Rob From Canada: Albanians... Relax (Take It Easy)

Albania (Tirana - Aug 14-16 / Dhermi Beach - Aug 16 - 21)

TIRANA

Prepared by daunting stories from other travelers and the menacing look of the Albanian flag, I set out without my guidebook for some adventures into Albania. The journey was unexpectedly effortless as I managed to make some lucky connections to the capital, Tirana, and also got some advice on places to stay from some random backpackers and a friendly Albanian military guy walking down the street. On the minibus into Albania, I met a Belgian girl with whom I shared a hotel room for the first night... unfortunately for me, watching paint dry would have been more interesting than to spend an evening of conversation with this girl. We eagerly parted ways the next day and moved to a hostel.

As it seems with many cities in the Balkans, Tirana suffers from electrical shortages. Rotating power outages caused many stores to operate in the dark, or to shut down. But the majority of streetside businesses relied upon gas-powered generators to keep operating. These generators seemed to go unnoticed by the Albanians, as they sat in outdoor cafes being bombarded by fumes and noise. As I sat in one of the many trendy cafes enjoying an unexpectedly expensive beer ($5 cdn for a pint), I watched the abundant local fashionistas who had definitely put some effort into their wardrobe and looks for the evening. I felt underdressed and under-styled in my traveler attire of shorts and a button-up short-sleeved shirt. I watched as boys about 7 years old sold cigarettes and gum to people in the cafes, on the street, or wherever they could get a nickel... except in my case, these vicious little entrepreneurs were after much more than a nickel. After getting busted for taking a photo of a particularly young and aggressive saleskid, he chased after me to guilt me into buying something from him... at a price that was surely set for guilty tourists. After about 15 minutes of negotiations/confrontations, and mediated by some older locals, we settled on an exorbitant price of 70 cents for some soggy sticks of gum.

Tirana appears to be a city of contrasts... the young generation with sights set on the western world of fashion/business/image, an older generation content with the world being a little chaotic /simple/haphazard, and also the street people who scavenged garbage bins and whos infants sleep soundly on open park paths and in the middle of busy sidewalks. Old men sit in stores peddling colourful but questionable useful birdcages or shoes that may or may not have a matching pair anywhere in the store. The 'bus stations' consist of a roadside or corner with several buses and people yelling (advertising) the destinations. The buses have no schedule, they leave only when they are full, and are ridiculously cheap.

DHERMI BEACH

On the morning I was leaving Tirana, I met a Kiwi guy in the hostel as we were both watching the random-hostel-dog shake some poor traveler from his sleep by gnawing on his foot. We discovered we had a somewhat similar itinerary... South. Some local people we met on the buses had recommended a secluded local beach with a good party scene several hours down the coast. We abandoned our original plans, caught a sequence of mini-buses, and haggled with a taxi driver who drove his Mercedes like a raging maniac through the twists and turns of the mountain highway passes to drop us off at this mysterious beach essentially in the middle of nowhere.

All hotels were full. We found ourselves at the far end of the beach, contemplating sleeping in an old abandoned concrete military cupola while stashing our bags up in the hills... Figuring the sun would be particularly annoying at 5am with no cover, we took one more look along the beach and found an inconspicuous campground with a hut available. Banana trees in the yard, massive mountains as a backdrop, and a shower (hose) under an orange tree... perfect.

Dhermi Beach somehow attracts locals from the surrounding (?) towns to a cabana-type bar called Havanas. Real DJs with a very good sound system and an opening time of midnight ensures that the party begins and ends properly. The songs of influence here were:
-Relax (Take It Easy) - Mika
-Love 2 Love U Baby - David Vendetta
-Rise Up - Yves Larock
-Who's Afraid of Detroit - Stanton Warriors Remix

We met a few exceptional people at our stay in Dhermi Beach including a sexy water-doused lawyer, a beautiful and multiply-talented architect, and a professional violinist with a friend passionate about opera-singing. I wish I could spend more time with each of these people, as they all have tremendous talents, skills, and life-desires that I only had time to scratch the surface and discover.

My last night in Dhermi Beach was quiet. I laid by myself on the rocky beach with my ipod, watched the shooting stars, and smiled.

Tirana. Monument and Albanian flag.

Tirana. Message in the logbook at the hostel.

Tirana. One of the shoe stores.

Tirana. The 'bus station'.

Tirana. Young entrepreneurs.

Tirana. Another shop selling... well, probably almost anything.

Tirana. Specialty shop - birdcages.

Tirana. Family scavenging from the garbage bins.