Saturday, 5 July 2008

Day 57: Lezhe, Albania







Stats... 121.87km in 7hrs. On the road at 7.30am and gradually made our way along the hilly coastal road. It was busy and we saw a lorry that had overturned over the side of the crash barrier resting on trees above the steep drop to the Adriatic. We finally left the coast and headed inland to the border which after a stonking hill then gently rolled downhill all the way through lovely quiet very pretty roads. We crossed into our 14th country and paid the 20 euro tax required of us. Just on the other side we met Desire from The Netherlands and her Albian husband who invited us for a drink. They had not seen each other for a year and we gate crashed their reunion! They gave us some local money for a drink as we had nothing and we made our way to Skodra which was our intended destination for the day. However, on arrival we were still feeling strongish and decided to continue South to Lezhe. We ran out of water and when we arrived we were discussing at an ATM how much money to get out when we heard English! We asked Jenny and Denise for help who were a couple of nice young Americans who were from the peace core and working in Albania. They kindly invited us to their Independence Day party at Winifreds appartment being 4th July! We jumped at the offer and a few beers later the Anti English celebration was going well. We met approx 20 Americans and ended up staying at Leslie and Beccas appartment. We chatted and shared stories with Peter for ages as he had cycled across USA. The night was bizarre but brilliant... thanks to our new American allies!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi K & A

Obviously your Russian language needs polishing up.......

It seems the people you are meeting are extremely kind......

Take care

Love Jackie & Freddy xxx

Anonymous said...

You have a great blog. Thank you for sharing it with me. Eat well, Sleep well,and enjoy.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kris and Alyson, I am just back home in Holland and I was very curious to read about your trip. And it was nice to see you mentioning our meeting near the Albanian boarder. I had some wonderful weeks with my husband Mysafer and it was hard to leave him again. Reading your journal, gives me the idea to write about me experiences as a western women in an completely Albanian culture, so maybe I will.