I’m downright jealous of Helsinki residents who can hop straight on the plane or decide to have an evening coffee in Tallinn today. North Karelia is almost forced to travel first for one day to get to the airport and make the schedules suitable for onward connections.

This time we decided to fold the trip to Helsinki by train and dragged our suitcases through the snowdrifts. I lifted the heaviest bag into the hold for my first work on the hat rack and then down again as meltwater began to flow from the bench in front of it.

The check-in only had to be done at the airport because for some reason it was not successful online or with the phone app. I also bought the service from Supersaver for a test, but to no avail. From there, I got the message that the doing should be done at the airport. I called the plane while waiting for the plane to grow up and tried to be convincing. Apparently they succeeded because the money promised to be returned. The problem was reportedly in the incompatible systems of Turkish Airlines and Air Albany.

During the flight, we enjoyed something that Finnair and Norwegian, for example, have long since forgotten. The Turkish offers a piece of hot food and drink as a button. The 30-pound suitcase also goes into the hold for free. After the exchange, Air Albania still offered a good chicken salad, a bun and an apple pie. Despite these, many boycott the Turkish airline because of Recep Tayyip Erdoğa, but I personally cannot think so far.

Eventually we boarded the plane, accompanied by a warm spring breeze, to Tirana International Airport. The airport is called Nënë Teresa, according to Mother Teresa, who was of Albanian descent. Locally, the airport is better known as Rinas Airport due to its location.

The existence of the corona virus was realized immediately in the passport control queue when fever surveyors checked each immigrant. The situation still seemed relatively playful on March 3, 2020, as the surveyors did their work with a smile on their face. Some passengers took the opportunity to take selfies with fever surgeons. There were no confirmed cases of Korona in Albania yet.

Wise from experience, we rented a car from a different rental company than the first time. Even now, there seemed to be a problem when my name was not on the booking list at all. However, the new rough car was available for five days at a price of € 19. From the price, it was noticed that the season had not started in Albania. It embarked boldly on the famous traffic of Albania to drive to Tirana as a destination. My wife was already covering her eyes at the third roundabout, which was a bad thing because she had a navigator in her hand and had to give me driving directions.

The hotel was reached and the owner kindly advised where to leave the car for the night. At the same time, he carried all of our suitcases inside and even to the third floor of our room. At times, however, we stopped at the resp, where he asked if we had a fever at the airport. At the same time, the owner advised and even urged us to clean our hands with the handstand on the table. It didn’t help, even though we said we had it with us.

The hotel is a Boutique Villa Fernando. Quite a lovely little hotel a little further away from the center of Tirana. The furniture was chosen in the Baroque style and the rooms had the names of classical composers. We spent the night in a room called Straus opposite Mozart and Beethoven. Sweet tunes to my ears after a day of traveling.

After a good night’s sleep and a hotel breakfast, we spent the day in the center of Tirana, which had the feel of a big city at least compared to my previous city experiences in Albania. According to official figures, the city would have a population of just under 500,000, but when I ask a local, the number could be double. Perhaps the difference depends on whether the population of the whole province is included or just Tirana.

We decided to stay another night in Tirana and in the same hotel. The weather forecast came true – our trip seems to hit the Albanian rainy season. It rained heavily since the afternoon, but it was 21 degrees warm at best. The weather was at its best in the Finnish summer, ie the gentle warm wind blew lightly before the rain started.

For dinner, we visited a restaurant downstairs in our hotel and ordered traditional Albanian dishes. I haven’t eaten such a good sheep in a long time. This likened the delicacy of meat from self-reared and ex-appetite-slaughtered sheep and oven-stewed sheep violin. But it’s been a long time. Time may be a golden memory, so I can say with a good conscience that the sheep I ate today was the best I know. The other top was a pork steak my wife found on the list. I had thought that piglets could not be obtained from Albania because of Islam. This serving, too, tasted really good – I got a taste of the fork kindly offered by my wife.

Still related to religion, we walked past a huge mosque. There is apparently some kind of political game involved in building this largest mosque in the Balkans: “It is a gift from President Erdogan”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself said at the opening of the mosque: “I believe this Mosque will be a unique symbol of the Brotherhood between our nations.” Be that as it may, Muslims in Tirana now have a place to pray very well, and religion in Albania seems to be very permissive and informal, because there are not many veiled women in the street scene, so you can find pork in a restaurant. in fact, atheists.

We left in the morning to take a taxi to the center of Tirana. I couldn’t even pay by taxi in a taxi and I only had a moderately large euro banknote in my wallet. The driver did not have to answer that, because the price of the ride was probably less than 800 liters, or less than 8 euros. He said, “Wait a minute,” and bounced out of the car. The driver walked a few tens of meters and exited the shop. Soon he appeared, walked in the car, and gave me a wholesale leak with a receipt. Then I paid him for the ride.

I was just wondering if taxi drivers in Finland would have been equally helpful in this country of self-service and do-it-yourself. An addition that I think is a good fit for this blog post: When we ordered a taxi from Helsinki Airport to go to the hotel for the night at the end of our trip to Albania, the driver asked if we would drive according to the meter or at a fixed price of 25 euros. The wife would rise to suggest that we go for a fixed price. The hotel was just over a mile away. I wonder if someone in Albania is afraid of being scammed, then maybe you should be even more careful in Finland.

The next day we left Tirana for Fier. In my previous blog, I already talked about my experiences with Albanian traffic, but the center of Tirana during peak hours was something else entirely. If you learn to drive quickly elsewhere in Albania then I suggest you consider using a bus or taxi in the center of Tirana. The watch is not worth looking at, as a kilometer can take well over twenty minutes and maybe more. This time, Tirana had been demolished with entire blocks and the lanes had been closed, further slowing traffic. One hundred police officers were maintaining order as residents evicted from the block gathered next to the demolition planes. It was sad to see people crying as they watched their homes collapse into a cloud of dust.

The pace accelerated as we shed the city dust off our feet and reached the highway. By next summer, the entire motorway will be ready from Durres to Vlore, and then the journey will be very fast along the new road. Now another part of the road under construction is being recycled through Fier. However, there is no rush to anything on holiday. We were going to Fier anyway, so the slowdown didn’t bother us.

Here and there along the way we saw Albania’s famous bunkers being gradually dismantled and the steel they contained recycled. Communist-era ruler Enver Hoxhan had hired an engineer to design a bunker that would withstand ammunition from its time. After the first prototype was completed, Hoxha commanded the engineer inside the bunker and the army was ordered to fire. As the smoke dissipated and silence began, the engineer, to everyone’s surprise, stepped out of the bunker unharmed, holding his ears. The engineer received a large order, the results of which can still be seen all over Albania.

Our friend with an Albanian background took us to eat in Fier at a restaurant he is familiar with, which is very popular with the locals. I am no wonder that there were cars lined up next to the restaurant and the waitress politely escorted us to the table through the rumble of happy people and audible speech. The food was delicious in the mouth and the amount of meat was not spared.

Albania does not seem to care about the carbon footprint of meat production. Admittedly, Do you need to care, because the cows and sheep grazed in all peace in the terrain with their shepherd. No large-scale production facilities came to the fore. Of course, there may be them in Albania too, but everything I saw seemed as organic as it could be. Our multi-hour and multi-course meal was crowned by the very full-bodied red wine recommended by our friend, which the decanter split into three glasses. I highly recommend visiting Restorant Ilia when visiting Fier.

Our friend offered us a place to stay so we didn’t have to go for a ride in the dark. His Albanian home was located at the top of Fier’s highest point. We climbed there all the way along a narrowing and winding road until we finally arrived. Because of the darkness, he could no longer see the landscapes, but he would not have been able to look at them anymore. After evening activities, the bed already called and sleep came immediately.

I woke up at the time of the rooster with four twists. In fact, more birds competed for the rooster, which also aroused the village dogs to bark. I still snoozed despite these country sounds until a nearby mule joined the company of dogs and roosters, adding its musical buzz to the soundscape. By then I was already smiling a little and I had to wonder how I was urbanized.

The fatigue caused by the early awakening was dispelled by the magnificent landscape that opened from the yard in front of us. The mountains, the sea and the field landscape were in full swing as the morning sun warmed up. The view was complemented by the song of birds, the sound of roosters, chickens, sheep, goats, and even a mule or donkey. However, I’m not quite sure if I can tell the difference between a mule and a donkey.

Then the journey continued to Vlorëë, where it is just over an hour’s drive from Fier. Vlorë is one of the oldest cities in Albania. It was founded as a Greek settlement in the 5th century BC. Vlorë has experienced quite a bit of facelift in recent years. Recently, a magnificent couple of kilometers of seafront boulevard was completed, with an extension planned. Tenders have also been requested for the construction of the airport.

Vlorë has miles of coastline with sandy beaches that are great to watch, especially during the setting sun. The boulevard is next to hotels and bars with terraces. After a few kilometers of evening walking, I tried to count the number of terraces, but after a couple of ten at the latest, I got mixed up in the descents, so there are really a lot of them. There are just too many of them for a terrace tour. So it’s not a good idea to take it too big, but it’s better to choose just a few terraces to explore on one summer evening. It was also a surprise that during the walk there was nothing but one man who made a bar tour too long. From this it could be concluded that in Albania wine is understood to be the drink of the wise.

On this second trip, too, I felt welcome in Albania. The service was absolutely amazing everywhere. In Albania, it is also understood that there must always be a factor in the work that is not being done. The funniest job for me was standing in front of a restaurant. As we drove past a restaurant during the day, a man in a traditional dress stood across the road from the restaurant. When we came back several hours later, the same man was still standing in the same place. Another similar type of job was at a roundabout in front of a road worker with a man holding a warning sign. He, too, persistently stood in the same place from morning to night. The last time he stopped, he sat on the barrier. The third occupation was as a car park supervisor at a car rental store. The first time I saw him at seven in the morning with a bag of lunch in his hand standing on duty and the second time that afternoon with an umbrella in his hand. In Finland, these measures would immediately reduce the unemployment figures, the question would of course be who would pay these professionals.