Sunday in Tirana

Slept in after a long drive. Mark made eggs for breakfast, adding whatever ingredients available in the kitchen. Nothing lasts very long here, no preservatives are added, so you have to use vegetables quickly, along with bread and fruit. No wonder we have to go to the store frequently. Sunday is the "boys" (Mike and Mark) shopping day. Usually they start with a pizza in Durres, but today its off to Platiker (German store) for a few items.
It's a nice store, with limited quantities of everything, except tools.. We were searching for a standing reading lamp, a bathroom organizer, mattress pad, and new towels ( well a towel for Gracie after Her bath). Since we don't read the aisle signs, you basically have to walk up and down each aisle and maybe you'll find what you're looking for. The boys were also in search of vacuum cleaner bags.  We came up short with the exception of a few more hangars and an organizer.. on to Mega Tek ( the Italian store). Found the art deco reading lamp, and a towel..
Next stop, the Mercator.. A big grocery store attached to the City Park shopping mall.. The mall has an ice skating rink and lots of stores with no one in them. It's kind of pricey for the typical Albanian customer, guess they plan to survive on us ex-pats.  Anyways, I was on the hunt for the ingredients to make my chocolate chip bundt cake, oatmeal, and sour cream. Here's what I found

Bundt cake ingredients

The trip also included a hunt for fabric softener, hopefully for softer towels.

After the drive back into town and Gracie's bath, we ended the day with

beer and food, of course. A nice walk to a local restaurant close by the apartment.

It's funny cause just about every restaurant has customers, the food is good and its a very

social activity, a nice way to end a great weekend.

The cake!, delicious

Sunday to Gjirokastra

A rainy Saturday morning, not uncommon here, we decided to leave early and venture "the better road" to Gjirokastra. Given the rain and the ruts, it was a bumpy ride, but worth the trip. The city is known for it's many slate roofed buildings, each with many windows, stacked on top of each other.

windows of Gjirokastra

Gjirokastra

The castle is amazing, full of old cannons and artillery, leftover from WW II. It's dark and damp, and not well lit. Of course, we had all kinds of marketing ideas for this place, but alas it was fairly empty and we had a private tour of the museum housing more artifacts and pictures from "the revolutions".  There's also a prison upstairs that was used by whomever occupied the castle at the time. We were told that the little rooms sometimes held up to 10 people. Given my tendency for claustrophobia, I didn't stay long, and was totally freaked out when some birds flew across the doorway.
Mike and I decided to enter into a door that was previously locked. Behold an incredible area, light for an art gallery, who's exhibit will start next week.  Of course, Mark joined us and wanted to buy a painting NOW.  The son of the painter, a well spoken Greek Albanian young(er) man, told us he could accommodate us..Thus we are the proud owners of a beautiful poppy painting by Mr. Pico

Mark and Mr. Pico with the Poppy Painting

Mike thought about a rooster painting for his wife, but chose to not take the plunge!
It was lunch time and still raining, so instead of walking around the town, with slippery stones, we went to eat and drink, what else. A great restaurant overlooking the city, good food, and Gracie was allowed at the table. Mark and I hope to stay at the hotel below for a night and really explore the streets

Lunch with Beer anal

The drive home was just as bumpy as the coastal road down along the coast, but somehow it didn't seem to take as long. We passed some beautiful scenery in the valley, dotted by old little towns, oil derricks and a  canal who's water wouldn't pass any EPA standards. Home by 7, happy to be out of the car, but worth the ride.
Oh, forgot, here's a pic of me and Gracie, modeling the beautiful scarf that Mark's assistant, Ariola, gave me on my first visit.  It's the windows of Gjirokastra in hand painted silk..

Me and my girlie

Road Trip to Sarande, Butrint and Gjirokastra

it's early Sunday morning.. Gracie and I are having coffee..a nice clear day, after the rains yesterday.
We had a great road trip to Sarande, the most southern seaport, with ferries across the Ionian sea to Corfu

Road Trip

.
Stopped along the way in Vlore, at our favorite restaurant, Hotel Paradiso, for beer (of course), calamari for Mike and I, Pasta for Mark.. Gracie got lots of petting and looks from others who'd never seen a shiu-tzu.

Hotel Paradiso

Calamari and Greek Salad

Gracie at the Sea

The Resort

Nice stop before the long and winding, but beautiful road to Sarande. Here are some pics we took along the way.. stopping briefly at a construction site with plans for an incredible resort, mostly abandoned now with the economic downturn that hit everyone in the years of 06-08. We walked on to the property and imagined ourselves sipping martinis ( well I did) and watching the waves crash. Funny thing was that we forgot "this is Albania" and things just don't happen the way we think they should. Oh well, the guards drinking Raki at the entrance (with no teeth mind you) were having a good time.. probably imagining those silly Americans walking this empty place

View of Sarande from our Hotel

Spent a nice evening in Saranade, walking the boardwalk, pizza for dinner.. It's a funky resort town, quite empty now after the summer holidays, but the weather was nice and the views were fabulous of Corfu

local boat trips

We all got a decent night sleep and left by mid morning for Butrint, a fabulously old ( I mean 4th Century BC) settlement perched on a hill just north of Greece. According the classical mythology, Butrint was founded by exiles fleeing the fall of Troy. Over the many years it has been inhabited by every religion and peoples of the region. Mark and Mike were able to tell you "who" built each wall, based on the design, usage of rocks and whether they were the good or bad guys.  I was just intriqued by all that is still left to be uncovered.  Here is a sampling of what we saw.

Retail Center (early Macy's???)

Tile Design

Mark taking pics

Theater

It soon began to rain pretty hard, but we did have a chance to go into the museum, small but an amazing collection

of artifacts uncovered from the region.
 There is a link to the Butrint National Park, which is now a World Heritage Site,but it doesn't work well,
so just google  "Butrint" and see some more pics
A muddy drive back to Sarande for cold beer and gorgeous sunset pics.. mine were the best

Sarande Sunset

More sunset

Mark had a few complaints about the Hotel Brilant, but Gracie managed to sleep pretty well.

Gracie in our bed.. no it wasn't a Love nest, just a nice place with silly blankets, which
we needed cause Mark cranked the air down to 18  C

Need I remind how the Europeans love dogs and she was allowed everywhere.

For more in depth explanations of all this old stuff... go to Mark's blog, http://www.kickedinthebalkans.blogspot.com/
You can also find him under the link Albania Travel http://www.albanianewschannel.com/
thanks to our friend Lem...

Wednesday in Tirana, Happy New Year

I must say that I'm kind of missing brisket and chicken soup at mom's house, but had a wonderful facial,but and delightful Greek women, named Albana, then  lunch, with wine of course, with my friend Christine. We got caught up on the news from the last 4 months since I was here.
I'm sad cause she's leaving soon to be with her daughter who's due in mid-November.. I understand grandma wanting to be there. Then came home and tackled the ironing.. Remember we don't have a dryer and the clothes are a little crusty till they get ironed. I use to hate it at home, but not so bad here for some silly reason. Maybe it was the wine at lunch :)
Since we're leaving for Sarande in the morning, the boys moved their typical Thursday night Pizza and Beer to tonight. A small bar just below the apartment, we sit outside surrounded by chirping finches ( the bird/pet of choice in Albania) and cars jockeying for position on the too small street. One guy orders the beer, another goes down the street and gets pizza from the Pizza boys, brings it back and we eat it.. I think the beers cost more than the pizza!  A delightfully nice cool evening, looks like rain may happen this weekend.
Gracie is settling in, even got her first bath for our road trip tomorrow.. We'll have a long, but beautiful drive down the cost of the Adriatic to where it meets the Ionian Sea, then on to Sarande, Butrint and across the border to Greece.. We have instructions from "the boss" not to go to Corfu, so we'll look at it from across the sea.. Should be a great trip. Oh by the way, we get all the US and Albanian Holidays.. Tomorrow is Big Bagram, or the end of Ramadan, so hopefully there won't be as much traffic on the way out of here..
Going to get some good sleep tonight, borrowed a better pillow from Mike, our neighbor, and flipped the mattress.. Mark is getting use to sleeping with his girls again!
Night all.

Days 2 and 3

The road in the Grand Park

Did I tell you they have great coffee here?? Mark bought me 2 very important items.. a Coffee Maker and Martini Shaker!. I feel very much at home.. except for the fact that we don't have a dryer!  Right now it's ok cause the weather is nice, but when it rains, not sure how long our clothes will take to dry inside. Thank goodness Mark likes to iron.
Monday was the first day back at school and University.. We live on one of the main streets leading up to the School, lined with bars and restaurants and Students..Traffic becomes a nightmare for Mark to get to his office, so he's been leaving early for the next few weeks till things settle in (Sound familiar to my Vegas friends?) There's also lots of foot traffic and unlike most places, pedestrians do not have the right of way; crosswalks are not observed and its really more like human dodgeball crossing the street.  I've been told that you have to stare at the car, make total eye contact, then the chances of them hitting you is less.. very comforting!  Or you can cross with a group and be in the middle, again less chance of getting hit.
In the morning I had a nice pink and white manicure..not cheap 3000 lek ( $30) but good job. Its like being at home, except instead of Vietnamese spoken quickly, it's Albanian.. They all laugh and I only can understand the American music in the background. No worries, they're all pretty nice to everyone.

Gracie in her apartment living room

Gracie and I took a long walk in the Grand Park. It's about 10 minutes from the apartment, and amazingly clean and litter free..A paved walking path takes you to a man made lake with lots of benches and water stands along the way.There's also popcorn available off of carts on the back of bicycles, smells good, but I've been warned not to eat anything off these (local) stops.Remember, we can't drink the water from the faucet, so we stick to bottled water, and of course, Mark's coke lite. It's the only diet drink available, so I'll be drinking lots of water with gas!
 Gracie made it most of the way up, but I got my exercise carrying her back. I guess Shih-Tzus are a novelty, everyone pointed and petted her along the way.
Back at the apartment with it's cool airconditioning and fan, a nice afternoon listening to music and reading.
Mark gets home by 5:30, and hopefully most eves we can go for walks as well, while the weather is nice.
Oh, forgot the 90 minutes I skyped with Delta planning our Xmas holiday.. OMG what an ordeal, but finally confirmed flights, using every skymile we have to pay for his flight, and hopefully my buddy pass works again
(thanks to John). Drank a nice bottle of Macedonian Merlot to keep from screaming at the computer!
Another almost good night sleep, jet lag is getting better..

Gracie's first days in Albania

After many hours on airplanes, thankfully 1st class, Gracie and I arrived in Tirana.. Just in time, for a quick trip to the grass outside before the ride from the airport to our new home! It was a Sunday so the traffic wasn't too bad ( amazing what they consider "light" traffic). We made it back to the apartment and quickly took Gracie to the grassy spot in the courtyard. ( I promise to take pictures). I took a nice long shower and sat with Mark and Gracie on the balcony.. Nice view of the Mt Dajti, clear skies and nice breeze. I tried to keep my eyes open, but had to take an hour nap before I fell asleep in the chair.
We had a nice early dinner at the Taiwan Center Restaurant (no, not chinese food).. the best spot in town that's always good, and they speak english.. I made it till about 9p, then down for the count. Finally got to experience our new mattress. I must say, quite an improvement over the last one.  Now I just need a new pillow, oh and a list of a few other things to make it more "homey"..( more of that later) Gracie slept in her own bed, with the Dora the Explorer blanket, her baby and chewy..
So day 1 of our new home is over. I hope to write every day or so.. Mostly for myself to remember the experiences (ha, good thing I'm writing this today, cause I'll surely forget by next week) but also to share with my wonderful friends and family. Pass along the blog as you see fit or not. I miss you all, and Gracie is a little mopey..but we will soon settle in..