This morning I went to the bus station without any plan but knowing the name of my next destination. I had been willing to do this part of the journey by train but then it turned out that Albania is in possession of only one train and it is currently being repaired – so no train.
However, the Albanian spontaneous method worked perfectly and as soon as I got close to the station there was already a guy shouting the name of the place I wanted to go. I got in his mini bus and after about 20 minutes we left. The van filled up quickly and after a short while I had the head of a 4-year-old, who was sleeping spread across the seats, resting on my leg. We stopped many times to let people in or out on the middle of the highway but nothing especially strange happened, besides one man standing next to the road with one very pretty little white rabbit on his stretched out hand, apparently trying to sell it.
We made it to Shkodrë in Northern Albania by 2 o clock and I checked into the Backpacker’s hostel. This accommodation is very hippie again. Locally grown food, street dogs everywhere in the house, everything full of colors and flowers and recicled objects (photos tomorrow). They even separate their waste, even if I don’t really know what you would do with separated waste in Albania.
After hanging out and having lunch with some volunteers at the hostel I climbed the Rozafa castle in the afternoon with Ivana, a Croatian girl. I am still not totally sure why everyone talked about Skroder as the most beautiful city in Albania but the views from the castle over river and Skodër lake were very nice.
Shkoder is different from what I thought. It was supposed to be a nature-stop but it is actually quite far away from the places I wanted to visit and also the hike I wanted to do is still covered in snow.
I spent the evening with very nice and interesting people at the hostel, having dinner, talking, exchanging experiences and making plans for the next days. The very moment I decided to go to bed, a Norwegian guy came in and told me he would teach me to juggle with 3 balls if I gave him 5 minutes of my time. It took about 30 but he really succeeded (I’m still pretty bad though).
