
Day Six: Macedonia – Kosovo – Albania – Montenegro (Ohrid – Skopje – Prizren – Tivat) In retrospect, this turned out to be a tough day – with long drives and three border crossings, but this is what I had…

Day Five: Albania – Macedonia (Voskopoja – Galicica National Park – Ohrid) Sounds incredible, but in the middle of the 18th century, with a population of over 30,000, Voskopoja was one of the largest cities on the Balkans. What is…

No matter how exotic, historic, or scenic a destination is, it is the local people who usually leave us with the most unique and memorable impressions and the people of Albania are no exception. Throughout my brief journey there, I…

Day Four: Albania (Gjirokastra – Permet – Korcha – Voskopoja) Early next morning, I was raring to finally climb to Gjirokastra’s famed hilltop castle – one of the largest on the Balkans, but as it did not open until 10…

Day Three: Albania (Vlora – Butrint – Gjirokastra) After an early-morning start (forget about sleeping-in, this was a research trip, not a vacation), we headed south along the Vlora Bay (the largest in the country). With the Karaburun Peninsula looming…

Day Two: Albania (Elbasan – Shelcan – Berat – Apollonia – Vlora) Early next morning after breakfast (which I have to say was quite unimpressive and this proved to be rather the norm at many of the hotels in Albania), we transferred…

Day One: Albania (Tirana & Elbasan) I was so happy to be flying from Tampa to Tirana with only one connection (in Frankfurt) on one of the recently inaugurated Lufthansa flights but, as luck would have it, got delayed arriving…