Day 88
Once packed and on the road early the next morning, I headed in land for a bit before the road headed for the coast again.
I took the coastal road up to Vlore and this was again a stunning road to ride along. This road rose and fell continually and at one point from one decent vantage point I photographed Vlore from the roadside.
North of Vlore I followed the coast until I got to Tirana the capital city of Albania. This route in this part of the country I would not recommend as the roads were much busier and the countryside was pretty flat. In addition, most of the buildings that could be seen from the road were partly finished and partly a construction site. When I got to Tirana I booked a “Communist Style” room for about 20 Euros, however the name was merely a marketing ploy to attract gullible tourists (like myself on this occasion) to pay for an unrenovated room stuffed with old 1970’s furniture. To be fair it did however have some reproduction communist style electrical appliances so I suppose it fulfilled the description to some degree. Tirana was not what I had expected and much of the city was very modern. The main focal point of the city was a massive square where the opera is situated but there was little around it in the way of bars, cafes, or restaurants.
I found a very small area of the really old part of the city but this had been hollowed out and filled with tourist type shops.
However, in a bar where I stopped to get a coffee and a cigar I did find a relic of the communist era.
I decided to go in to a local bar near to my apartment for a coffee and inside I saw some fresh meat in a glass display case on the bar just begging to be grilled for me, however, as I did not speak any Albainian (similar to Serbian) I began to point and use other had signals in an effort to covey my desire to get them to cook some for me. Luckily, an occupant of the bar, an ex Alabainan soldier, spoke English and assisted me to convey my requests to the staff. A few minutes later the food arrived and I thereafter sat eating and drinking with this man for over an hour where we swapped stories about our different adventures that we had undergone in our past lives and he reluctantly accepted my offer of beer and cigars in exchange for his assistance. Once I had ate and rank enough I said my goodbye to my new Albainian friend and headed for my bed.
Day 89
I left Tirana and headed for the Montenegro border, whilst passing through a small town on the way I could smell meat being grilled at the side of the road and I just had to stop and eat some freshly made kebabs for breakfast just like the locals in the town.
After crossing the border from Albania in to Montenegro I spotted 2 bikers parked at the side of the road on the other side of the road. I stopped and spoke to them, a man and a woman on 2 bikes. It turned out that the couple were from Switzerland and were heading for Albania. After a chat about our respective bikes I donated the small amount of Albanian currency that I still had to their coffee fund for which they thanked me. I then rode on and I followed the coast road Northwards with a view to cutting across Lake Shkodra to the capital Podgorcia.
However, due to a combination of really heavy traffic and an abundance of only local road signs, I missed the turn off and found myself still riding up the busy coast road. Eventually I found a road to Podgorcia and on reaching it, total disappointment. Almost no building older than maybe 30 years old. I found the city to be very modern and very characterless, therefore it was time to move on. I rode to Mojkovak and I then took the road along a gorge to Durdevica Tara Bridge which was quite spectacular.
As I was photographing the bridge a thunderstorm rolled in over the hill on the road to Savnik, I decided to try and get over the hill before the rain fell but just before getting over the summit and avoiding the heavy rain the skies opened up on me. Before I had a chance to get my waterproof trousers on I was soaked. Once over the summit and as i headed downhill, because of the rain, the temperature had quickly fallen from about 27 degrees to about 15 degrees. It was cold. I rode for about 20 miles but I was not getting warmer so I saw a hotel with the “Bikers Welcome” sign outside and decided to stop for the evening. The hotel was about 35 Euros but it had a pleasant outdoor terrace where I could sit and smoke my cigars whilst drinking my coffee, if still a little cold for the time of year.
As for Montenegro, it is a very beautiful country but when I was there it was choked with traffic which prevented me from stopping and taking more photographs of the stunning scenery that I wanted to.
Day 90
The next morning I headed to Savnik and then South to Nilsik and then on to the border with Bosnia at Vilusi and to my relief the sun had reappeared. One of the best views that I saw and that I was able to stop and photograph in Montenegro was near to the Bosnian border looking over Slano Lake.
Once in Bosnia I rode North to Mostar with a view to having a look at the famous bridge but like Montenegro, Mostar was choked with traffic so I gave up, headed out of the city, and headed North to Sarajevo. I arrived in Sarajevo in late afternoon and I booked a small self contained apartment for about 25 Euros which had secure parking for the bike which turned out to be very good value. Sarajevo I found to be a strange city, it is very long East to West but not that deep North to South. The “older” part of the city is at the East end of the city and this was where my accommodation was situated. Once settled I went for a walk only to find that like Podgorcia in Montenegro, there were very few traces of any buildings built more than 30 years ago.
