We have never been so happy to be in another country! So, we were on the boat for the last couple weeks finding the Greek Isles a bit bland (if you've seen one, you've seen them all). To add to that Robin (the boat captain) ended up being a bit less "easy going" than we thought. So after an uncomfortable disagreement, we were all the more eager to part ways with the whole scenario. Hey no complaints, we were sailing almost every day and still having a good time, but after realizing that if we wanted to enter Russia some time this summer, we better get going collecting our visa requirements and apply for our visas!
So we sailed back to Poros Island on Sunday afternoon, and then left on a ferry to Athens on Monday morning. After another uneventful afternoon in Athens, we boarded an overnight bus that brought us here to Tirana, Albania. What a beautiful country with really inviting and friendly people! And to think we missed "W" by only a few days! Tomorrow or Thursday we hope to apply for a Russian visa here in Tirana, and hopefully by the time we get to Poland we will be able to pick it up in Krakow. Not sure if this will all work out, but we will keep our fingers crossed!
It's really hot here in Tirana. After this visa thing is a "go" (or no-go) we will head north to Kotor, Montenegro on the coast, and after that to Dormitor National Park. Brent has been wanting to return to this magical place since he was in this area in 2000. Lots of excitement on the agenda!
update 6-19 through 6-29:
At this time we went to the Russian embassy and met a really nice russian woman named Helena who was really helpful and wanted to help us get to Russia! (Thats a wierd occurrance- kind employees at a foreign embassy!) So we decided to go ahead and apply there in Tirana. Much to our dismay, we were told they would need to keep our visas for the entire time, and we would need to wait up to 9 days to recive the visas and our passports back again. Despite not wanting to stay for that long, we submitted our applications anyway. We were told we could come back on 6-29 to pick them up-a pretty quick turn-around time!
It was so hot in Tirana all we could think of to do is try to find a cooler place. No one seemed to have any suggestions, so we found a town that was within a few hours drive of Tirana- Pogradec. The drive there was unbelievably nerve-wracking. The driver of the little mini-bus was in an awful hurry, passing on mountain roads not wide enough for two mini buses, let alone the huge 18 wheelers that we were passing. According to him there was no need to wonder if there was another vehicle coming the other way on the 90 degree curve, they will swerve to get out of the way. Whether that swerve would be over a canyon wall (that had no guard rail) was not his concern. My head was looking on the floor most of the way to avoid screaming and scaring everyone. After searching around for a seatbelt which had all been disconnected (they're a nuisance, I guess) I made peace with God and tried to enjoy the scenery- which was breathtaking.
Pogradec is situated on lake Ohrid, a World Heritage Site. We arrived there hoping to be able to swim, but after seeing the amount of litter and waste that was in the water, we decided against it. It really was a shame to see the deepest lake in the Baltics (which had a totally unique endangered species of fish living in it) so grossly polluted. I think they are attempting to clean it up, but we were both glad we had our tetanus shots walking around there!
The next day we left for Voskopojo, a beautiful mountain town in the eastern part of Albania. It is known for its clean air (a feature we really appreciated). By the time we rode the mountain bus up to the town and found a room to stay in, and sat and relaxed a while, a horrible thing happened. Brent was the first to remember that it was his birthday! June 24th. I had been thinking about it for weeks, and yet on the day itself I totally forgot. I was so ashamed. I promised him we would go out and do it up right when we got back to civilization. We stayed in Voskopojo for two more days hiking around and enjoying the mountain air, and then headed back to Tirana via Pogradec.
The first night we got back to Tirana we went out to a restaraunt to celebrate Brents birthday called "Effendy." It was run by a chef that had traveled all over the countries that were previously ruled by the Ottomans collecting recipes. We ordered the lamb and had one of the best dinners either of us have ever had. It was amazing. We had a really nice night.
We picked up our Russian visas a day or so later, and were headed to Montenegro. The border crossing was a long complicated puzzle that could only be figured out as we went, since no one knew how to get across without paying a taxi for the full trip. But, after waiting at what we were told was the bus stop for a bus to Montenegro, we basically bribed a minibus to take us up there, and had to pay a taxi to drive us to Ulcinj, Montenegro (no bus service offered over the boarder). A really long, hard confusing hot and frustrating day of travel. Those are the days we ask ourselves "what the heck are we doing?"
We got there around 5:30, ate for the first time that day, found a room and crashed. The next day we headed to beautiful Kotor, Montenegro!
So we sailed back to Poros Island on Sunday afternoon, and then left on a ferry to Athens on Monday morning. After another uneventful afternoon in Athens, we boarded an overnight bus that brought us here to Tirana, Albania. What a beautiful country with really inviting and friendly people! And to think we missed "W" by only a few days! Tomorrow or Thursday we hope to apply for a Russian visa here in Tirana, and hopefully by the time we get to Poland we will be able to pick it up in Krakow. Not sure if this will all work out, but we will keep our fingers crossed!
It's really hot here in Tirana. After this visa thing is a "go" (or no-go) we will head north to Kotor, Montenegro on the coast, and after that to Dormitor National Park. Brent has been wanting to return to this magical place since he was in this area in 2000. Lots of excitement on the agenda!
update 6-19 through 6-29:
At this time we went to the Russian embassy and met a really nice russian woman named Helena who was really helpful and wanted to help us get to Russia! (Thats a wierd occurrance- kind employees at a foreign embassy!) So we decided to go ahead and apply there in Tirana. Much to our dismay, we were told they would need to keep our visas for the entire time, and we would need to wait up to 9 days to recive the visas and our passports back again. Despite not wanting to stay for that long, we submitted our applications anyway. We were told we could come back on 6-29 to pick them up-a pretty quick turn-around time!
It was so hot in Tirana all we could think of to do is try to find a cooler place. No one seemed to have any suggestions, so we found a town that was within a few hours drive of Tirana- Pogradec. The drive there was unbelievably nerve-wracking. The driver of the little mini-bus was in an awful hurry, passing on mountain roads not wide enough for two mini buses, let alone the huge 18 wheelers that we were passing. According to him there was no need to wonder if there was another vehicle coming the other way on the 90 degree curve, they will swerve to get out of the way. Whether that swerve would be over a canyon wall (that had no guard rail) was not his concern. My head was looking on the floor most of the way to avoid screaming and scaring everyone. After searching around for a seatbelt which had all been disconnected (they're a nuisance, I guess) I made peace with God and tried to enjoy the scenery- which was breathtaking.
Pogradec is situated on lake Ohrid, a World Heritage Site. We arrived there hoping to be able to swim, but after seeing the amount of litter and waste that was in the water, we decided against it. It really was a shame to see the deepest lake in the Baltics (which had a totally unique endangered species of fish living in it) so grossly polluted. I think they are attempting to clean it up, but we were both glad we had our tetanus shots walking around there!
The next day we left for Voskopojo, a beautiful mountain town in the eastern part of Albania. It is known for its clean air (a feature we really appreciated). By the time we rode the mountain bus up to the town and found a room to stay in, and sat and relaxed a while, a horrible thing happened. Brent was the first to remember that it was his birthday! June 24th. I had been thinking about it for weeks, and yet on the day itself I totally forgot. I was so ashamed. I promised him we would go out and do it up right when we got back to civilization. We stayed in Voskopojo for two more days hiking around and enjoying the mountain air, and then headed back to Tirana via Pogradec.
The first night we got back to Tirana we went out to a restaraunt to celebrate Brents birthday called "Effendy." It was run by a chef that had traveled all over the countries that were previously ruled by the Ottomans collecting recipes. We ordered the lamb and had one of the best dinners either of us have ever had. It was amazing. We had a really nice night.
We picked up our Russian visas a day or so later, and were headed to Montenegro. The border crossing was a long complicated puzzle that could only be figured out as we went, since no one knew how to get across without paying a taxi for the full trip. But, after waiting at what we were told was the bus stop for a bus to Montenegro, we basically bribed a minibus to take us up there, and had to pay a taxi to drive us to Ulcinj, Montenegro (no bus service offered over the boarder). A really long, hard confusing hot and frustrating day of travel. Those are the days we ask ourselves "what the heck are we doing?"
We got there around 5:30, ate for the first time that day, found a room and crashed. The next day we headed to beautiful Kotor, Montenegro!
