Albania. Ancient Berat is a city of a thousand windows. To Albania by sea
To Alanya by plane
Tirana Airport offers flights to neighboring countries and a number of European hub airports. There are no direct air routes from Russia to Albania. However, several European airlines offer connecting flights. Based on these suggestions, the easiest way is to fly with a stopover in Turkey or Italy.
Following the bankruptcy of national carrier Albanian Airlines in 2011, the country has no airlines of its own.
In general, due to the extremely limited number of airlines connecting Albania with the outside world, there is no competition and fares are quite high even for the closest destinations. However, several low cost airlines fly to Tirana: Blue Panorama (www.blue-panorama.it) to Rome, Milan, Bari, Verona, Ancona, Venice, Jetairfly (www.jetairfly.com) to Brussels and Pegasus Airlines (www.flypgs.com) to Istanbul .
By train
International trains do not run to Albania; the nearest railway station to the Albanian border on the Montenegro side is Bar, on the Greek side - Yavanina, on the Macedonian side - Tetovo.
To Albania by car and bus
Between Albania and neighboring countries There is no constant and clear bus service. Buses traveling to the republic are frequent, but not regular. They do not have a permanent schedule and it is only possible to find out the schedule for sure at the point of departure. Optimal starting points for a trip to Albania: Thessaloniki and Yavanina (Greece), Skopje and Struga (Macedonia), Sofia (Bulgaria), Podgorica and Ulcin (Montenegro), Istanbul (Turkey).
Most tourists enter Albania from the resorts of Montenegro, in this case it is most convenient to use one of the two daily Ulcin-Shkodër buses, departing at 9 and 16 o'clock, the cost of a one-way ticket is 5 euros, travel time is up to two hours, taking into account the border. The schedule should be clarified further as it may change. Private taxis operating on the principle of minibuses travel from Shkodër to Podgorica, but they do not have any schedule; they depart when they are full.
Distance from Tirana by road: Moscow – 2870 km, Sofia – 510 km, Bucharest – 910 km, Athens – 815 km, Istanbul – 1030 km.
It is much easier to get to Albania by car. The country has a dozen border crossings with all neighboring countries: Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece. If you are driving a rental car, it is recommended to clarify the issue of insurance in advance, since most European rental companies do not allow the import of their cars into Albania and Kosovo. Most often, Albania simply will not be indicated in the so-called “Green Card” (insurance) and you will not be allowed to enter Albania from a neighboring state. In addition, some rental companies install hidden “beacons” in their cars, which signal the company’s office when entering an unauthorized country.
Cars rented in Kosovo do not require Albanian insurance, just as insurance for Albanian cars is valid in Kosovo.
To Albania by sea
Ferries to Albania ( main port– Durres) sail from several ports in Italy. The cost depends on the class of accommodation, the minimum tariff is from 55 euros without a cabin and from 80 euros in a cabin for four. Travel time is from 7 hours (from Bari) to 10 hours (from Ancona).
In the summer, there is a twice-daily ferry from the Greek island of Corfu to the Albanian Sarranda, the cost is 19 euros one way and 32 euros both ways. Travel time is only 1.5 hours. Tickets can be purchased at any travel agency Corfu.
In winter, I was puzzled by the question of where to go on vacation in the summer. I wanted a sea of sun and warmth, to see the world, and I didn’t want to apply for Schengen or any other visa. After thought, search and discussion, Albania was chosen, in which During the tourist season, a visa is not required for Russians. One of the decisive ones was a conversation with my mother, who told me “no one I know has ever been to Albania, and I have not been there. You’ll go and tell us what it’s like there,” and also the fact that, according to reviews from other tourists, prices in Albania are very reasonable.
So, it’s decided, we’re going to Albania. The tickets have been purchased, the route, albeit with difficulty, has been drawn up. By the way, about the route. Since we were going to travel by public transport, we had to be guided by its schedule, and due to the lack of normal communication between more southern cities, I didn’t include them in our route, although I later regretted it: the beauty there, apparently, is unearthly, and somehow we would have gotten there. Our route: Tirana - Durres - Shkodra - Kruja - Vlora - Tirana.
Tirana
After a layover in Belgrade (we flew Air Serbia from Moscow, the layover was about 7 hours, so we had 3-4 hours to walk around this wonderful city) we arrived in Albania. At the airport they exchanged 10 € at the rate of 127 lek for 1 €, so that it was enough to get to the center, and a little more for the first time. The rate is acceptable, but, of course, in the capital itself it was much better. We spent some time finding out how often the bus runs and where its stop is, simultaneously fighting off the guy who was showing with gestures that he wanted to help us and exchange euros for leki at some unimaginable rate of his own. They didn’t think of taking photos of the schedule at that moment, which they really regretted on the way back, but more on that later. We only found out that the minibus runs between the airport and the center every hour, and from what time to what time is unknown. We waited, paid 250 lek per person (which, by the way, after I read about prices in Albania, seemed to me almost millions)) and drove to the center. There we were dropped off at a small square in the city center, from where we subsequently left.
I would like to note right away that on the way back, the bus drivers to the airport were partially informed about the schedule for their movement from this square to the airport: 16.10; 17.50; 20.25; 22.20; 23.20; 01.45. Thus, our fears that we would have to arrive at the airport around 6 pm for our flight departing at 4 am were not confirmed.
Upon arrival, since we were tired from the trip, we immediately went to look for the hotel we had booked on Booking.com. It was obvious that this was someone's apartment rather than a hotel, and when we arrived at the indicated address, we could not find it. We had to call the owners, who immediately told us that they could not accept us for some unknown reasons and hung up after my reasonable question - what should we do now? Thus, I do not recommend the Tirana Rooms hotel. In the meantime, we checked into the neighboring Hotel All Stars Hotel, at the same time calling the booking office, so that at the very least they would not charge us for the reservation, and at the most, they would sort out the bad hotel and do something. The guys from the booking office turned out to be very kind and, as compensation, offered to reimburse the difference in cost between the hotels for sending a photo of the receipt. I didn’t ask about the 1000 rubles spent on telephone calls (stupidly, I didn’t set any special tariffs), although maybe it would have been worth it. But in the end, everything ended well and we, having settled down and taken a shower, went for a walk.
Albanians are a hospitable people, ready to help, but sometimes very cunning when they see simpletons. Therefore, until we got the hang of it, we encountered small but typical situations: either they would weigh all the fruits at the market together in one bag and sell them at the price of the most expensive, or they would sell a souvenir at an unrealistically inflated price (we bought a magnet for 300 lek, and then found out , that in other places it would cost 1 €, that is, 130 lek), then they will take the money, but they won’t give us a ticket on the bus, so that we don’t know how much it really costs (in the capital public transport cost 40 lek, in other cities where there were 30 lek, and between cities there is a different price). Otherwise, Albanians are very positive people. Most people don’t know English, but they seem to know Italian. But if you approach an Albanian on the street (who is in no hurry) and start asking something, he will start shouting to the whole street with the question - who knows English to help the guys?))
So, Tirana. I left the room in such heat without a second thought and without a bra in a thick linen sundress, and this fact allowed me to almost immediately understand that this is not the custom in Albania. We walked for a very long time and could not understand why someone just looked at me intently, and someone (but only women) began to laugh in my direction or say something in Albanian to me or my companion. After reflection and small experiments (at first we walked holding hands and thought that this might be the case, but when we stopped holding, the attention to my person did not stop) we came to the conclusion that in Albania, no matter how hot it is , to keep calm, it’s better to wear a bra, so I had to walk the rest of the trip :)
At the local fast food joint, their shawarma/doner/shawarma on a plate or any other dish has a choice of adding chicken, or beef, or sometimes lamb. The price sometimes changes depending on the meat chosen. So, for 400 lek, we ate a huge shawarma with beef for two, which they kindly cut in half for us. By my standards, it turned out like two full-fledged shawarmas. As for the fruit that we took home for the evening at the local small market: for 120 lek/kg we picked up peaches, nectarines and grapes. In August they have a lot of this stuff, and the prices are about the same everywhere.
While we were walking around Tirana, we did not have any specific goal. The city is quite interesting, but here it is better to look at photographs rather than talk about what it is like.
Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ
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Great Park of Tirana, which, by the way, is equipped with an excellent playground and bike paths.
All sorts of fun things
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The fountain on Skanderby Square was perhaps the most impressive thing in Tirana) I have never seen such a mound filled with water anywhere else. Water flows from the cracks all over this mound, and at the foot there are dancing fountains with lighting, which delight children and make them run and frolic, receiving, it seems, unearthly pleasure) but at the same time you need to visit it in the evening, since it does not work during daylight.
Durres
The next morning in Tirana we went to the bus station to get to Durres. In Tirana, the bus service is good and buses run until about 6 pm to many cities in Albania. There are several bus stations, divided by different directions, there is even a timetable at the entrance, but it’s better to check on the spot (a little more about bus service at the end of the story). When you arrive at the station, you can tell the Albanians crowding at the entrance(most often these are either controllers, or drivers, or simply traffic controllers, and sometimes taxi drivers), where you need to go, and they will immediately direct you to the right bus. So we got to Durres without any problems.
We had 5 days planned in Durres. And for us these were the least impressive days spent in Albania. I'll say right away We liked Durres only because it had delicious and inexpensive seafood , which are, in general, along the entire coast of Albania. We stayed at the Troy Apartments south of the port, we had the sea nearby, but it was disappointing: very muddy, with big amount algae floating on the surface, with a very long and shallow entrance and with a sandy bottom (the last point made me happy, but not my companion, who cursed for a long time that this sand remains everywhere) and without showers at the exit. But we still lay on this beach for a day, having rented 2 sun loungers and an umbrella for 500 lek (which seems to be the standard price for the whole coast). And then we found a small wild pebble beach to the north of the port, with a fairly quick entrance, the sea in that place was not at all muddy, although sometimes there was seaweed, and the beach itself was not too clean. It took about an hour to get there, including the bus ride to the center, but we didn’t like any other beach, so we came to the center, walked there drinking beer, and slowly and leisurely came to swim. The location of the beach is marked on the map with a gray mark.
Throughout Albania we constantly (except, perhaps, the capital) encountered weddings. Their wedding dresses are not very different from ours, and tanned Albanians look pretty good in them))
A little more Durres
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But most of all I remember in Durres how we found a seafood store where we could order them to be grilled or anything else, and for 1100 lek we ate 650 grams of magnificent king prawns)) it was divine!
Shkoder
Having looked at the website indicated at the end of the story that buses depart to Shkoder at 7.30, 8.15 and 9.45 in the morning, we decided to come to the Durres bus station at 8, but, as it turned out, Durres-Shkodër buses are available only at 6.15 and 13.15. We thought a little and decided not to wait for the weather by the sea, we took the first bus to Tirana and there, after a run to another bus station, we went on the first bus to Shkoder. It left Tirana at 10 am, and we drove to Shkodër for about 2 hours. We decided that this was due to the fact that we were traveling on a day off. Although their overall flow rate is, in principle, not that high. We landed at the foot of the mountain on which the Rozafa castle stands and checked into a hostel located there. There we rented two bicycles and rode along the left bank of Lake Skadar. The views, of course, are very attractive, although the beach where you can swim in this lake seems to be the only one and was already closer to the border with Montenegro. All in all, I highly recommend renting bicycles in Shkoder, and if they are not provided by the hotel where you are staying, then this can be done along the right bank of the lake very close to pedestrian bridge. Although the payment in that rental is only hourly, as far as I remember, something around 400 lek/hour, and in our hotel the cost was 4 euros for the whole day (although, of course, the quality of the bicycles was appropriate).
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Rozafa Castle is open to the public until 8 pm, although it seems that the guys stand at the entrance and let people in even after 8. The ticket costs 200 lek, and there is more on the premises small museum for 300 lek, but we didn’t go there. We visited the castle at sunset, and the beauty was unreal))
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I really enjoyed walking around the old town of Shkodra in the evening. Life in it is in full swing in the evenings, but only in it, a little further on on other streets everything is already quiet and calm, and even the cafes are not open. We found a restaurant with inexpensive seafood and had dinner there. A giant pizza with shrimp, for example, cost only 500 lek, I don’t remember about other dishes, but it was also not expensive and tasty.
Kruja
Very successfully, we left the coast for the city of Kruja exactly when we were pretty tired of seafood) Having found out what time the bus from Shkodër goes to Tirana past Fushe-Kruja (the city at the foot of the mountain on which Kruja is located) and, having found out that the bus station we don’t have to go to the station, or we can just go anywhere convenient place wave to the bus and they’ll pick us up, choose a convenient time and off we go.
The controller, who is almost always present on Albanian buses, remembers well who is going where, so you can relax and take a nap on the way; he will come up in advance and tell you that your stop is coming soon. They dropped us off on the highway near Fouche Krui, and we had to walk a little to get to the stop towards Krui. In general, no problems arose, and in Kruje we immediately went towards our most the best hotel from the entire trip to Albania – Bar-Restaurant Merlika. This hotel is located right on the grounds of Skanderby Castle, and the view from the terrace is simply gorgeous. While we were waiting for check-in time, we were treated to coffee and fruit, and we enjoyed it all together, and didn’t even notice how time flew by. By the way, the food there is also very tasty. And the hospitable owner will always treat you to something. Plus, he’ll feed you a sumptuous breakfast and, if anything happens, tell you what you need.
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So, after resting a little, we found out from the owner how to get to the road to the mountains and hit the road. The road took us about 2.5 hours (about 6 km), at the end there was panoramic platform, a small prayer house and great view. Another wedding was planned there, so the site was decorated with all sorts of flowers and other things. I even envied the bride and groom a little; getting married in such a place must be very magical)
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Returning, we caught a glimpse of the sunset, had dinner at an inexpensive tavern next to the old market, tasted wine and, as it was written on the menu, Albanian dish, which we really liked and reminded us of something between meat soup and goulash. And in general, we really liked the local food, fried cheeses, fish soups, seafood dishes... everything was delicious and we never had any stomach problems.
The next day we visited the ethnographic museum and Skanderby Castle itself. Their prices are low (about 300 and 200 lek per person, respectively), and visiting them is quite interesting. The ethnographic museum also has video materials explaining how certain processes took place, for example, preparing olive oil, moonshine, making national hats from sheep’s wool, and so on.
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Two days in this city are more than enough, but you should definitely visit it: as we were told local residents, the tourist Albania we now know began to develop around it)
The dynamics of the Albanian railway industry can be described in one word: primitivization. This applies to the railway network, passenger and freight transportation, the state of track infrastructure, locomotive and carriage fleets. In particular, passenger traffic, which reached best years 4 million people per year, since the beginning of the century it has begun to decline steadily and rapidly, and now barely exceeds the figure of 300 thousand (Wikipedia). The cancellations and reductions of trains were accompanied by the physical degradation of the road network. So, at the end of 2013, the railway left even the capital of the country: on the Vora-Tirana section, the rails were dismantled, and the station was completely destroyed.
From the once developed network of railways, in fact, there are three sections left with passenger traffic: Durres-Vlora, Shkoder-Skozet and Rogozhino-Librazd. There are only two junction stations left: Shkozet and Rogozhino.
I deliberately left the Podgorica-Shkodra cross-border section on this diagram, in the vain hope of returning passenger traffic between Albania and Montenegro before the rails there were dismantled. In my estimation, such a train would be in incredible demand among tourists, since there is no alternative in the form of reliable bus service between countries.
It is unknown how long the railway will last, at least in its current state, so without waiting for its terrible end, I decided to devote the day of April 3 to this vanishing form of transport. There was nothing to choose from: even based in the main railway center of the country - Durres, you can create only one route for a day trip back and forth, namely Durres-Librazh. The schedule of all Albanian trains is placed on one A4 page:
So, in all of Albania there are 4 (four) pairs of trains left: two on the Durres-Elbasan route, and one each on Durres-Shkoder and Durres-Vlora. It is interesting that the turnover of these trains is arranged in such a way that they all “spend the night” at different terminal stations, as a result of which only one departs from Durres in the morning - to Librazh; they can return back on the same day. If this schedule applies to a developed railway. country, an attentive reader could assume that in addition to those mentioned, there is another VBS in Albania (Vlora-Librazd), and at the Elbasan station the uncoupling of excess cars is carried out. In reality, there is no exchange of carriages: passengers from Vlora simply jump onto the agreed train at the connecting station, and all the carriages that left Durres (and it doesn’t matter if they are empty) are brought to Librazhd.
The librazhd is so small that there is nothing to do in it even during the hour while the driver is having lunch. Therefore, it was decided not to travel the entire way, but only to Elbasan, using the three hours that the train turns around at the final station for a walk around the city (there will be a separate post). The only difficulty of this whole plan was getting up at 5 am, but we managed it, and half an hour before departure we arrived at the starting point - at the train station in Durres. The station building was designed with bustling life in mind, but today the form looks disproportionate to its content:
The only function of this two-story palace is to sell tickets. Tariffs in Albania are extremely low: a 100 km trip will cost you the price of a cappuccino - about $1. I paid only 230 lek for my round-trip ticket - the light bulb that burned out the day before was even more expensive :)
Having purchased tickets, we go out onto the platform. The station, although large, does not particularly stand out from the general background:
Note the covered viaduct on the left side of the frame - this is the transition to sea port, and in comparison with the neighboring entrance to the railway. station, it is much busier in the morning - the first ferry from Italy has just arrived. But let's return to our platform. Absolutely nothing has changed here in the year since I visited here for the first time:
Even in the list of destinations they didn’t cross out the currently irrelevant cities of Tirana and Pogradec :)
And our train is already standing on the first (or second?) track, hospitably opening half of each door (the second, as it turned out later, no longer opens everywhere). The Albanian train consists of two rather long two-section carriages,
slaves shunting Czech-made diesel locomotive:
The entire locomotive fleet of the country consists of exactly the same diesel locomotives, of which 61 were imported in the 70-80s. Probably half of them remain: about a dozen are employed on the lines, the rest are laid up rusting at the Xkozet and Fier stations.
As for the carriages, it is not so easy to determine their origin: I searched for a long time, but never found a single plate from the manufacturer. However, from the inscriptions on various auxiliary equipment, we can conclude that the carriages began their life in one of the German-speaking countries. In general, the car is quite comfortable, although a little broken down:
Unlike the armchairs, there was not a single living space left on the windows. All the glass is cracked, and the windows (where they exist) are fixed in the last position before breaking: closed, half-open or completely open:
This circumstance made the blogger’s task extremely difficult: driving near an open window meant freezing in 5 minutes (not the month of May), and in other places it was impossible to photograph through the window - either there were cracks or a layer of dust. In general, the situation with the glass turned out to be the same as a year ago at cable car- Albanians are not friends with transparent windows on transport.
Despite the fact that all the carriage rooms were marked 2nd class, we were not allowed into the VIP section of the first carriage - officials were traveling there: a conductor, a barmaid and a policeman with a friend. So mine evaporated last hope to pictures of views from the window. As it turned out later, you can’t take much pictures at the stops either: the train stopped for more than one minute only when the VIPs wanted to drink a cup of coffee at some station - although the driver didn’t join them, he waited patiently for ten minutes.
Here, in fact, is our driver before the start of his working day:
Everything is simple and familiar: I came to work on a bike, in ordinary civilian clothes. Soon a partner of the same kind arrived and the loading of bicycles began - it’s much easier to do this together:
Of the entire staff, only one person is wearing a railway uniform - the platform controller:
He does not check tickets, but only keeps order in the territory entrusted to him - for example, he drives old women away from the edge of the platform in front of an arriving train. As you can see even from the photo, in Durress he was a good-natured guy, but in Elbasan I came across a very strict guy - he immediately forbade me to take photographs and escorted me until the exit, so that God forbid I disobeyed :)
However, it's time to go. Elbasan is 76 kilometers away, which the train covers in exactly 3 hours. Considering the condition of the rails, this is a very good speed, and in some sections the train accelerated to 40 and even 50 km/h. The occupancy of the car never exceeded a third, and only about 10 people traveled from end to end. The main flow was traffic between neighboring stations, and near major cities Even computers were discovered that were completely faithful to the usual form of transport.
In half an hour the train quickly reached the Golem station, which is in the area of distant beaches. Remembering with what difficulty summer season vacationers get there - either by changing buses, or by standing in traffic jams by car - I dare to assume that the train in this regard is in no way inferior to its competitors for passengers. What is stopping you from launching a commuter train with hourly service according to the summer schedule?
Moreover, it is more convenient and faster to get to all other cities along the route of our train this way. For example, between Durres and Elbasan there is no direct bus, but making a transfer in Tirana is difficult - the bus arrives at one place and departs from a completely different one. So for the preservation of the railway. transport we have arguments.
Let's move on. Everywhere there is a single track, and trains can pass each other only at stations. An hour after departure, at the Kawai station we note the first oncoming train - the Elbasan one. It is no different from ours:
The conductor and barmaid have a dust-free job: the first one only checks tickets (passengers themselves open the doors at stops), and the second one delivers drinks once during the entire journey. The policeman goes more often, but only because he is a more sociable person - passengers on the train do not row in public.
In contrast to Durres, the train stations of the other stations look unsightly and dull, so I photographed them only for the sake of order:
Having traveled approximately halfway, we reach the junction station Rogozhino (Rrogozhinё). Here the second oncoming train is already waiting for us - the Vlora one, and some of its passengers make a sports transfer, literally jumping into our train within a minute of stopping. Vlorsky left the station so quickly that I didn’t even have time to photograph him:
I found only one working semaphore during the entire journey (at least the lights were on). And really, who needs them with such little traffic? Moreover, when passing settlements The locomotive continuously hums like an elephant. However, barriers at some crossings still work.
Same station on the way back. Here our train arrives a little earlier than Vlora, so that people have time to change trains:
Here we have already turned east and are moving up the valley of the Shkumbini River. The valley is wide, picturesque, intensively plowed:
But here is the river itself - it would be better if your eyes didn’t see it: all the coastal bushes are so thickly covered with garbage that they resemble a New Year tree. But what does not settle on the branches floats to the sea.
The city of Rogozhin (emphasis on the last syllable) is famous for its many kilometers aqueduct(part of it can be seen in the background of the previous photo). Apparently, the ancient Albanians built it to water their gardens. For the sake of such a landmark, I had to contrive and remove it through the glass at full speed:
The next station - Pechin - pleased with its creative sign:
More in this regional center Nothing remarkable was revealed from the window, except perhaps a high-security prison :)
Then the road went noticeably uphill, and even tunnels 100-300 meters long appeared. For almost an hour until Elbasan itself there were no major stations - the only city of Cerrik was located across the river. Tserrik was large during the years of socialism industrial center, there was even a small oil refinery operating here. A branch leads to the former factory railway, marked on all maps as “valid, for freight traffic". In fact, driving along it is problematic, and there is no need anymore:
The “garbage banks” of Shkumbini are clearly visible here.
At the entrance to Elbasan, the train passes by (or rather, passes through) another giant of the socialist era - the metallurgical plant. The plant, no smaller than the city itself, looks abandoned, but life is still glimmering in some workshops. Unfortunately, I was not able to take a single angle.
Three hours later, we finally arrive in Elbasan. The station looks much more modest than the one in Durres, but it is still clear that the station is large:
There is even a dedicated first track, but drivers ignore it. But we are always ready to chat with friends:
Then the platform guard spotted me, and I had to take the last shot on the way back, and even then on the sly:
This is a view of the western neck of the station. Firstly, there is some kind of track development at the station. Secondly, freight cars were noticed for the first time (later, on the way back we came across a whole freight train). Thirdly, there is a spare pair of carriages on the siding. I don’t know for what reasons (maybe out of superstition), but at the final stations the locomotive leaves the delivered cars and picks up new ones. So, on the way back we were already traveling in different carriages, although with the same staff.
Probably, from below it looks much more impressive than from the window of a train going above, but it would still be interesting to take a ride. Well, we'll leave it for next time if the traffic isn't closed before I get around to doing it.
Do you know what bothered me most about planning a trip to Albania? Its public transport and terrible roads. The prospect of traveling around the country at an average speed of 30 km/h in crowded old buses without ventilation is a joy for everyone. Globally, I talked about the difficult everyday life of tourists in a short report “Albania: an instruction manual”, so here I will focus only on transport. I will have to repeat some things from the original text because they are relevant. Take it as an axiom that Albanian roads consume the lion's share of your time, and searching for non-existent bus stations consumes the lion's share of your nerves. And yet Albania is beautiful, this is an indisputable fact. Let's start with the Albanian railway, which is distinguished by its considerable flavor -
Friends, are you really scared by the photo above? Don't worry, this carriage is on sidings and hasn't seen passengers for a long time. In fact, you will travel in Albania in other carriages, somewhat better than this one. The fact is that several years ago Albania bought old (by Italian standards) carriages from Italy and now these old Italian carriages are running fast on Albanian rails. And don't be confused by the broken windows everywhere, the kids are having fun throwing stones at passing trains. However, according to locals, in last years hooligan practices have come to naught and driving has become absolutely safe -
The inside of the carriages looks quite civilized, at least better than some long distance, where there is truly hell and horror, as if they are transporting not people, but cattle. Albanians travel to substantially better conditions than the Russians -
But what Albanian trains have in common with Russian electric trains (in terms of distance, the Moscow-Petushki train corresponds to the longest crossing in Albania from Shkoder to Vlora) is the lack of toilets. More precisely, there are toilets, you understand that even 40 years ago in Italy people did not urinate in the passages between carriages. But for some reason the Albanians walled up the toilets, so the passengers found their own way to relieve themselves, something like this -
Albanian train stations are not distinguished by the elegance of their architecture; this is not Budapest or Moscow. Everything here is designed in the strict colors of socialist realism of the sixties, when Albania fell out with Khrushchev and adopted the fiery ideas of Maoism -
Travel on Albanian trains, you'll meet there beautiful girls -
And here are the schedules -
And prices (for convenience $1 = 100 Leke) -
Interior of the station -
Albanian trains are driven exclusively by old shunting diesel locomotives, now they will attach it to those cars and go passenger train from Durres to Tirana -
I respect railway transport and always prefer it to bus transport. But in the case of Albania, the reality is that the train only makes sense if you have an insane amount of free time. It's not even a matter of broken carriages or closed toilets. Not only is the railway transportation network very limited, in fact there are only two lines: Shkoder - Durres - Vlora, Durres - Tirana and Tirana - Pogradec. Almost all trains go through Durres, this is a junction station. There are very few trains, for example, on the Shkoder - Vlora line there are only 2 trains per day, on the Tirana - Pogradec line there is only one. There are about 5 trains a day on the Tirana-Durres line; they cover 35 km in just over an hour. It’s not difficult to calculate how long it will take you to travel, say, from Vlora to Shkodër, the distance there is about 200 km. And this is still provided that departure at 4.30 in the morning suits you perfectly.
p.s. In development of the topic of the Albanian railway, I strongly recommend that you read my colleague’s report griphon , who spoke in great detail about his experience of traveling around Albania by train.
Buses
I have already talked about the features of traveling around Albania by bus, for those who have not read, I will repeat it very briefly. Traveling around Albania will be unreasonably long, painful and in poor conditions. Add to the lack of roads the difficult mountainous terrain, dead buses with non-functional ventilation, and you get the following figures: average speed travel in the northern part of Albania will be about 40 km/h, in the southern, more mountainous part - 30 km/h. Don't be fooled by the small size of the country; you will spend more time in transport than visiting attractions. Frankly, I didn’t believe it, how can you drive so slowly? And the box opened very simply: Mountain road, covered in potholes, a truck the age of our parents crawls along, followed by a hundred cars and twenty buses. In the oncoming lane there is an identical picture. Then someone stalls and you are stuck in a traffic jam. So relax and proceed from the formula 30 and 40 given above. A relatively good road was built between Tirana and Durres, but even there you will not accelerate faster than 50 km/h, and if on some section your driver exceeded 100 km/h, then the correct sign - there is a traffic jam ahead and you will be stopped for an hour due to an accident, or the breakdown of another bus. They are still actively building a highway from Tirana to Shkodër, but it will take several more years before it starts working.
Now it’s very easy for you to calculate travel time. Are you going from Tirana to Gjirokastra? Great, decent place. It’s 170 kilometers there, the road goes south. This means we divide 170 by 30 and we get about 6 hours of travel. Do you need to go to Rinas airport from the center of Tirana? Do you think that 25 km is not enough? Allow an hour for the journey - you won't go wrong.
So, Albania was one of the most closed countries in the world for half a century. It’s no wonder that it contains subtleties unknown to us. For example, when I was in Shkodra, I spent a long time racking my brain about how I could catch a taxi to the Rozafa fortress, which is 5 km from the center. Not a single taxi was seen on the street. According to Russian habit, I stretch out my hand - no one stops me, people look in bewilderment. Then I notice that not far from me, almost two dozen ordinary cars are lined up along the street, all with their doors open. It turned out that these were taxis, or more precisely “bombs”. But they themselves may not approach you, although they clearly see that you are catching a car. The funny thing is that official taxi drivers pay taxes and issue receipts, but bombers are forced, at least formally, to hide. If you come up on your own, they will take you, they say, the man asked, he couldn’t refuse. But if they imposed themselves on you, this would already be a risk of running into an inspector for illegal business activities. Actually, one of the bombers told me all this.
Let's return again to Albania's communist past. Previously, people did not disperse across the country and abroad, but only moved from home to production. Those going to the pipe plant waited for a ride at the exit of the city next to the monument to the Albanian communist. Now the monuments have been demolished, but the waiting system for buses and minibuses in strange places preserved. In the town of Fier, minibuses to Berat depart from a certain point between an abandoned boiler house and the city dump. It took a long time for a local English-speaking guy to explain this to me: “You go straight for a kilometer, then turn right for two hundred meters. There you will see a factory chimney, go to it. When you reach the pipe, look to the left, there will be a garbage heap, you reach it, and then go to the opposite side of the road - there will be a minibus.” In a crazy state, I walked the whole way, but didn’t find the minibus, but was barked at by a pack of stray dogs. In the end, it turned out that the minibus runs several times a day and today the last one has already left. I had to go back to the center, look for a minibus to some village (whose name I forgot) and from there transfer to Berat.
IN major cities there are some semblances of bus stations, for example in Durres all the buses are clustered at one point, next to the railway station. You won't find any schedules, don't get your hopes up. Some locals will tell you that the bus to Tirana runs every hour. Next is a small collection of Albanian buses, in which you will spend a considerable part of your trip through this country -
Some buses are quite civilized, but this is rare. The bus you see below is a huge rarity, I would say the only one I have encountered. Even the air conditioning worked there, which is absolute nonsense -
In 9 out of 10 cases there will be other buses waiting for you -
Buses will always be overcrowded as drivers wait until last place won't be busy. And even when all the seats are occupied, the last ones will be given buckets and they will ride in the aisle on buckets. This is very convenient, apparently.
And once I had to ride in the trunk of a minibus, sitting on the spare wheel -
Transport prices
Trains cost $1 per 50 kilometers, buses $1 per 30 kilometers, minibuses (vans) $1 per 20 kilometers. Accordingly, travel by minibus from Saranda in the far south of Albania to Tirana 180 kilometers will cost $10-12, from Tirana to Durres only 35 kilometers - just over one and a half dollars.
There are no direct flights Moscow - Tirana, there are only indirect flights in transit through Istanbul, Milan (Malpensa), Rome, Athens, Belgrade, Vienna, Sofia, Zurich, Frankfurt am Main and other major European cities.
But unlike railway transport Albania has a well-developed bus service, both intercity and intracity. Apart from buses, there is no other urban transport in Albania. The cost of travel on a city bus is 30 lek. What's interesting is that the tickets are the same in all cities.
On intercity flights involved a large number of minibus taxis who travel in different directions, and in which directions you need to check directly with the minibus drivers. Or you will simply hear the names of cities and towns shouted by the same drivers. There are places where this transport gathers in all cities and any passerby will point you to them.
Since there are no ticket offices, you buy a ticket on the bus, but do not forget to find out the fare in advance, as it may change by the end of the trip. big side. Most minibuses depart early, from 06:00 to 08:00 in the morning, and if you oversleep or postpone the trip until lunch, you most likely will not be able to leave that day. Especially if you are going to visit the south of the country. IN big cities minibuses depart several times a day throughout the country.
There are also international flights. For example, you can go to Athens, the capital of Greece, for just 25 euros; flights operate several times a day. Also, to Italy, Montenegro, Turkey and almost all countries of southern and central Europe.
"Famous" Albanian roads. Road transport in Albania.
If you read something somewhere about BAD Albanian roads, - forget it. In Albania, hundreds of kilometers of roads are built every year. A new highway was built in Kosovo, the Tirana-Dures highway was completed long ago, a new highway was built from Duress to Vlora, along the Adriatic. Autobahn is being built in Gjirokaster, to Greece. Fully new road along the Ionian Sea (though in the mountains). Most secondary roads have been updated. And the process continues.
Driving in Albania is on the right, so you don't have to get used to it. You just need to get used to local mentality. It costs drivers nothing to stop where necessary, often creating a traffic jam, or to turn around anywhere. You need to be careful when driving through a roundabout; the one closest to the maneuver goes first. To clarify this fact, gestures are actively used. There is little aggression on the road, everyone lets each other pass. Cars for rent
It is easy to rent a car in Albania, including ordering it through the website directly to the airport at a certain time. To rent a car you need to have an international driver's license, a deposit in the form of cash or credit card and, most importantly, you must be at least 19 years old, and some rental companies require at least 21 years of age. There are local and international rental companies operating in the country.
International ferry service in Albania.
Albania has developed ferry service with other countries. From Vlora and Durres you can reach the Italian ports of Ancona, Bari, Brindisi and Trieste, and from Saranda(port in the south of Albania) - on greek island Corfu, from where direct charters fly to several Russian cities. The most regular flights operate from Duressa to Bari, every day at 23:00, 07:00 and 11:00. For example, if you leave Durres at 23:00, then arrive in Bari (Italy) at 8 am. Tickets can be purchased from numerous cruise travel agencies around the port. There are 5 large ferries. There are always places. The country also has a regular ferry service on the lake Ohrid, which connects the city of Pogradec (Albania) with the city of Ohrid (Macedonia).