Albania Humanitarian Tour

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Arrived in Albania with the humanitarian consignment with my Fiat Tipo crossing the Adriatic from Brindisi to Durazzo.
In the port city restricting us to visit a hospital where they were given food and medicine, but above all where to establish contact with the absolute misery of a country brought to its knees by decades of communist dictatorship and hermetically closed to the world. Driving through the countryside came to Tirana, a city that despite being the capital does not offer much to a visitor. A large square is dominated by the government building which stands on a mosaic inneggiante wins social reality in a nation brought to its knees by starvation. It 'almost Christmas, but in this country with a strong Islamic presence and in which for years has preached atheism state there is no trace of this party. Many young people have been left with crumbling barges pressed like sardines, have just crossed the Strait of Otranto to try his luck in Italy. The few remaining Sunday afternoon invade the large building with mosaic, transforming it into a mega disco. The less fortunate, those who live on the margins, living from alms and activities such as small shoeshine, present at every street corner. To see something interesting tourist should go to Kruje, a town where it perpetuates the memory of the historical Albanian leader Skanderbeg recalled from a mausoleum well-maintained but very kich. To discover the real Albania we go north on the roads leading to the mountains. Of Puke and Fushe Arrezo, where we go just me and a friend leaving the rest of the caravan, suffer an ambush, with a few stones placed in the middle of the road near a bend and tried to block the armed shepherds we aim the rifle from the hill above , we manage to escape but how much fear. A Fushe Arriz being entirely surrounded by a cloud of faces from people just recommended, it takes the panic, but fortunately you break a young policeman who says, shows us a card and asks us to rise. He speaks a little Italian as all Albanians, who knows both the fascist occupation of the 30s is because here comes the tv, even when view illegally during communism was absolutely forbidden. We do not know whether to trust but it is the only alternative and we do well because it leads us to Puka inside a military barracks where we sleep while the machine is controlled on sight by guards armed with machine pistol. The following morning we start for the coast that although poverty has a parvensa of civilization, even if miles away from our standards. However Scutari visit to the outside of the castle that overlooks the lake and we meet with the rest of the humanitarian convoy came here to deliver food to a nunnery. Will then continue further north to the campaign of Koplik where other humanitarian aid and get home by the area. Every time you stop our media people surrounding us, hoping to get something but it is difficult to please everyone. The afternoon is a sharp shower, which we we will caveremmo operating the wipers but here the roads are in bad condition, full of holes, no signs of elementary and drain so quickly flooded, making it difficult to return to Tirana. In a subway, water is so high, and candles that bathes the engine and the car stops. Fortunately, the humanitarian consignment has the most powerful and are driven for miles and miles to the capital. Remain a few days in Tirana where I know even with the director of state television that leads me to see the studies. Still just me and my friend leaving for the south. The little evidence we disorientate and often wrong way, we can still reach Dhermi, a resort overlooking a small beach hotel with a very modern Western mold where to stay. The beach is small but nice, we walk in the evening as the only beneficiaries. The next day we continue south and stop briefly at that Saranda Vlora, a city on the sea that we moved so much. Our goal is Butrint on the border with Greece, where you can find the ruins of an ancient Greek city. Immediately after the archaeological area, the road stops abruptly in front of a pond and it would be necessary to continue to embark on a short car journey on a barge, operated by strings, that the ports on the other hand, desist. On the way back we stop at the picturesque Girocastro with its typical stone houses that dominate the valley from the top of a hill. From here we return to Tirana again joining the rest of the dispatch humanitarian and remain here a few days of knowing each other for Mr Koplik that is accompanied by a light supper with us in a restaurant in the capital along with director of television that I find between the other being the son of the minister of culture. A few days later the group returned to Italy and I remain, leaving a couple of days later, not before having seen the old town of Durres which has the remains of Roman domination and its surroundings with a beautiful beach surrounded by pine marine. Afresh not doing enough and fear to the port is a business, is not mentioned anywhere. I can still embark and return to Italy, in Ancona precisely.
Visited: Durres and its beach lined with pines and Roman ruins. Tirana. The ancient capital Kruje with its national memories. The inner region of Puke, very dangerous for the tourists so much that I slept in a military barracks. Scutari with the castle and the homonymous lake. The insignificant Koplik. Vlora. The tourist village of Dhermi by the sea. Saranda. The excavations at Butrint. The characteristic Girocastro.