After breakfast we walk to the center for a second intent of getting a bike. This time we have found a place on the internet that has a review from two days ago, so the probability of it actually existing is high. And indeed, it exists and after calling the number a young guy shows up to give us two bikes from an underground parking lot. After asking three times and some waiting we even get a lock for them.
The bikes are very crappy. The changes don’t work or work unwillingly, the sizes don’t fit us and the saddles hang backwards. The quality of the lock is so good that one could probably bite it open with a little effort. But it’s good enough and we are much quicker and more flexible that walking. We drive north along the coast until the bike road ends shortly after our place. From here on we follow the main coastal road which is relatively narrow but asphalted and leads through nice pine forests with this amazing vacational pine smell and very noisy cicadas. It feels like summer and travel and freedom.
Everything is very flat and along the whole road there are sand roads going off towards the left into the forest and to restaurants and bars at the beach. The pine forest ends and we drive through some kind of village with some little houses, a shabby bar and some gardens in some of which there are still a few old bunkers. We follow the road until the end of a little peninsula where a wooden bridge leads over a lagune to a little island with a monastery. The place is peaceful and nice but we actually long for some water.
We turn around for a few hundred meters and change to a dirt road that takes us onto another little peninsula and to the coast. We leave the bikes and climb a small hill to get to the rockier part of the bay. The rocks turn out to be completely made out of sand as well and some of the sandstone formations are very impressive.
We settle for a bath and I try out the newly acquired goggles we bought from a guy on the side of the road on our way. Unfortunately you cannot see anything – too much sand and waves.
There are quite a few campers on the beach, few swimmers and one person kite surfing and the water is very warm. With some clearer weather we could have seen Italy from here but it’s too foggy.
As it’s way too hot to stay there without any shade, we pack up again and start biking back towards Vlorë. After 5km that feel like 1 because the wind from our back practically takes us there automatically, we drive into the pine forest on a sandy road towards one of the classical beaches with restaurant. There’s a delicious grilled fish for lunch and we sit on the windy terrace at the seaside for quite a while before moving on.
After lunch we go on a little further south and make a second break at a different beach with bar (actually it’s one long beach from Vlorë to the peninsula and there is one bar next to each other, but everything seems very empty and there are still no foreign tourists). I use this break mainly to Google some options for my further travels after my mum leaves on Friday. I still have no idea what to do next, where to go and especially HOW to go anywhere without a car. It seems to be extremely complicated to get anywhere nice with public transportation and as there is no information online about any buses, the organization is a little challenging.
We are back at our place around 6 for a shower and then take the bikes again to go to the center. Now we really get to know Vlorë. The beach promenade is impressive. It is kilometers long, noisy, bright, and full of people, fancy bars, restaurants and loud music. This could be Croatia, or even the Cote Azure. Just that there seem to be still little foreign tourists and there are a few details that let you know that this country has no experience with wealth or tourism.
We make our way through the very lively area and find a restaurant on a kai and get another nice grilled fish for dinner.
As we drive back it is dark but the city is still alive and full of lights and sounds and we curve along the promenade through the warm summer evening air and feel good.
