Despite some issues, we still really like the city of Tirana, Albania

The rain finally stopped after lunch yesterday, but it was around 2:30pm before we felt it was clearing enough to risk going for a walk. We planned a route that would take us along the small Lana River that flows through the city.

Our maps.me app showed that there were walking paths on both sides of the river. And in the downtown core, we knew that was the case. But when we arrived at the section of the river that is closest to our apartment, it was disappointing.

Residential and commercial properties back onto the river at this section, and nothing has been done to beautify the area with proper paths and park space. Lots of garbage, and the paths were just trails which were of course very muddy due to the rain. We did one quick section and then got back onto the roads.

While we were making our way along the muddy trail, we watched a lady walk out of her backyard and toss three bags of trash right into the river. She didn't even try to be stealth about it, and we were close enough that she could see we were there. Unbelievable. Now we know why the riverbanks are littered with trash. 

Of course this river empties directly into the ocean, so now we know why the shoreline down there is also so littered with trash.

Despite the trashy areas that we have seen, we still really like the downtown central area of the city!

We have seen this before in a few other cities. The best example I can think of is the city of Morelia, Mexico. The downtown area is beautiful, but as soon as you get out of the central area, it's a dump with graffiti and garbage everywhere.

At least there isn't graffiti all over Tirana. In that regard it's pretty clean.

Nice pedestrian street.

Paper airplane sculpture.

This traffic circle normally has a nice looking fountain running.

But it may have been shut off for the winter.

A sign indicated that this is an old government building.

Looks a little spooky, doesn't it?

I've been needing a haircut again. The last one was January 12th in Antalya, Turkey. I didn't want to go into a barber that was busy or had people waiting. So every time we walked by a barber shop, we would look to see if they were busy. Sure enough, we eventually spotted one where the guy was sitting looking at his phone, and there was nobody else in the shop.

Getting a trim.

The guy spoke quite good English, so we were able to have a bit of conversation.

Notice the sign above the mirror that says "Canada"? We asked him about that, and it turns out that one of the other barbers that works there was from Canada. We asked where, and he tried to say the word "Saskatchewan", but he didn't quite get it right. That's okay, there are people in Canada who can't pronounce it properly either! He looked it up on his phone and said he was from the city of Regina.

There, that's better!

I had read online that a haircut should cost between 300 to 600 lek, and that it wasn't expected to tip, although a maximum100 lek tip would be appreciated.

The price was 400 lek, and I gave him 500 lek ($6.00 CAD, $4.85 USD).

Another interesting mural.

Scenery along the way.

Big old apartment building in the central area.

We made it back home around 5:00pm and had walked 10.2 kms (6.4 miles).

I read yesterday that some areas of the mountain communities near here got 30 to 60 cms (12 to 24 inches) of snow over the weekend!

This Tuesday morning, the sun is shining here in Tirana! We are headed out for another road trip, this time over to the coastal city of Durres.

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RV Keyless Entry Lock with Remote. These things are finally coming down in price. This one is a new product release, and it's the cheapest I've ever seen.

And in Canada...

WiFi Range Extender