37 Tirana to Librazhd

I first need to correct a bit in yesterday’s post. I actually wrote (before the event, to get fully up to fate…!)

“So otherwise…a bit of reading…..and a very chilled and relaxing afternoon.”

Well….it was supposed to be a nice relaxed afternoon…until I started trying to find a new battery!! 

Bosch have no ‘agents’ in Greece…but eventually through some chat forum, I found a bike shop in Athens who do service bosch bikes!!

So I emailed them…and they replied..YES..they do have a new battery!! yeeha…”just  order it on the website..and we’ll courier it to your first stop in Greece”. Simple!! If only….

The website was all in Greek. And “its all Greek to me” was never truer. So every word had to be translated individually…not only through the shop process but also through the bank process!! It required a high level of concentration for a surprisingly long time!! Oh…and we had to fix our route first…so they knew where to send it!! All quite taxing…but we got there! (Well I was not sure…but hoped that that is what this meant:).

Anyway:

2 June 2022

What a funny day today was!!

We got on the road early….for the ride out of Tirana…and apart from a bit of rough off-road tracks early on (through the park!!)…we were soon out of the city…on a beautifullly quiet road.

This ran parallel with the main motorway heading in our direction so was thankfully free of trucks and fast cars!! Lovely scenery.

It was a steady climb up hill, which steepened as we closed in on the summit…which seemed to never come!

This was not the top…however much we thought it was (or willed it to be!)….…there was at least another 150m more after and that!!

And then jt opened on to the most gorgeous 10km run along a hilltop…with views in all directions. Very special!

Before the plunge down to to city of Elbasan. 

Alas this was the end of the parallel motorway, so we were joined by much more traffic up to our overnight stop at Librazhd. The lovely scenery continued though. Remind you of somewhere….?

This route was different to the original plan…to try and minimise too much climbing until we can get hold of that new battery!! And Librazhd seemed like the only likely overnight stop en route. Nothing on Booking.Com..but there must be places to stay…surely! 

So I left Iain minding bikes while I went wandering! Nothing!! So I called into a travel agent…who had a bit of English. No..she said…nowhere here, “we already all have our own houses”. (Classic!) But she asked her manager…who asked someone else…and yes…there IS a hotel!! So my original contact took me to a cafe not far away….to meet a guy who had a key to a cupboard in the building opposite…and produced keys for two rooms!! And not bad were they either…as long as you can handle wet rooms where the floor falls towards the door…instead of to the drain!! (Whoever thought wet rooms were a good idea!!). 

I left my backpack there and went to find Iain, and after enjoying a cooling ale, we returned to the hotel to unpack bikes, and chill for a while (& watch some cricket!!).

I must admit that when I considered small places in Albania where accommodation might be difficult….this was not the picture I had in my mind!!

Blog time…which starts with closing off my Strava track for the day on my phone, which resides in my backpack. But the phone was not there! Immediate thoughts were that someone else knew where all the keys were and had nicked it while we were imbibing.

Technology is wonderful however, and my ipad was able to tell me exactly where my phone was!! Certainly somewhere I had never been…and not that far away! So Iain and I went to find the thief!! As it turned out the iphone was located very close to police station, Iain got cold feet…so we decided to try and get the assistance of a policeman as we tackled the thief!

Well….all hell broke loose! Two policemen arrived back at the station and I was ushered into the police van, so we could all go and investigate the scene of the crime!! I did try and emphasise that I just wanted it back..and that I knew where it was. Lost in translation..or they did not believe in technology. 

But before I knew it…the hotel owner was there, rummaging through my belongings looking for the phone “for it is impossible that it was taken”…or words to that effect…for the whole “discussion” was directed through the guy’s ten year old daughter, who was the only one who could speak English. The whole thing was really quite funny…and eventually I managed to persuade someone to phone the number (I think they were reluctant for it was a foreign (French!) number). No answer.

The owner then became very defensive (not very helpful)…but I managed to persuade him to come with me to the address where the phone was! So two vehicles in convoy…the police…the owner his daughter and I returned to the location of the phone!!

And…there it was!!! 

An old guy had found it “in a sewer“ near the football field!! And did not know what to do…until his son came home!

Big slaps on the back, and handshakes all round, as we were joined by the chief of police too! All is well that ends well! It was a funny experience!

(There is a funny ending too….well, maybe not! The Strava track is very detailed…and one can zoom in very closely. So I did:

And what this told me is that ‘close to the football field’ was exactly where we had stopped to check the map upon our arrival!…and it did not then follow my hotel search route!! So…it must have fallen out of my backpack! Alas!!)

The people continue to delight….police included! And the hotel owner and I are hugging best mates too!

That however was not the end of our funny day. That two and a half hour fiasco meant it was beer time already! So a few beers (& a thunderstorm to boot!)…& then we went in search of food. I do not think any country matches Albania for bars per person….but very few serve food…and it has twice been difficult to find a place! 

So we approached the one we could find. Do you have a menu (by sign language)…”No” came the answer. And then…”what would you like to eat.?”. Iain and I looked at each other…for it is a bit of a tricky question when one does not know what sort of food they serve….quite apart from being unable to communicate that !! We pointed at the signboard outside..and the guy nodded! So we began Google translating….! Most came up with no answer…then eggs…..and then…..”hodgepodge”…at which Iain and I burst into giggles! The guy came up and pointed out that we were looking at their breakfast offering! So we started again. By this time…quite a crowd had gathered. We were a bit of novelty! 

“Meat” was the next success..then “chicken”…and then I collapsed into laughter. And when I showed Iain…we were both cot-cases doubled over on the street…as the next translation was “underwear”!

We did recover…and eventually fixed on the lamb…but there was none so we happily accepted the offering of beef/veal! 

We thought the question of “one kilo each” was a misunderstanding…but thankfully we opted to share one serving!!

And then food started arriving……potato chips…”sauce” (a soft cheese and olive thing)…a lovely – huge – fresh salad…and then the full kilo of beef, which had been char-grilled on an open fire!! It was just the best meal!! (Thankfully the kilo included lots of bones…so we did not disgrace ourselves..but we did roll home full as bulls…..barely 20 Euros poorer, including beers!!

So that was Librazhd….a place few have evidently ever visited…and unforgettable!! And – quite sadly – our last full day in Albania.