From Sunday 4th to Friday 16th of September

After a wonderful reunion at Dubrovnik airport with my boyfriend Dean, we spent two days in this city. The old town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But because it is a beautiful city with lots of history, there are lots of people. Even at the beginning of September, there are still lots of people. Too much. We walked inside the walls, along the old port and go up to have a beautiful view of the city from the top. But we don’t have time to lose. Dean has been crazy enough to cross the world and to follow me in this amazing adventure for a month. So our first mission is to find a bike. I give you advice : don’t come to Dubrovnik to buy a bicycle. Dubrovnik is on a slope, so there are more scooters than bicycles. It is a big temptation for Dean who would prefer to ride with a motor… lucky me, there is a sports shop which is selling bicycles. There were not many choices, so we bought the cheapest one. The positive point: it has a carrier. The negative point : it has only one gear at the front… It is a pushbike for the city and for women. Mission accomplished, let’s go!

We have to leave Dubrovnik and it is climbing! I almost killed Dean the first day. No training for him, 200m of positive elevation for the first 6km under the sun, no kidding with me! The reward is the beautiful view of Dubrovnik from the road and an ice cream. There is always a good reason to sweat. More used to the motorbike than the pushbike, this first day was a good start for Dean. I spent the evening on my own, Dean is died. But despite the aches, we were very motivated the next morning: we were only a few kilometers from Montenegro’s border. Only 20kms, a little climbing, Dean has to push his bike. I am waiting for him on the top, it give me the chance to take lots of pictures. We cross the Croatian customs and then Montenegro customs. I am disappointed. We arrived on the coast and I didn’t think it would be like that. In my mind, Montenegro is a small country not so urbanized. Not at all. Every centimeter of the coast is made with concrete, the buildings hide the mountain view. We stay along the coast. I met lots of people who loved Montenegro and its mountains. Sadly we don’t have time to visit this country, and we won’t be able to climb mountains with Dean’s city bike. It is a very good reason to come back to ride to Montenegro and give me another idea of this country. On the beaches, there are a lot of sun umbrellas and beach chairs, not a grain of sand. We rode through seaside cities : Herceg Novi, Tivat, Budva, Bar.

First camping near the sea for our second night in Montenegro. Dean doesn’t really like camping and, sadly, I didn’t convince him : the night was very very hot this night. I learned that Montenegro’s coastline is one of the hottest regions of Europe and the Adriatic sea, maybe why. But it was also because the next morning we had a strong thunderstorm. We just had time to pack everything and to take shelter on the camping’s toilet before it started to have heavy rains. We are waiting. But apparently it will be like that all day… so no bike for us, we booked a room to stay dry, no more camping. But we quickly regretted it because the rain stopped and it started to be sunny again. Never mind, instead of riding we will walk in the surroundings. The coast of Montenegro is nice because there are mountains all along which separate the coast from the country and offer beautiful panoramas.

There is only 60kms to the border with Albania. So the next day, we were very excited, we left early. Too early. Even though there were big black clouds and few water drops to warn us, we were too stubborn, we left the hotel. 5 minutes later, we are totally wet, it is raining cats and dogs, again. I am lucky, I have got some rainy clothes, but not Dean. 5km under the rain and it is climbing. At the top, the rain stops, the sun comes back. If we were waiting one hour, we would be dry… after this wet beginning, we are riding under the beautiful sunshine. The border with Albania is not on the coast, so we rode in the countryside. We cross the customs, the policeman writes everything by hand, there are not a lot of countries that are not computerized now. Soon as we cross the border, we are discovering the difficult reality of Albania. There are few mendiants, lots of are young. I didn’t know what to expect in Albania, not so many people speak about this country, it is not where people go for holiday. It is a country that people cross to go to Greece. We had few surprises during this first day. We saved a turtle from the roads and the cars (sadly, we won’t be able to save all, few won’t have such nice destinies…). Because it is flat and Dean starts to have good training, we rode 80km today to finish in a big Resort in the middle of the countryside. I don’t really like this kind of hotel with a big swimming pool where everything seems fake. But tonight we can’t be difficult, not having lots of choices of where to sleep. And we have a huge swimming pool just for us, it can be worst. We relax our legs and after that we can eat at our first Albanian restaurant. We discover the kindness of the Albanians. Our waiter were so nice to us, he offered us a drink, a homemade dessert with caramel and the digestive alcohol! Gezuar!

But I don’t know if it is because we ate too much last night, the digestive alcohol or the tiredness but this Sunday morning I don’t feel good. I have a stomach ache and no energy at all. I would be happy to stay in bed all day but I found enough strength to keep going. We will ride 60km this day, a break every 10km. There were nothing really beautiful to see during this day but lots of different things to look at. First, Albania is like Montenegro, nature is almost an outside trash can. There are lots of wastes on the side of the roads. And we discovered that the automatic wash for cars is a national sport. Even more on Sunday, it looks like it is the main hobby. Like in Montenegro, there are lots of unfinished buildings. Everywhere concrete walls which will be empty all its life. We saw a little accident in front of us, from a cyclist who didn’t look behind her before crossing the road. Very dangerous. Luckily, more feat and noise than harm. But it reminds us that we are vulnerable on the bike, so we have to be more careful. This day was, as well, the first time I have been attacked by a dog. People told me, there are lots of stray dogs in the Balkans. But before Albania, I never saw them. So I didn’t react in a good way, I was scared. Lucky, Dean arrived behind and screamed at the dog. Believe me, now I screamed at all the dogs that come too close to me! But what I want to remember about this day and all the days we spent in Albania are the smiles, the “hello”, the hand signs and the small acts of kindness like this man who is selling fruits and vegetables and offering us peaches. Albanians are very kind and prove it to us many times. Tonight, we are sleeping not far from the capital of Albania, Tirana.

But the next day, the sea is calling us, so we don’t take the time to visit the capital. We are going to Durrës, on the coast. We passed through THE street of the car workshops. An Albanian told us that this street is famous all around the country and even outside the country because it is cheap and they can find all the pieces for all kinds of cars. There are lots of German cars. Then we found beach chairs and sun umbrellas again with the Albanian flag. It is very hot today so I appreciate swimming in the sea at lunch time. We can feel the season is over, shops start to pack umbrellas and chairs, we can see more sand. We ride along the sea then along the highway before riding ON the highway! It is the first time for me. 3km on the highway, we didn’t ride as far as the cars but almost. With the wind in our back, Dean would like to keep going but it is not safe. I am the voice of reason and especially I am the GPS, so we go back on the small roads, with headwind, Dean hates me. 85km today, new record for Dean. And we don’t have to lose time to find a bed for the night. As soon as we stop in a small city, someone will come to us. For 25€ we stay in a little appartement. And because the owners got a bakery as well, in the morning we got some pastry!

Dean is looking forward to being in Greece, today, I can’t stop him, it’s hard for me to keep following him! I have to ask him to stop at a tavern for lunch. Already 50km done and it’s only 1pm. We ate very well, salad and pork cooked on the grill. I need energy to keep going, especially today, a new record, 90km, it was flat.

But it was not flat the day after! 1000m of positive elevation for the first 20km. It will be very long! Especially because I just lost my bike’s short, poor bottom! 11kms done, already two breaks and Dean starts to push his bike. It will be very very long. So we cheat. Soon as we give a thumbs up in front of a truck, it stops. Immediately, our two bikes are inside the truck’s dump, us in the front, tight with the Albanian couple. Luckily, she can say some French words so we speak a little bit. Me, I hardly remember how to speak French because since the beginning of this trip, I speak English. When we see what we are climbing until the pass, we are very happy to be on the truck. Even if it would be a good challenge for me, with the city bike of Dean it would be very long. And I was thinking they will leave us at the top but no, we are going down with them as well. But sad because the view from the top was looking amazing but like Dean said, it is good for our breaks when you see the slope. Voilà, our day it is much easier. Hitchhiking with a bike, I love it, be careful not to enjoy it too much! We thanked them with a note, because even though I don’t speak Albanian, I understand a few times she told me they are poor like lots of Albanians. After these quick kilometers, we go back on the road. The landscapes are very different now. The villages have more characters, views are amazing, very different from the northern region. And the fact is we are closer and closer to Greece. Also, we can taste more food with Greek influences like kebab, pita bread, … 

But we still have to ride before reaching Greece. Another big day, with 2 big climbs, almost 1000m of positive elevation on 50km. Dean kept smiling. There is always a little carrot at the end of every climb, like ice cream or sprite.

Only 25km before the border. There is a lot of excitement on this last day in Albania. Especially because we finished in the beautiful national park of Butrint, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to beautiful pieces of nature, we can also visit the old city of Butrint. Archeological site where we can see ruins from 50000year BC until the nineteenth century. Dean is impressed because there are not so old places like that in New Zealand. I am too. We were very happy to visit it, looking forward to see more like that in Greece. One more river to cross, few climbing under the sun and that is it. We are at the border. The Albanian customs were easy, police officers took our passports and gave us back immediately. Nothing written. For the Greek customs, it was more difficult, we didn’t really understand where we had to go.

But voilà, after four days in Montenegro and a week in Albania, we are in Greece. The adventure can keep going! I love living in Balkans countries. Crossing these countries, maybe too quickly, has been wonderful. Life is simple, people are nice and food is very cheap, especially in Albania. It was a good training for Dean, already 590km done, it was his goal. Goal achieved and we are only half way !

https://www.komoot.fr/collection/1830696/-debut-des-balkans-montenegro-et-albanie