View with city: Shkodra / Albania

30.07. - 01.08.2023 and 04.08. - 05.08.2023

MARKUS:

We get off the bus heavily loaded and walk in the heat of the afternoon directly from the city center towards Lake Skadar, which Albania and Montenegro share and can be reached on foot in just under an hour. My first impression of Shkodra is rather modest, but it is probably due to the hardships of the heavy backpack and is soon corrected. A rough and warm city with a wonderful lake, a relaxed city center, and very, very friendly and open-minded people.

We set up our tent on the lakeshore, watch farmers gathering hay, smile with two older Albanians who repeatedly ride past us on their bikes, count frogs and terns, and spend wonderful minutes in conversation with an older man; he in Albanian, we in German, neither understanding the other yet sharing a real story. In the evening, we borrow one of the boats located on the shore and sail out onto the lake for a while. A wonderful day in nature right next to the city.

We decide to spend the next day in a hostel in the city center, as the bus leaves the following day shortly after 6 a.m. So we stroll through the pleasantly unadorned city center and treat ourselves to the first movie in 4 weeks in the evening: 'Oppenheimer,' with Cillian Murphy stylishly dubbed in Albanian😉

TANJA:

On our way back from Theth to Shkodra, I have a conversation again with our charming driver Gino using hands and feet for 1.5 hours. While the Jeep is packed with passengers, including the trunk, and of course everyone without seat belts, Albanian style, I managed to get the front seat next to Gino. We 'talk' about good photo spots, bad road sections, Gino's beloved, whom he shows me passing by in a vegetable store, and we laugh a lot when Gino insists that I take a picture of Markus sleeping with his mouth open - all of this is done through reflections and emotions captured by gestures and sounds. I am very impressed by the Albanians' need to communicate without any knowledge of the language, although it is mostly men and old women who approach you.

Back at the hostel, we meet Heiba again, who has already cycled from Mainz to Shkodra and got stuck there to protect his knees and enjoy the nice bar.

And Maria from Argentina, whom we met in Theth, of course, is also staying in our hostel. It's so nice to see each other again. After an organizational day in beautiful Shkodra, the heavy rain breaks out the next day and everyone is happy after so many days of 40 degrees.

Another nice surprise: Christian and Mariella - an Austrian-Argentinian couple we also met in Theth, take us on a long tour to a sleepy village called Lin, which still consists of traditional houses and is located directly on a peninsula on Lake Ohrid.