Pauza Magazine Fall 2007 | Page 14

The beach at Dhermi, Albania Travelogue Sre}en Pat... summer travel stories from peace corps volunteers With the long, hot Macedonian summer and our close proximity to so many exciting destinations, a lot of volunteers take the opportunity to visit some of Macedonia’s close (and not so close) neighbors. But then again, some of us would prefer to stay here and take advantage of everything that Macedonia has to offer. Here are a few stories from this past summer… MORA da Odam do Albania! Or, Do Albania. read in the Wall Street JourI recentlyAlbania Frommers on-line andfor adventure tourists. nal that is the next “hotspot” Then I realized I had 10 vacation days left and only a few weeks to use them before COS! It was August but it was a no-brainer, had to go! With little effort, I found two willing travel companions, translators, and bodyguards and off we went. 14 - pauza What follows are highlights from our itinerary and some travel tips for Albania. We visited many more places than we can talk about here and the three of us wish we had more space to tell you some of our stories and impressions of Albania. You’ll have to find us and buy the first beer to hear those, or go to Albania and make some stories for yourselves! Day One: Explored Tirana on foot (You will arrive at 5:30 a.m., so you can have a cup of coffee, walk to the center and see the sights - despite the taxi drivers telling you it’s too far.) We only stayed a 1/2 day then grabbed a furgon (combi) to Durres (one hour), and to the beach! Day Four: Took Mercedes Taxi (what else?) to Dhermi from Vlora over beautiful Llogoro pass about 50 € total, an hour or so; arrived upper village of Dhermi and hiked it down to the beach; found accommodations and went for a swim. Day Five: Sun, sea, read, eat, sleep, repeat.