Vlore, the magical place on the shores of the Adriatic Sea
Success is a journey, not a destination. Arthur Ashe
If I look at the month in the calendar it is very clear that in Romania we are in the autumn season, an otherwise spectacular season full of color, silence, and habits specific to the preparations for winter.
Being nostalgic and thinking of the summer that has just passed today I want us to go together to one of the pearls of the Albanian coast, namely Vlore.
I can't complain about the lack of options when it comes to booking a seaside holiday and here in Romania we have many beautiful resorts, but lately, especially after the pandemic, prices have exploded on all services, so I looked for other options at the same costs, but not so far away.
One evening I was talking with some friends about summer holidays and telling them that I wanted a holiday somewhere else, they gave me two ideas, one with the Croatian coast (I have been here before) and the other option was the Albanian coast resorts.
From the beginning I liked the idea of the Albanian coast, it was a country that I had not visited yet, and because of the negative news about it, I took a few days to learn more about what this country has to offer and we were going to meet again to organize a holiday together there.
I was surprised when I found only good words about Albania in general and the low prices in tourist areas.
That's how we ended up booking our holiday in several resorts on the Albanian coast, if we had more days available we chose to see more resorts, ready, with accommodation paid only ready to go.
How can we get to Albania?
The first and fastest way is by plane, from Romania to Tirana (the capital of Albania) and from there by public transport to the resort where you are staying, and the second way is by car, as we did (it takes longer but you don't have to stress how to get from the airport to the resort area).
Here comes adventure and the hardest part of the holiday, the road to Albania, being from Romania we chose to leave the country through the customs Stamora Moravita and continue our way through Serbia, Macedonia and the last country Albania.
I have to tell you that crossing the borders of countries that are not in the European Union is a real adventure and a big waste of time, in these customs it seems that time stands still, just as an example the crossing of the customs between Serbia and Macedonia took us four hours, something scary.
Here are some pictures from the road.
Did you know that in Albania there are more than 3500 anti-nuclear bunkers?
When we arrived at the accommodation we forgot all the unpleasantness we had on the way here, we discovered an Albania that was in full development, it seems that extremely many people were interested in the coast here, and not for nothing because it is amazing.
Like every time we go on a holiday to the sea, the first thing we do is to test the sea water, which is what we did now, we took our beach equipment and we gave the star a swing.
A tip for those of you who decide next year to spend your holiday here, you should buy water shoes, because the beaches and the entrance to the sea are made of pebbles, some bigger, some smaller and can cause you inconvenience, another aspect is to get local money from the bank, the local currency in Albania is called Leke, beware that banks charge quite a high commission for each transaction.
Bora Bora Beach
Yes, that's the name of one of the dozens of beaches on the Albanian Riviera, I know, the name can be likened to other exotic beaches in the world, believe me this one is gorgeous too.
From our accommodation to the beach we came by car so as not to waste too much time, on the cliff in the centre of the resort we found paid parking for the car (for one day it cost 500leke/5-6euro).
The beach, as I wrote above, is also sandy in places, but mostly made of pebbles, so don't forget your water shoes, and here I rented a sunbed, a table and an umbrella for 500leke/5-6euro/day, a more than decent price, considering that on the Romanian coast last time I paid 100lei/20euro/sezlong/day.
I fell hopelessly in love with this country, it was so quiet on the beach, no loud music, the silence on the beach was disturbed by some guys who landed their paragliders right on the sand, yes, it was a real pleasure to see them.
After a few hours at the beach we got hungry so we walked to the center of the resort to find a restaurant to eat something and then continue our stay at the beach.
We didn't have to look too hard, we went to a restaurant that was famous for pizza, we even had a very tasty pizza here, and the prices even at the restaurant were extremely low, for a 0,5 liter mineral water, a 0,25 liter pepsi and a pizza cost 900LEK/7,5euro.
After such a hearty meal we decided that at least for a few minutes we would walk along the beautifully landscaped promenade in the centre of the resort.
We didn't choose the right time because it was around 35 degrees outside, a heat that seems to melt you, and for me it wasn't easy because I have problems with blood pressure, and at any moment I could get sick, but in spite of this we continued our walk until we reached the port of the resort, here being the second largest port in Albania, why we chose to come here, because we were interested in buying some boat trips to some spectacular destinations (in future posts I will present some destinations that left us speechless).
Here time seems to pass faster and suddenly it became evening, so if we are still in the center of the resort we chose to do a walk in the evening to see how the resort presents itself and in the evening, I can say that the day was as it was, not too crowded, but in the evening, you had no room to move, I have no idea where so many people went for a walk.
In conclusion I can say that the first days at the beach were spectacular, I enjoyed the warmth with which we were received, people very polite, friendly, remember if you come by car, try to respect the traffic rules, Albanian police is very strict, otherwise come with a desire to have fun.
If you liked what you saw and read here please don't forget to give a LiKe, Follow, reBlog or a Comment, for all this I thank you, and until the next post I say goodbye.
P.S. The attached pictures you have just seen are taken by me with my mobile phone, and the text is also designed by me.
Yours @triplug!
