Albania is a place that I was always told that is the “wildest” country of the Balkans. I think since I was told this many things changed and I also visited many many places so it didn’t seem wild to me in any way. Anyway I thought of going because I really knew that spending 2 full months in Prague will be a lot of time and that I will be in need of a trip. 2 months in Prague were planned because of my Yoga Teacher Training that I decided to undergo in Prague Yoga Collective. It was supposed to be a low budget trip but ended up not being that low budget-y at all because of some minor mistakes that I do again and again, such as:

• Booking a rental car without having a credit card to pay deposit – happened to us already with T. in Sicily and therefore we had to pay the rental two times. Here I luckily noticed a day before our arrival so I could cancel and instead of paying 150€ we had to pay “only” 40€ fine. But the car that we rented after was more expensive so we ended up losing like 80€. 
• Not paying CARRY ON + priority luggage in Wizzair – something that I thought will be chill but it wasn’t because the airplane from Prague to Tirana was PACKED. So we had to pay 60€ each for an extra bag and another 25€ for the way back.  
• Prices – restaurants are just expensive there and food also. Since it is not really like a backpacker place or anything, when we stayed in a random village next to the sea, we were dependant on a one single restaurant that was selling just a fancy fish and some seafood pasta. And had waiters that were just really not nice and one couldn’t really guess if they just didn’t like us or what. Also in the mountains we just spent SO MUCH money for wine that we were just getting without thinking about the actual price since we were in the vacation mode- kind of. 

But now let’s come back to it and where we started. We arrived in the afternoon to Tirana and went directly to pick up our car which just took AGES. The guy working at the desk was super chill and just took his time, walked super slowly and was just really not doing more than necessary. but was nice and patient when none of our debit cards worked for the payment and when we changed like three times the way we wanted to pay. Immediately after the pick up of the car, I let Michel drive, because I am just too scattered to deal with a balkan traffic.

Shköder

After an hour, we arrived at Shköder, a town next to the Skadar Lake which just looked so nice on the map but was so much nicer when we actually started to discover the place. 

The next day we went just for a short walk along the lake and ended up spending the whole evening outside. That was also the time when we wisited a restaurant called PANORAMA for the first time and it completely enchanted us. We spent the whole afternoon in their terrace, Michel was mainly just sunbathing himself and I was working and drinking wine. I really love the staff working there and also the decoration that they were preparing there for some 30 years old B-day party. When we were coming back, we tried to find some restaurant to eat but it was pretty hard since I think that Shköder is just not a tourist place. All restaurants were kind of Italian with some random other dishes. People were smoking inside which was really interesting to observe. I really didn’t like it and was coming back in my memories to times when smoking was still allowed in restaurants in Prague. 

We went to the one and only cafe that looked young-ish and had breakfast there the next day and went on a journey direction Theth. On the way to Theth, I started to think a lot in the car about the fast, that coffee and other stimulants have completely different effect on me than on other people. I feel calmer and it helps me to not be so scattered. I remember that there in the car I started to make a connection with this and my (never properly diagnosed) ADHD. I started to think that maybe if I knew this earlier, it would maybe make me feel calmer with myself and not hate myself all the time for who I am and how my brain works. Anyway. I had my coffee on the way to Theth and my thoughts got a bit calmer. 

Theth 

We arrived at Theth and it was completely dark. It wasn’t so hard to find our accommodation and it immediately felt so cozy there. The restaurant, the room, everything. It reminded me of my childhood when I used to go to different mountain camps where we used to ski.

 

First HIKE 

Michel thought that there would be some shop in the village so we went to explore the town and found out that there was definitely nothing even looking like a shop. So we went back and found a random hike that looked pretty easy and chill on the map but ended up to be pretty hardcore and with a big elevation. We didn’t even manage to go down and were just hoping that some car would pick us up. Finally, a car with two Spanish guys and a taxi driver picked us up and they looked pretty desperate from their hike before and it was exactly the hike that we were planning to do (Theth to Valbone). They said that it was just sooo snowy there and just really not easy to do. I think we were pretty confident about it but since Michel didn’t even have hiking shoes or any shoes that would be usable for walking in the nature, we decided to not do it. And I couldn’t be more grateful for it. I really didn’t want to be even more stressed about the trip since the aim of that trip was rather to calm down from all the yoga stuff and kind of busy schedule that I had in Prague. 

Theth Waterfall & Blue Eye Kappre

So instead of the Teth-Velbona hike we had dreamed of all the time before we went to Albania, we walked only along the river to the next village. We took the path over the falls, where we completely by chance met some friends from Berlin. I think we were all a bit shocked, because I don’t think anyone expected that getting to know this couple would happen at a waterfall behind an excluded village in the mountains of Albania. 

We then walked further into the village and stopped at a bistro by the blue river for food and drinks. We hiked to Blue Eye Lake practically alone as it was getting late and dark. I expected it to be some crowded tourist spot, but there was no one there at all! I managed to take a dip in the little lake by the waterfall and it was probably the coldest water I’ve ever been in. I lasted about 4 seconds there. I found it interesting to observe how natural it was for me to swim there naked, even though I knew someone might come and see me. That wasn’t so commonplace for me a year ago when I was swimming like that in Costa Rica. Berlin effect. The bridge there was beautiful and I was just blown away by the place. Michel commented along the way that he hadn’t expected what Albania was hiding when he looked at the clear water. So I thought it was a bit funny, but I didn’t say anything. 

That evening we arrived back at our accommodation and I was studying anatomy for a yoga class and M. was watching football. The owner of the accommodation came up to him a few times to tell him who he was supporting and that Liverpool were going to win anyway.  At this we drank about a litre of organic wine, not giving any thought to how much it might cost. There were a lot of vacation vibes, but it ended up costing us a lot of money. But the wine was so good! 

I also had bean soup. I was surprisingly good at anatomy, but I don’t think I remembered much because I had to relearn it all later anyway. But I did discover a funny Indian youtuber talking about yoga anatomy.

Gropa e Portes 

As happens even in the noblest of families, there was a very intense argument between the two of us, and I ended up leaving Theth alone. Unfortunately. On the way, I needed to release some sadness and anger and stopped at the top of the mountain for a coffee and a walk. I was very sad but also very angry and it helped. I saw snow for the first time that trip and learned how hard it is to hike in snow. So I’m glad we didn’t go anywhere with M’s Rebooks in the mountains, because I’m not sure how he would have made it without slipping.

LEZHE Beach town

After Shkoder, we drove to a small village near Lezhe, which was definitely very local, but so overly deserted that I found it a bit creepy. We lived right next to a nature reserve, but otherwise the whole place felt very deserted. 

There was one supermarket and one restaurant. The restaurant was quite expensive and I felt like we were hated there. Michel had a meal there that I would have expected him to have about the least in the world. 

We stayed with a cute family and the guy who took care of Booking asked us what it takes to get a job like us. Does he have to know how to use a computer? Or the internet? I found that very interesting. Seeing how the opportunities are so limited. For him, for example, the jobs we have are much less available. And I don’t appreciate what I do. It made me kind of like my job again, even though it’s kind of on the rocks a lot. I’m thinking more and more about myself and where and how to move forward. What I need to do to feel more “fulfilled”. Maybe I don’t need all that I have? Why have a job if I don’t have time to think about what it is I really want to do? 

In the afternoon, Michel and I did yoga on the balcony. I was more focused on leading him. And I kept thinking that my first yoga class was going to be a disaster. 

After one night, we decided we needed to go somewhere more urban. We cancelled the accommodation and then drove to Tirana. But before that, we took a trip to Lezha, where we ended up at an Italian restaurant where I had pizza after a year. With buffalo mozzarella and it was so very good! I think we had an appetizer and then two desserts. Munchies vibe. I felt definitely bad after as I aways feel when I eat too much but I decided to not pay attention to these non-serving thoughts. 

TIRANA 

The journey to Tirana took an awfully long time. About 3,5 hours instead of 1 hour as planned. But it was a great therapy session to talk about our relationship, about grounding, about how we take a lot of our connection for granted and that we need to keep reminding ourselves that it’s not just that. All the synchronicities. The things that connect us and how much we perceive the world similarly. Even if only in some areas, but mostly in the areas that matter to us. 

When we got to Tirana, we loved it from the start and the city charmed us. So the biggest problem was parking. Michel, of course, wanted to do nothing, but I didn’t want to pay the fine. Once we found a spot, the bakery worker who owned the parking spot kicked us out. In the end, we parked right in front of our apartment anyway. We were staying in an amazing place with a huge rooftop overlooking all of Tirana. And the tennis courts. We were so impressed with the tennis courts that we went to play tennis the next day. As I expected, it’s not exactly an activity I want to do on a regular basis because I hate physical imbalances. And playing tennis with a racket in one hand is exactly what bothered me about it all along. I also don’t like competing, which in turn bothers Michel that I’m not “active” enough for him in 2-player games. But it was great to get into the tennis vibe. Michel said he sees me as a tennis player persona. 

Tirana impressed us with how messy it is, but at the same time the city has lots of restaurants, bars, shops, Arabic vibes, but also lots of water areas, a beautiful park and most importantly MOUNTAINS within easy reach. Although it’s hard to say how close to reach, because the traffic in the city was horrible. We had a terrible craving for sushi so we went for it but it wasn’t anything special. And especially very expensive. Michel was still craving it, of course, so we went from the fancy restaurant one floor down to Burger King. And that was actually probably the best experience of the whole evening. The idea of Me + Burger King = Happy Michel.

All in all, Albania certainly offered what we needed. We will definitely be back, especially on the Peaks of Balkans route. Or maybe on our way south to Greece. But we will go to Greece when I am “calmer” as Michel says. Until then, there is still much to discover.