Berat
It is fairly simple and inexpensive to travel from Tirana to Berat since there are 1-2 direct buses per hour for that route. It is an interesting experience traveling long distances by bus in Albania. Tirana does not have a bus station in the traditional sense, but has large parking lots or side streets where buses congregate. You will see everything from large buses to passenger vans.
I went to the "bus station" for the cities south of Tirana. There are men trying to get customers for their buses and they are shouting the names of the different cities that they are going. If you don't see one of these guys, you just walk around looking for a bus with the city you want to travel to & find a seat. The driver waits for a certain number of passengers to board before they leave, knowing they will pick up more people along the way. I only had to wait 15 minutes before we left. I was happy that the bus had air conditioning, as many of them in Albania don't.
We would pick up people along the road that flagged down the bus along with people that were dropped off at random spots. The guy that was the fare collector also coordinated the stops. We did stop at one actual bus station to pick up people. The fare was really cheap ($3.50) for the 2 hour plus trip. I had some difficultly finding my Airbnb apartment in Berat since the address was incorrect, but eventually one guy lead to the place. I was sweating heavily when I arrived because I was carrying 30 lbs of luggage in the afternoon sun. One lady that helped me saw the apartment owner later that day & asked if the "man that was sweating a lot" found his place.
The apartment owner & family lived next door to the apartment I rented. He was a really friendly guy & was very helpful during my stay. He included breakfast in the price of the apartment & his mother also made a large traditional meal for me one night for just a few bucks.
The main walking street was pretty dead during the day, but packed with people at night. Berat is known as the town of a 1,000 windows because of the style houses built into the hillside. I took out my tripod to a good spot to get some photos at night of these houses. I also to a bar one night that had great views of the hillside houses.
The following day I toured the large fortress complex which has a very steep climb to reach the top. I visited a small local history museum. Berat is pretty small, so there are not a whole lot of attractions there.
It had been 7 weeks since I had a haircut & knowing that the last few weeks of my trip were going to be very warm, I decided it was time to visit a barber. The apartment owner took me to his barber & was a translator to make sure I didn't end up with some crazy haircut. I was just a little worried at the beginning when large clumps of hair were taken off, but I figured this guy knew what he was doing & I didn't worry about it. Overall he did really good job. The haircut cost me 200 lek ($1.70) plus I gave him an $.80 tip. I took a photo of the barber & then he wanted a photo of us together. After we left, the apartment owner complained that I should have been charged $.40 less & my tip was too much lol.
Overall I had nice visit to Berat for 2 nights. My next stop in Albania is the seaside town of Saranda which is about 5.5 hours by bus through some pretty mountainous roads.
Nice meal & a beer for $4.
They love the USA here too.
I went to the "bus station" for the cities south of Tirana. There are men trying to get customers for their buses and they are shouting the names of the different cities that they are going. If you don't see one of these guys, you just walk around looking for a bus with the city you want to travel to & find a seat. The driver waits for a certain number of passengers to board before they leave, knowing they will pick up more people along the way. I only had to wait 15 minutes before we left. I was happy that the bus had air conditioning, as many of them in Albania don't.
We would pick up people along the road that flagged down the bus along with people that were dropped off at random spots. The guy that was the fare collector also coordinated the stops. We did stop at one actual bus station to pick up people. The fare was really cheap ($3.50) for the 2 hour plus trip. I had some difficultly finding my Airbnb apartment in Berat since the address was incorrect, but eventually one guy lead to the place. I was sweating heavily when I arrived because I was carrying 30 lbs of luggage in the afternoon sun. One lady that helped me saw the apartment owner later that day & asked if the "man that was sweating a lot" found his place.
The apartment owner & family lived next door to the apartment I rented. He was a really friendly guy & was very helpful during my stay. He included breakfast in the price of the apartment & his mother also made a large traditional meal for me one night for just a few bucks.
The main walking street was pretty dead during the day, but packed with people at night. Berat is known as the town of a 1,000 windows because of the style houses built into the hillside. I took out my tripod to a good spot to get some photos at night of these houses. I also to a bar one night that had great views of the hillside houses.
The following day I toured the large fortress complex which has a very steep climb to reach the top. I visited a small local history museum. Berat is pretty small, so there are not a whole lot of attractions there.
It had been 7 weeks since I had a haircut & knowing that the last few weeks of my trip were going to be very warm, I decided it was time to visit a barber. The apartment owner took me to his barber & was a translator to make sure I didn't end up with some crazy haircut. I was just a little worried at the beginning when large clumps of hair were taken off, but I figured this guy knew what he was doing & I didn't worry about it. Overall he did really good job. The haircut cost me 200 lek ($1.70) plus I gave him an $.80 tip. I took a photo of the barber & then he wanted a photo of us together. After we left, the apartment owner complained that I should have been charged $.40 less & my tip was too much lol.
Overall I had nice visit to Berat for 2 nights. My next stop in Albania is the seaside town of Saranda which is about 5.5 hours by bus through some pretty mountainous roads.
Now I know the real reason you go to these places. You can eat for nearly nothing. The money you save on eating should pay for your trip!
ReplyDeleteYou definitely can't eat for nothing in Greece especially on the islands, but the food that I have had here so far has been very good.
ReplyDelete