Sarande, Albania

A day trip was booked via the internet whilst staying in Corfu, Greece. A short ferry ride early in the morning after being picked up and we landed up in the small resort of Saranda, right in the south of Albania. I didn't pay for the other part of the tour, so it landed just me and Olga from the party to hang around Saranda for around six hours whilst the tour group go into the mountains and see some ruins.

Ok, Albania is still trying to improve itself as a country, the lifestyle, buildings, roads, tourism. It wasn't long ago that it was a close country. So in some ways I was happy to be here, but afterwards, I really was glad I was go. The people were great, most didn't speak a second language let alone English. There were a few tramps begging for money, but mostly the people here are people from the north of the country, places like Durres and Tirana, on holiday, as Saranda was compared to riverias such as the south of France or Italy.

I even checked a brouchure on the internet before the trip, and Saranda looked really stunning. But it was all a lie. A small rocky beach next to the small ferry port, a police war ship lies out in the Ionian Sea, and the buildings were falling down and runied, and at the same time, new ones were being built. Everyone drives a Meceredes Benz, and the smell of the place was horrible in the heat.

Passport control at the ferry port was really relaxed for an non-EU country. Didn't get checked when we arrived, and on the way back, officers looked at the photo page and that was it. No checking, no scaning, no stamps. :( Oh well.

In some ways...I was happy to get back to Corfu. Not much to report on the day trip apart from walking around doing nothing much for five hours, but I have done some photos. I hope you enjoyed them.