After a quick morning ascent to the castle again for necessary morning photos. Breakfast at hotel, though simple, is delicious: yogurt, cheese, jam, tea and honey. You load things in the car and head to Tirana.

Driving a long the same and must be careful drivers and potholes. When we reach the Dures (Durres), and we will enter the highway first met in Albania, who joins the Dures with Tirana. Two lanes in each direction! Our joy will be cut when they reach the outskirts of Tirana, because, again due to lack of regional roads, we see great movement toward the center.

Some of the buildings in Tirana is painted with bright colors (yellow, red, blue, etc), which gives the character and this is due to the previous mayor who was a painter. Will park in the center and go to walk and find and hostel.

The hostel which is in the center is a large villa with nice garden (where you and camps) and very friendly owners. Once settled in the room, you will learn about a traditional restaurant (Oda) with local cuisine and will head to there. Pies and dishes, with plenty of raki flowing.

A walk in the center under the influence of raki is good for digestion. The center of Tirana, though wildly structured, has several parks and is pleasant to walk.

The evening will do a walk to see the nightlife, but it will not impress us and once again have copied the kitschy pop culture of our time. Also impressed by the expensive cars circulating on the street: X5, X6, Lexus, etc.

We will return to the hostel where we will close the evening with beers again, the wonderful garden hostel along with a Norwegian found in Albania confiscated her passport stolen!

Morning reconnaissance ride downtown and the beach. The Adriatic rains the wonderful beach and the only negative is that they have copied the character of Greek kitsch beach (sun loungers, cushions, etc). In the Greek super market products do break. We will return to the cabin for breakfast and continue drive to Berat, via Vlore, which is the largest resort in Albania.

Beach Orikum

On the way we begin to get a first glimpse of how the Albanians lead. The stripes on the road there for them and virtually (no markings) and practice (put in the opposite direction with ease). The coastal road to the Vlore is filled with beach bar and sunbeds and very constructive development. Albanian immigrants bring foreign currency and invest in physical property, and Albania has the greatest growth in building Europe. No one certainly does not think that the whole system creates a bubble that will burst at some point but of course that's another story.

In the center of Vlore will understand movement and what it means in Albanian. A chaos of cars that move in all directions, with no one watching the priority and the horn to give and take. Even for us Greeks who have become accustomed to such treatment, the spectacle was unprecedented. The biggest shock will certainly come to the next city that will meet the Fier. There you will see that the Albanian cities and lack of regional roads. To go to the next city must necessarily pass through the center. The city will eat about an hour while moving cars from the opposite way, a much worse situation than us, it seems that did not move at all.

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After waking up at Hotel Kalemi, a traditional building with wooden carved ceilings and fire places made of stone, we get the first taste of the albanian breakfast. Breakfast here consists almost always of bread, honey, eggs and a kind of cheese that resembles the greek feta.

Kalemi Hotel

Kalemi Hotel

We visit the castle of Gjirokaster (Argyrokastro), which was firstly build before the 12 century but took its form in around 1860 under Ali Pasha. It even served as a prison and housed political prisoners during the Communist regime. Now it is mostly a museum and also stages Albania's National Folk Festival. The view of the town from the castle is spectacular.
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