Hi you guys, since I last talked to you I’ve made it about halfway through Albania, enroute to Athens.I set out from Podgorica, Montenegro on Friday morning and enjoyed the last bit of Montenegro scenery I’ll get to look at for a little bit.

It wasn’t long from Podgorica until I hit the Albanian border. The border was a nightmare scenario, with cars backed up a long way from the checkpoint. Between getting out of Montenegro and into Albania, 2 1/2 hours of my day on Friday evaporated.

Once into Albania, it was a couple more hours to get to the capital city Tirana, where I had a room booked for the evening. There was some nice scenery on the way, fairly similar to the mountainous terrain I saw in Montenegro.

Entering into the outskirts of Tirana, the traffic became heavier and heavier and people were driving like maniacs. It only got worse as I approached the city center where I was supposed to be staying. I’ve never been more stressed out driving anywhere than Tirana. People jump lanes, take the right of way, create new lanes, pass when it is not safe, and pull to within 6 inches of your car. Add to that the hundreds of pedestrians walking out in front of moving traffic, and I was about to have a panic attack by the time I got to my hotel.

Arriving to my hotel, I was informed that there was actually no room for me even though I had a confirmed booking.com reservation. No explanation whatever and seemingly no concern for me from the staff. Great. I walked to a couple other nearby hotels that were also full, until I finally found a place a few blocks over. After squeezing the car into their tiny parking lot and checking in, I was finally able to go out and do some exploring of the city.

Video: Pyramid in Tirana

Video: Skanderbeg Square

After all that walking around, I was pretty beat, but I couldn’t resist grabbing my music gear and heading over to the main square to try a little busking. It wound up going great actually. I played almost exclusively the songs I haven’t been playing much as a change of pace (rather than mostly crowd favorites) and brought in 25 Euros which included a 10 dollar bill that somebody threw in my case. Paid for my room for the night in 2 hours!

In the morning when I checked out of the hotel, there were 3 cars blocking my way out. That was an ordeal, but I eventually got my car out. I had planned on driving across town to see a couple last things that I had read about, but the traffic was an absolute disaster and I made the decision just to head out of town to my next destination, Berat. I just couldn’t deal with it again. Enroute, I stopped at a seafood restaurant on the edge of town and had a pretty good meal there.

Hearing towards Berat, there was some more nice scenery. When I got there, I just checked out a couple of the mosques and old buildings in the town and then drove up a giant hill to have a look at the castle there.

I was originally booked in a hostel in Berat for tonight, but it was so early in the day and I had seen everything there I really wanted to, so I cancelled that hostel and booked another one in the city of Vlore. Vlore was another 90 minutes closer to Greece, was on the coast, and had a hostel for 9 euros, so I figured why not? I made the trek there and checked into my room. The guy running the place told me about a good place to busk, so when the sun started to set I went down there to play. I would up having my best night ever playing on the street – 38 euros in 2 hours, and this is in Albania where the people are poor and everything in dirt cheap! I was definitely happy with the take tonight.

Video: Busking location in Vlore

Tomorrow, I’m making my way further down the coast to Sarande, with plans to stop at a couple beaches that were recommended to me on the way. On Monday, I’ll cross into Greece and will be making a beeline for Athens to get there in time to pick up Vickie!