We made a 17 day trip June 2009

I and my partner Rachel spent 17 days in Albania in June . It is an absolutely wondrfull country with snow capped mountains and some of the best beaches in Europe. It has 4000 years of history of invasion and survival and 3000 years of ruins. Modern cities with full coffee shops . But the real treasure is

THE PEOPLE-the ALBANIANS

I have never met a warmer more helpful people in my life. Just look as if you need help and not one but several will voluteer. They don%26#39;t say %26quot;to the corner and then left%26quot; they take you! In one case we were look for a Bektashi teqe and three men and the 9 year old son of one of them devoted 4 hours to getting us there and back.

We are a couple in our early 60%26#39;s who like to walk in mountains . I found an immigrant from Albania and sat with her 5 times to learn 60-70 words of the language. We rented a car for 7 days ( the best price was from TCR) from a local company and other than the fact that they ( I later discovered) processed the charge the day we took the car their service and attitude were fine. We drove Tirana ,Elbasan,Pogredec,Driloni,Korca. Lake Prespsa,Erseka

Permeti,Gjirokastra ,Blue Eye,Ksamil,Butrint Llogoraja,Berati and back to Tirana.

We made a day trip to Kruja by furgon on the day we returned the car. We then headed to Shkoder for a day and night on the way to Lake Komani. We traveled the Valebon valley to the new %26quot;hotel%26quot; between Valebon and Rragam. there we spent 2 days exploring the area . on the third day we walked over the pass to Thethi (with a guide and horse). In Thethi we spent 2 more days with the Haroush family, walking before returning to Shkoder for another half day. Then to Tirana enroute to the airport.

In Tirana I must note that 2 of the nights we stayed at Bujtina Shqiptare (bujtinashqiptare1@yahoo.com) whose proprietor Freddy was very,very helpful and who speaks excelent English and the price is right(not to be confussed with Freddy of %26quot;Freddy%26#39;s Hostel%26quot; where we stayed the first night in Tirana and were not impressed. In Shkoder we stay one night at the Womans%26#39; center which was interesting and fine. The second night we stayed at a warm friendly family Hotel Kaduku in the center of town which also gave us the best breakfast we ate in Albania (info@hotel-kaduku.com). If you have gotten this far and want more info I can be reached at nimrodjoh@yahoo.com.