Summer holiday in Albania - Part 1

Sunset and darkening sky above the Adriatic Sea (Golem)

This year's summer vacation was a true adventure for us! Hubby dearest and myself have had a seriously good time while travelling and enjoying Albania. First off, we have travelled to Shkoder the city located in the northern part of Albania, overlooking the lake of Shkoder. Being quite eager to leave Shkoder for the seaside, I have failed to make any decent photos, so I have decided to borrow one panoramic photo from wikipedia:

Prokletije mountains overlooking Shkoder (Source: Wikipedia)

Shortly after a quick tour of the city of Shkoder, we drove down to Durres. Immediately after finding our hotel and having a quick lunch, we run out to the beach eager to soak our booties and chill on the beach. We were delighted to have the room with the sea view overlooking the beach, which I had to flaunt on social networks the next morning. 

 

Yours truly posing at the balcony with the sea view

Beach (Durres - Golem)

Being completely uninformed (or even misinformed) about Albania, its seaside and travelling, we have chosen Durres as this summer's destination. Desiring an easy beach access, we have decided to pass on a proposed accommodation in Divjake (near a park of nature located 50 km from Durres towards South) which was quite far from the beach and opt for a beach location found through the booking site. This has turned out to be a great choice! A small two-star family hotel Vila Daniele offered everything we could want or need from a typical seaside vacation. And on a budget!

 

 

 

The beach is lovely and sandy (I am a sandy beach kinda girl) and it is cleaned every night. There is even an organised service for cleaning the seaweed from the beach. This I have not seen being done along the Adriatic coast before, and I was quite amazed how the whole beach was organised.

Although hotels and bars situated along the beach have designate 'private beach' areas, there are no physical barriers, so the beach stripe along the sea is some sort of the public area where people can stroll, jog and play sports during the day. At the sunset, beaches are meticulously cleaned from anything and the beach becomes a fabulously romantic walking area several kilometres long with beach bars. Similarly, in the morning, people like to walk and jog along the beach and enjoy the gentle morning sun.

Basically, everything happens on the beach. It was rather unusual to us, but it promotes complete relaxation and enjoyment of the vicinity of the sea. Although I usually have a seaside vacation every year, this one is by far the best one I have had in the past several years

A curious note: At the beach you can buy almost anything from the walking salespeople: fresh fruit, baked corn on the cob, cold drinks, sunscreen, perfumes, cosmetics, clothes, even bedsheets!

To be continued...