Verflogener Albanienärger

Man, what was I angry 😡 yesterday and even this morning!

For a €9 room you have to put up with a lot. Except for a bed, there was no other furniture. Or the mirror in the bathroom fixed with duct tape, you can still tolerate that. But the fact that the room was not cleaned, there were still half-drunk beverage bottles lying around, or the mold in the bathroom, that was quite serious, even by Albanian standards. When the landlord presented me with the bill, I almost exploded. €9 for the room, then I double-checked, €24 for a beer, 1 cola and a lukewarm bad meal. When I tried to protest, the landlord suddenly couldn't understand English or German anymore, the night before it still worked.

Without accepting the coffee he offered, I left the hotel with nasty words to start towards Kosovo.

Even Albania has become much more expensive compared to my trip in 2019.

I went back to the mountains, but it must have rained a lot up here at night. There had been a lot of rockfall, sometimes the lane on the sloping side could not be used.

Then the border crossing to Kosovo soon came into view. Very nice processing, only, I didn't know that I was missing a vehicle insurance for Kosovo. The green insurance card is not recognized here. But there are insurance offices at the border crossings. Here I could take out a policy for 15 days for €10. I should have paid in €, but I only had Albanian Lek with me. One of the border police officers persuaded the insurance representative to accept Lek and he even changed a large banknote, I emphasize, without asking for anything in return. He just wanted to be friendly, wished me a warm welcome to Kosovo and a pleasant onward journey.

Shortly after the border, in the next town, I took a coffee break

I paid 50 cents for 2 coffees and the obligatory glass of water. That made me feel more reconciled.

I continued through Pizren, I would have liked to take a closer look at the city, but the temperature had risen to 30 degrees again, chaotic city traffic and the lack of secure parking spaces made me continue driving.

Once again up to 1200 meters. Up here, it was only 19 degrees. Shortly before, I had opened all ventilation options of my clothing, which now almost gave me frostbite 🥶😅. Fortunately, I went downhill quickly, on this side, it was only 27 degrees. Shortly before Pristina, I chose a hotel. I wanted to drive through the capital of Kosovo in the morning coolness and then turn towards North Macedonia.

One more note: The average income of a Kosovar is €400 per month. The price of gasoline here is €1.88. This should make some German complainers think.

Ps. If you visit a bar/restaurant or similar in Kosovo, you should have toilet paper with you. There is almost none available on publicly accessible toilets.