Moving day... back in the big city of Tirana, and Covid update

Well, we are back where we started and our almost three month tour of Albania is coming to an end. We fly to Poland this coming Friday, so that gives us only four full days left here. Today, we don't have much planned... we both need haircuts though, so that will be on the agenda. And we do have a couple of day trips we want to do before we leave, so the rest of the week will go by quickly!

On Sunday, we drove from Koman to Tirana, with a couple of stops along the way.

Hiking high above Komani Lake

We came to Komani Lake specifically to do the Komani Lake Ferry ride. But when we were researching the area, we learned of a hike that goes high up into the mountains overlooking Komani Lake where there is the ruins of a settlement dating back to the 3rd century.

The hike itself would be great, but even better to see some ruins that not many other people see because it's a difficult uphill climb to get there.

Lake Komani Ferry. And decision time!

Let's talk about decision time first.

We have to leave Albania by June 13th one way or the other. Our destination of choice would be Germany to pick up our motorhome, but Germany is still closed to most visitors arriving by air. And the European Union (EU) countries are not united when it comes to entry rules for visitors... in fact they are a jumbled mess with all 27 countries making their own rules despite recommendations from the EU itself.

Koman, Albania

The little village of Koman doesn't really have a lot to offer. However, after wandering around for a day there is more to it than originally meets the eye.

This was a remote mountain village until 1980 when they began construction of the Koman Hydroelectric power station. The dam was completed in 1985, and the reservoir filled in 1986. When the reservoir was filled, they began a ferry service for the locals to be able to access the other villages along the waterway.

Moving day... and tire damage update

We said goodbye to the Albanian Alps yesterday after a fantastic week in such stunning scenery. We weren't going very far, but it was going to take a while to get there. 

First, we drove back to the city of Shkodra to get our flat tire problem fixed up. The other day, I had backed onto the shoulder of a narrow road in order to let another vehicle pass, and in the process a rock cut into the sidewall of the tire. I knew that it was not repairable, and I figured that we were going to be on the hook for the price of a new tire.

Trail markers, but no trail

We've really enjoyed our week here in the Albanian Alps. Other than one rain day, we did some hiking each day. In fact, we did 44 kms (27 miles) with some decent elevation gains.

Yesterday was our last full day here. We decided on a walk on the other side of the valley. For most of it, I think we were following an old logging road. But the signs at the beginning pointed to the top of the mountain, which we kind of figured would be a tough hike. 

Hiking in the snow!

This is the second post of the day. You may have missed our May Expenses post earlier on.

On Monday, we drove a short distance up to a trail that leads to a castle ruins. We had already been told that there isn't much left of the castle, so we knew not to expect too much. We also had already been told that "they" (whoever they are) are building a five star hotel up there. 

May Expenses

And so another month begins... it is June the 1st today. 

We are still using the TravelSpend app to keep track of our expenses. It's really working well for us and it's easy to use.

May was a good month, simply because we came in right where we expected to be. There were no surprises! We spent $2,413 CAD ($2,002 USD) for the month.

Our Travel Insurance - HeyMondo

Many countries around the world are beginning to open up for summer travel. And if you are going to travel, you want to have travel insurance that covers you for Covid related problems.

I don't want this to sound like an advertisement, because it's not. As any of our regular readers know, I put a lot of effort into researching just about anything we do. It's not only so that we get a good deal, although that is certainly a priority. It's also so that things go smoothly and we have a good understanding of what to do when things don't go smoothly.

We can't seem to get to where we want to go!

And I'm not just talking about Germany!

Although, while we're on the subject I'll give you an update on that problem. I had applied through the German Border Police for special permission to enter the country for 72 hours (the official "transit" time allowed) in order to pick up our motorhome and then drive directly to Poland where Canadian citizens are welcome.

Surprisingly, they got back to me within a couple of days. Unsurprisingly, it was denied. Going to pick up our motorhome in Germany is not an "essential" reason for entering the country, even though I would be coming from a country (Albania) that is not considered a country of risk by Germany.

There is still lots of snow up here!

Most people come to this area in order to get to the village of Theth and Theth National Park. And there are only three ways to get to Theth. One is by hiking, and the other two require 4 wheel drive. 

It's a very remote area.

Unfortunately, that is changing.

First day out hiking in the Albanian Alps

Well, I had said yesterday that we didn't want to jump right into a big hike because we hadn't done one for a while.

And what did we do? We ended up doing 13 kms (8 miles)! But, it was only an elevation gain of about 360 meters (1,200') so it wasn't really that strenuous. Of course we have lots of pictures to show you!

Check out our home in the mountains for the next week...

When we first decided to come to Albania, it was party because of the photos I had seen of the Albanian Alps mountain range, and the hiking possibilities I could imagine existed there. But of course when we arrived here in March, there was still too much snow up in those mountains. 

So, we spent the last two months exploring the southern part of the country waiting for the roads to open up in the mountains. But we are here now, and it's everything we imagined it would be!

Now this is the kind of scenery we love!

Yesterday we took off for a drive up into the Albanian Alps. This northern mountain range stretches into both Montenegro and Kosovo and is also known as the Accursed Mountains. 

We had been told that there might still be snow up there, and some of the roads can be in bad condition so we didn't know exactly how far we would make it. But it turned out we could have gone further... we ran out of time though. Too many beautiful views to stop and admire.

The top 5 so far, and why

I follow the blog of Johnny Ward at One Step 4 Ward. He has been to every country in the world. Not only the 192 United Nations listed countries, but the ones that really are countries, but not necessarily recognized as such by other countries. That brings the total list up to 215.

He posted a list of all those countries on Facebook the other day, and asked readers how many they had been to, and what their favorites were. Of course that got me thinking about what our top five might be.