Saturday, July 22, Saranda, Albania

I've lost track of the day. Is it Saturday?

The Ionian Sea is about ten feet to the left in this picture. 

Things have not been going well. First I decided to spend two days in a seaside place that looked interesting on the map;  Vlore. What a garbage pit that turned out to be. I'll try to post some photos later today if I can find a wifi place hereabouts. Vlore Bay is one of the fastest developing places I've seen. Hotels are going up as fast as they can build them. Albanians apparently flock to this place because it's accessible easily by bus or train from Tirana, Kosovo, or other inland spots. But this place made me seriously reconsider 40 years as a libertarian. These fools are spending countless millions building hotels; while treating the bay like it was a sewer. Every beach is covered in trash. The water is foul with pollutants, yet people swim in it. I saw one isolate little cove that had an oil slick lapping against the shore.Unfortunately I discovered all this after I'd committed to two nights at a nice hotel.
Then my Kindle crapped out. A third of the screen is covered with an image that seems burned into the machine. I consulted Kindle troubleshooting on the web but no one seems to have had a similar problem. So I'm without reading material.

When it came time to finally leave Vlore this morning it turned out to be a minor adventure. Lonely Planet said the bus to Saranda left Vlore at 7am. So I trekked over to the traffic circle at the heart of Vlore, where I'd seen the mini-vans picking up passengers the day before. I got there 8 minutes early. Just as I turned the corner to the circle I noticed a white van headed south. I tried to catch the destination from the piece of cardboard that the vans always have in the front window. But the angle wasn't right. So I proceeded on.
When I got to the circle I asked one of the van drivers: "Saranda?"
He motioned to a spot about 50 meters from where we were so I contently drifted over to that spot, peering around the corner for the van I expected to see headed my way.
But the guy I had spoken to followed me, gesturing to me in Albanian. I gave him a perplexed look. Then I got it. The van had already left. (the next bus wasn't till 1pm).
But the guy didn't give up on me. He turned out to be a taxi driver. He motioned vigorously for me to follow him, that we could still catch the bus. So I ran with him to his cab.
And off we went. Mario Andretti time. Fifty miles an hour on city streets, careering from lane to lane. I gripped the door handle, praying no one would have the temerity to occupy the oncoming lane. A couple time we had to slalom quickly back into our lane. This went on for about five minutes until, as we came around a bend, a smile came to my driver's face. That van I'd seen earlier was up ahead. We were going to catch up; and we did. He swerved the car to the right as we passed the van and raised his left arm out the driver's window to tell the van driver he had a passenger. In seconds he had my backpack to the rear of the van, and I headed up the steps into the bus--which was full.
But that turned out to be no problem. The van held small stools, about 18" tall, that could be set in the aisle for latecomers and the overflow. A helpful passenger reached into the overhead and dragged out a stool, then unfolded it for me. I sat down. A pleasant morning breeze wafted into my face. No first class compartment in an airliner could compare with the comfort I felt in that aisle. I was out of the Vlore sewer. 

The beach at Saranda. It turned out to be not quite as clean as I thought. Like Vlore there is no municipal effort to keep things clean. Even the guys who rent umbrellas at the beach don't bother to clean up at the end of the day. But it's lots better than Vlore. 

On the positive side I chanced into the prettiest city I've ever seen today:  Saranda. It's a crowded little place crushed around a small bay, but the water is clean and blue and the sea breezes are pleasant. An old gentleman convinced me to rent a room from him in his 'guesthouse', actually just a couple rooms in his apartment. But it's comfortable. My first impression is that this is the kind of place I won't want to leave.There are some greek ruins 20 km. down the road that I'm going to check out tomorrow. I'm due back in Tirana on Friday for my tour of Northern Albania. In the meantime I might just hunker down here for a few days.