Yesterday I left Tirana for a different part of Albania-a town called Berat. I am not sure why I chose to come here, except that a guy in the van from Montenegro to Tirana said it was one of his favorite places-so I decided to check it out. Maybe it was because Berat sounds like Borat.
I enjoyed Tirana-again not much compared to other cities, but the people we're friendly and the hostel was comfortable. Some things are tough to get used-like in the bathroom-no toilet paper is allowed in the toilet-as there are lots of water issues. So every bathroom I was in had a separate waste basket for toilet paper. And pressure is limited as well. Seems like there is a problem with water here-not a supply issue like in the American West-but more so that since communism, the pipes are very old and haven't been improved on.
I had to take a bus to Berat-Tirana doesn't have a central bus station-instead buses to cities require going to a different part of town. I had the map of the hostel in my hands which listed a place where the bus left from. The city didn't have many street names-according to the map-just a symbol of a bus that said "Berat". (Hostel maps are very useful for clubs that play dubstep, chill-out-bars, and some other stuff-for much else they are useless). Anyway, after taking a crowded city bus, asking directions of about 5 different people, with one person staining to help me (he didn't speak any English but took a lot of time), eventually I found the place where the bus to Berat left from.
The bus ride to Berat took about 3-4 hours. The bus was a converted tour bus with very little legroom, and was quite disgusting. In my first seat, a wad of gum was stuck right on the back of the seat facing me-I get grossed-out by such things. And as there are few (if any) quick multi-lane highways-2 lane roads past houses, individual stores, etc we're the order of the day. In some locations the bus seemed to stop every 20 feet to pick up/drop off people. And it was raining and warm out-so the bus ride was warm and very humid. The only good thing was music was playing throughout the ride-some soft rock/dance favorites like Kiss Me, We Can Be Heros, etc, otherwise it was a looong ride.
Finally, the bus arrived in Berat, a mountain town built into the top of 2 hills. And it was raining. Pooring. I followed the directions to the hostel-and one girl followed me who was also headed there.
The directions to the hostel took me down the street, across a pedestrian suspension bridge, and up a long uphill stone path. And the rain was still coming down like mad. The muddy water was rushing down this stone path, like it was a river, and I had to walk through it.
Eventually, I found the hostel up the path. it was a nice place-but all my clothes we're soaked. My pants, sweatshirt, etc. I took a nap in the hostel for an hour or so.
After the nap, the weather cleared up-so I went out and walked around-the town is nice-built into two hills. Since I didn't have lunch, I stopped for dinner for some pizza. I had a beer. Since it started to poor outside once again and I didn't feel like going out I had another beer.
When the weather cleared up-I walked back up the muddy path to the hostel, and went to the common area and had some drinks-someone offered me some liquer and someone else some wine from a nearby winery. We also b.s. d as usual. One of the locals who worked at the hostel told me that I could make 5000 euro by marrying a Albanian women so she can get citizenship and a US passport (A Albanian passport is limited-and a visa is required to visit some places, as he said). We also talked about life under communism, how some people used to ride their bikes thousands of miles to see their team play in a football game (since nobody had cars except the very rich).
So another night drinking with Australians, Germans, and some locals at the hostel. Could be worse.
