Jul 1, 2012 - Gjirokaster

ALBANIA: Traveling by bus in Greece is relatively simple. The buses are modern & comfortable… a lot like traveling in Canada. The ones in Albania are a bit of a different story. We arrived at the Albanian/Greece border, checked out of Greece, walked across to the Albanian border through their check point. From there it’s a bit of a stroll to find a taxi, where using hand signals, pointing and bad pronunciation of our destination, produced a 20 euro ride for 4 to Gjirokastra, 50km away. At the border we befriended a Japanese tourist named...

Mar 13, 2012 - Day trip to Gjirokaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjirokast%C3%ABr 3-13 Took a bus to Gjirokastra, a city with a great fortress and just nice, peaceful village (of course it's not tourist season yet either). The photos say it all but hiking up the steep, narrow cobblestone street I was passing a small market (the kind you find everywhere in Albania), and stopped for a breather to buy a couple of carrots. When I 'asked' how much the gentleman motioned to me to just have them! At first I thought I misinterpreted him and took out my coin purse but he shook his...

Jul 4, 2010 - Gjirokaster

Der Geburtsort des ehem. Diktators Enver Hoxha mit seiner ebenfalls UNESCO-gelisteten noch steileren Altstadt als Berat und einem der groessten Forts des Balkans ist schoen gelegen in den suedlichen Bergauslaeufern Albaniens. Der Weg hierher war erneut abenteuerlich lang. Als (wie bisher immer in Albanien) absolut einzige Touristen im Klapper-Lokalbus wurden wir von einer vor uns sitzenden Mutter mit Kind unaufgefordert und voellig ueberrascht, regelrecht bewirtet! Dsas ist albanische Gastfreundschaft, man stelle sich die Szene mal...

Feb 28, 2009 - Birthplace of Albania's Communist Dictator

2/28/09 As the Butrint history shows, many foreigners have tried to get their hands on Albania. In addition to the Greeks, Romans, Normans, Venetians, Ottomans, and Italians, the Serbians have also tried to annex Albania as well as the Germans in WWII. After the war, the dictator Hoxha aligned himself with Russia, got into conflict with them, then aligned himself with China and modeled many of his policies after those of Mao’s regime. Intellectuals were sent to the country, kids put in position of power, and communism reigned. Apparently...