A beautiful day in Berat, Albania

We had two busy days in a row, so we didn't have anything strenuous planned on Thursday. We relaxed for the morning, and then went for a walk around town.

Our cottage is located right in the center of town, and there are a lot of walks we can do right from town so the rental car might end up parked the entire time we're here. It doesn't seem to make sense to pay for a car rental when the vehicle is just parked, but there is some logic to what we're doing.

Castles, hiking, and gorgeous scenery. What more could you want?

Wednesday was a travel day as we made our way south from Tirana to the city of Berat. It's only about 100 kms (60 miles) if you take the fastest route, but even the fastest route is still about an hour and forty minutes.

But we had some things we wanted to see and do along the way, plus we wanted to take a more scenic route on some less traveled roads.

Great Ocean Road: A fascinating road trip in the world

Great Ocean Road is one of the most famous road trips in the world. The route of 243 kilometres will captivate you with the culmination, of course, of the 12 Apostles. There may be only 8 left to date, but they are just as impressive. Along the way, you will enjoy the Pacific Ocean and surfers trying to tame the huge waves. Also, in the area, you can do activities such as cycling, water sports, horseback riding and a helicopter flight over the area of ​​12 Apostles.

The road trip to Great Ocean Road is unique because the variety of nature is so huge that you can see rainforests, ocean surfers, wildlife and waterfalls all the way to its end. The choices in activities are tremendous and cover all tastes. You can go hiking, mountain biking and see museums or cultural heritage sites. You also can see ostriches, koalas and kangaroos and taste nice seafood and good wine in some of its depots. Great Ocean Road is a 90-minute drive from Melbourne city centre.

Day trip to the coastal city of Durres, Albania

We woke up to blue sky and sunshine on Tuesday morning, and that kind of weather is supposed to stay with us for a while now here in Albania!

So we hopped in the car, put our sunglasses on, and headed for the nearby coastal city of Durres.

Durres is Albania's second largest city next to Tirana. Tirana is 500,000, and Durres is about 175,000. But because it's located only 35 kms (22 miles) away, it's pretty built up the whole drive.

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.

Traffic circle entertainment

It was a rain day yesterday, and we only left the apartment to go downstairs to the grocery store that is located next door.

Fortunately, we have an unlimited supply of internet... and some entertainment right from our balcony. This area has some road construction going on, and when you couple that with the fact that there aren't very many parking spots it makes for some pretty chaotic traffic. 

I guess it just doesn't bother most people

Saturday's forecast was for overcast and scattered showers. That's supposed to be the way it is through to Monday now. But then clearing and warming up through the week.

It's so nice having an unlimited supply of internet. So we spent yesterday morning researching where we want to go from here. There's a lot we want to see in this area, and the area north of here, but those parts of the country are going to be better in a couple of weeks time, so we are going to head south and stay away from the mountains until mid April when the hiking will be better there.

Our first day trip in Albania

While we are itching to get up into the mountains to do some hiking, there is still too much snow up there. The temperatures are definitely trending upwards though, and we'll get there eventually. In the meantime, we are sticking closer to the coast.

The capital city of Tirana where we are currently staying is located only 35 kms (22 miles) from the coast. And it is even closer to the start of the mountains. It's such a great location. The only issue we are noticing is traffic getting in and out of the city itself.

Could we live here?

Thursday was pretty much a day of rest, although we did get out to pick up a few more supplies. Now that we are back to making most of our own meals, there are a lot of kitchen preparation items that we need to keep with us.

And I need a haircut, but I'm not going to go out of my way to get one. We walked by two different barber shops yesterday, but one was more of a salon, and the other already had someone in the chair with a couple of people waiting.

Like Vancouver. But far cheaper, and with nicer weather

We were supposed to check out of our central Tirana apartment at 10:00am, but when I sent our host a message to confirm, he said we could stay until 11:00am. Which was nice, because we couldn't check into our new place on the outskirts until after 3:00pm.

At 11:00am, we locked all of our things into the car and headed off to do some more exploring. There is a beautiful big park located only a kilometer or so south, so we set off to check it out.

The city of Tirana, and first impressions of Albania

Albania's population is about 2.8 million people, and about 500,000 of them live here in the capital city of Tirana. The country itself is only slightly larger than the state of Vermont!

Yesterday was our first day in Albania, and if the first day is any indication, we are going to LOVE Albania! Now of course it's only been one day, but so far it comes across as a mixture between Turkey and Romania, and we loved both of those countries.

Arrived in Albania... country #41 for us!

When we left you off in yesterday's blog post we had arrived in Doha, Qatar for a two and a half hour layover.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about our luggage. We are traveling with a small backpack each, and a carry on size suitcase each. When we checked in for our original flight in Dar es Salaam, they told us they were marking our checked bags to include the flight to Tirana on a different carrier. I didn't think that was possible, and that we would have to pick them up in Rome, but they insisted it would work.

The plan is coming together, but not without some hiccups...

Writing this from FCO (Rome) Airport in Italy. It is now Monday afternoon at around 2:00pm local time. We are here waiting for our connecting flight to Tirana, Albania later this afternoon.

When we left our apartment in Dar es Salaam, we had to be out by 11:00am, but our flight wasn't until 9:30pm. So we just went to the airport and hung out. We took an Uber taxi from the house, and we couldn't believe how cheap it was. For the 12 km (7.5 mile) trip, it cost 10,500 shillings ($5.65 CAD, $4.50 USD). I thought they made a mistake, but our host had told us it was the cheapest way.

I'm not normally a negative person

But today, we are quite happy to be negative!

On Saturday, a mere 28 hours after being tested, we received an email and a text message from the National Public Health Laboratory here in Tanzania. 

We are NEGATIVE.

The very official looking certificate was dated March 13th so we are well within the 96 hour window given by our airline for compliance with their rules.

So... we are definitely off to Albania!

So now we wait

Yesterday was Covid PCR test day. 

We are flying to Albania on Sunday evening, and although the country itself does not require any sort of testing as a requirement for entry, we are flying with Qatar Airways and they require a negative Covid PCR test certificate that has been done within 96 hours of boarding the plane.

So we made appointments to have the tests done at the nearby Muhumbili University Hospital. You book the day, but not the time. They said they take samples between 8am and 5pm, and we wanted to show up right at 8am.