By Car in Albania
Albania la pas de masina. A car-walk through Albania
Reachable by car, sea or air.
I choosed to travel by flight- convenience.
If you plan a visit to Albania than you need an albanian friend to help you with your trip. You can still find people that will help you but harder and it takes time plus that you don’t know the degree of trust you can give it to those people.
So after landing to the airport my friend waited for me. She talked with another friend (nephew of her boss) to come with the car to pick me up from the airport. Conclusion: to get a free ride (or cheaper) from the airport to the centre of Tirana you need a friend with a personal car. Or a friend of your friend.
Reaching the center of Tirana you get stucked in the trafic literally. There are no rules of driving. A normal street at us, with two sides, in Tirana (and usually in Albania) it becomes just one. Why? They park chaotically. It means: 2-3 indian rows of parking on a side and one more on the other. These people can park for a temporar stationary. The unbelievable thing is that police exists> but the job done is just half. If you as a driver know the police (there are many drivers that transport persons because there are no companies for outside the city transportation) or if you are man with money (you see it by looking at the car) the police will let you stay. If not and sometimes, they give pennalties. But still, because of pedestrians, stops and intersections the trafic is highly damaged. Conclusion:in the city centre be sure you’ll stay a lot in trafic no matter the hour of the day.
Next, we were transfered to a minivan (an antique one- old car) where we had to wait untill the other passengers will arrive from a hostel. The group leader left us with the driver. He was a man on his 50s and didn’t know a piece of English. Still, we talked through hand-signs, face expressions and smiles. He kindly offered us byrek (the albanian stuffed pie-with spinach, cabbage, cheese, mushrooms
Reachable by car, sea or air.
I choosed to travel by flight- convenience.
If you plan a visit to Albania than you need an albanian friend to help you with your trip. You can still find people that will help you but harder and it takes time plus that you don’t know the degree of trust you can give it to those people.
So after landing to the airport my friend waited for me. She talked with another friend (nephew of her boss) to come with the car to pick me up from the airport. Conclusion: to get a free ride (or cheaper) from the airport to the centre of Tirana you need a friend with a personal car. Or a friend of your friend.
Reaching the center of Tirana you get stucked in the trafic literally. There are no rules of driving. A normal street at us, with two sides, in Tirana (and usually in Albania) it becomes just one. Why? They park chaotically. It means: 2-3 indian rows of parking on a side and one more on the other. These people can park for a temporar stationary. The unbelievable thing is that police exists> but the job done is just half. If you as a driver know the police (there are many drivers that transport persons because there are no companies for outside the city transportation) or if you are man with money (you see it by looking at the car) the police will let you stay. If not and sometimes, they give pennalties. But still, because of pedestrians, stops and intersections the trafic is highly damaged. Conclusion:in the city centre be sure you’ll stay a lot in trafic no matter the hour of the day.
Next, we were transfered to a minivan (an antique one- old car) where we had to wait untill the other passengers will arrive from a hostel. The group leader left us with the driver. He was a man on his 50s and didn’t know a piece of English. Still, we talked through hand-signs, face expressions and smiles. He kindly offered us byrek (the albanian stuffed pie-with spinach, cabbage, cheese, mushrooms