May 2024. Tirana. Albania. Mrs RM’s mood noticeably picked up after eating 60% of that apple strudel, and despite her insistence we weren’t visiting lots of bars on our day in Tirana she immediately asked me “Where’s your pub then ?” as we headed into Blokku, the posher bit of the city where the communist… Continue reading RADIO, RADIO
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WELL, IS TIRANA WORTH A VISIT THEN ?
May 2024. Tirana. Albania. We had the best part of a whole day in Tirana before our evening flight back to Luton’s Long Stay car park, and I was thrilled, thrilled I tell you, to be exploring one of Europe’s least known capitals. Largely dismissed as not worthy of an overnight stop on the way… Continue reading WELL, IS TIRANA WORTH A VISIT THEN ?
TRYING THE “LOCAL BEER” IN TIRANA
May 2024. Tirana. Albania. The homeward leg, now; back from “gorgeous Gjirokaster” (the TIC can have that for a 100 lek) to Tirana, which I had as yet no opinion on at all. It wasn’t without incident. Mrs RM had booked seats on giirafa for 3pm, and now all we had to do was get… Continue reading TRYING THE “LOCAL BEER” IN TIRANA
Gjirokastër Castle
May 2024. Gjirokastër. Albania. These blog posts don’t get half the views that a post on a Marston boozer in Wrexham gets. In fact, this post on a CLOSED pub in North Wales from 2017 is still getting more attention than anything I write on Albania. But it’s a diary not a beer blog, and… Continue reading Gjirokastër Castle
Could YOU resist an Albanian bar called “Hangover” ?
May 2024. Gjirokaster. Albania. We’d walked every street in Gjirokaster by 7, and while Albania’s prettiest city is a gem, it could really do with some tourist attractions like, I dunno, firing pellets at furry animals. I told you they had a weird relationship with teddies. We agreed to leave the castle till tomorrow, when… Continue reading Could YOU resist an Albanian bar called “Hangover” ?
THE STRANGE ALBANIAN OBSSESSION WITH TEDDY BEARS
And you thought the obsession was with Norman Wisdom ? May 2024. Gjirokraster. Albania. Our third city in Albania, and already Gjirokaster looked destined for our own personal Top 40s, level with Cologne and just above Palmerston North, possibly. You can walk its dips and climbs in 20 minutes; it felt a place you HAD… Continue reading THE STRANGE ALBANIAN OBSSESSION WITH TEDDY BEARS
“No current ! No current !”. Dramas in Gjirokastër
May 2024. Gjirokastër. Albania. You left us sitting on piles of sand on the side of the SH72 road on the edge of Lushnje, where we’d now been for 3 hours. praying silently for the 13:38 to turn up to take us to our third Albanian city of the trip in what sounded like Gyropasta.… Continue reading “No current ! No current !”. Dramas in Gjirokastër
STUCK INSIDE OF LUSHNJE WITH THOSE ALBANIAN BUS BLUES AGAIN
May 2024. Lushnje. Albania. A post for all of you who enjoy discomfort and distress befalling Mrs RM and I, as we attempt to continue our Albanian adventure on the second morning. Gjirokaster, which I continuously called Gyropasta, not helping at all, is the other big Unesco site in town, and you’d expect it to… Continue reading STUCK INSIDE OF LUSHNJE WITH THOSE ALBANIAN BUS BLUES AGAIN
LIZARDS IN BERAT
May 2024. Berat. Albania. The first afternoon of our Albanian trip took us to Berat (pop. 30,000 and falling), a town seemingly existing on German tourists arriving on the excellent coastal road in cars and coaches parked at the entrance to the castle walls, then heading straight to the restaurant with the best view. I… Continue reading LIZARDS IN BERAT
ALBANIA ON A BUDGET
May 2024. Tirana to Berat. Mrs RM sees herself as an aspiring travel “influencer” (ugh) and was about to take thousands of photos of Albanian pastries and beer for her own Instagram page. At the very first hurdle we forgot to take a pic of the breakfast spread at the just opened Mercure on that… Continue reading ALBANIA ON A BUDGET
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