Day 204: Tiranë to Shëngjin

Another umbrella and sunbed filled beach

We left Tiranë in the Monday morning rush hour, grabbed a last “city coffee” (barista standards always seem to drop in the countryside) and then headed north west. We’re heading to Montenegro, but that will take us another day to get to, so we picked out another Albanian seaside resort to head to. 

Our morning coffee stop was a very pleasant café, hotel, petrol station by the side of the road. I decided to tighten our brakes slightly and ended up switching the pads and cable, meaning I had tools and spares spread all over the ground by our bikes. The manager wasn’t happy with this and sent one of the waiters to get rid of me. He came over and said “I’ve been told to ask you to move, but I’ll say you’re just packing up and by the time my boss checks again you’ll be gone.” He then offered to fill our water bottles and added some ice in each one. What a nice guy!

Albania only has one Architectural style - boxes

Shëngjin is the oddest seaside resort we’ve been to so far. The beach is absolutely rammed with umbrellas and sun beds and there’s a constant stream of hawkers coming past selling bananas, nectarines, nuts and just about anything you can imagine. 

Capitalism has defniteLy come to this beach

Tomorrow we leave Albania for Montenegro- country number 13.