Central European Rally with added bits and bobs.

[Cossie]

OK, best pull my finger out! After Shkoder, which I would like to go back to, I considered the SH25 but as said previously it's pretty much a dead end unless you have a proper 4x4. Looking at the map there were other roads I could take, first to Vau-Dejes, built around a lake and hydro power complex, which as usual caused problems for displaced families. Vau i Dejës - Wikipedia
The history of these seemingly nothing towns, still boggles my imagination, the old city centre was established 1127.
I must admit that I was surprised by the rubbish about, on par, if not worse than any 3rd world country I have been to.
There is a small castle up on the hill but with no easy way of getting there, I can only read about it. Dagnum - Wikipedia
St Mary's church is an important part of the area's history, it's had a rough life, being demolished and rebuilt, all locked up when I saw it.
It features on an Albanian currency note as I read here... St. Mary's Church, Vau i Dejës - Wikipedia



Other photos of the area show a fairly bleak landscape, but it is the end of summer and I was told later that there hasn't been must rain.
The grapes in the trailer had just been picked and I was given quite a handful, very sweet with seeds.



Screenshot of the area.



Continuing along the SH 5 to Puke gave me the windy twisty roads I wanted. Very little traffic, but that was good, overtaking on a blind hairpin? no worries, someone will stop, no point getting upset, we all have things to do!
Along the was I stopped to take a few photos, this is when another person is handy, but I did do on occasions what the locals do, stop, hazards on, duck into the shop, or whatever....
The colours of autumn made it the perfect time to be here imo, bee keeping is big business, which is good to see.



There were many monuments like the one above, but as in parts of the former Yugoslavia, not looked after, I'm guessing the relate to Hoxha's period of rule.
Kastrati is an interesting one which when I first saw the name made me cross my legs.... The name has a lot of history, Kastrati (tribe) - Wikipedia

As an aside, I have donated to wiki, so I don't feel too bad about quoting them...

 

[Cossie]

I love driving, that is what me and her do when we go on trips, but with her being in Vancouver, I'm happy to drive by myself. Getting lost, easy as, even with google maps, waze and a gps.

More of this road, I came round a corner to this little town, there had been many semi trailers which I thought was unusual given how few towns there seemed to be. Nothing pretty about this place!
The main construction site is a mine, when asking about number plates I asked what they mined, minerals was the answer. Anyway, it's a copper mine and this town seems to be the dormitory hub for it.
Not much further out of town, I came to the place where the trucks were going to and from, a water bottling plant, the largest in Albania, apparently.




Wanting to know more about the mine, I came across a few article highly critical of it, the water company is building a new plant further along the road, not sure if what is mentioned in these articles has anything to do with that!
Been concessioned to a Chinese/Turkish group for years, wot me worry?

The copper factory in Fushë-Arrëz pollutes the present and the future

Author: Merxhan Daci The spilling of waste from copper enrichment is harming the residents and the environment of the areas that...

acqj.al

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Satellite-view-of-the-Fushe-Arrez-plant-area-with-location-of-water-samples_fig1_354279659

The Chinese and the Turks "joy" the copper concession in Albania - Citizens.al

Author: Entela Bajramaj Citizens.al | Tirana Luan Lleshi has not worked the land he has by the Fan river in Fushë Arrëz for years. The water they use for irrigation is polluted by the copper factory, making the products unconsumable. "I don't even keep the cattle, because it is a cow that goes...

citizens.al

 

[Cossie]

Foot down, well maybe not, but I had to press on, still enjoying all the different colours. Again, something surprising around the next bend, well maybe a few bends later. This construction site appeared, same company as in the previous post, I wonder just how much this has cost to build in the middle of nowhere. Spoke to one of the workers through translate, he lives in the town mentioned above and commutes each day.

 

[Cossie]

Kukes was the aim for the night, originally a town of about 15,000, when Kosovo happened they took in over 400,000 refugees.
However prior to all this the town had to be relocated following another hydroelectricity dam being built, the lake formed is way down, so low that you can see parts of the original town. Nothing too exciting about this place except for the police seemingly stopping every other car on the road outside my hotel. I asked why the dam was so low, and was told summer, little rain and the owners continued to spill water to generate electricity to be sold.
You can see the newish motorway in some photos, I took the scenic route into town.

Kukës - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As said earlier, main road, park anywhere. Not sure of how it all works, but this was the largest number of UK registered vehicles that I have seen in one place outside of the UK. Maybe they were all working there, I spoke to a couple of people with strong midlands accents!
Bunkers, because of his paranoia, Hoxha had thousands of the bunkers built, apparently one for every male.

Bunkers in Albania - Wikipedia obviously you can still see a few.

 

[Cossie]

When I was growing up (?) I had a fascination for radio, I talked about this in another thread, I was always going up and down dials, listening to anything and everything I could, probably drove everybody else mad. So when I saw that the radio station in Kukes had a small museum, I had to visit. I found out it played a very important part in what was happening in Kosovo and was used as a sort of relay station to pass on news from family members.

So, they were quite surprised to see me and I tried to explain that i had listened to Radio Tirana International when I was young, they were a bit confused, anyway into the small museum, not a great deal, but those RCA AR88 receivers was high on my wanted list back then.

I was interviewed on camera and asked the usual questions, I hope it get's buried deep in a vault and lost.

 

[Cossie]

Now what, I wanted to visit Kosovo and had intentions of going up to Skopje and in particular going to see the church of St George.

Church of St. George, Staro Nagoričane - Wikipedia

Guess i have to save that for another time. Dual lane motorway up to Skopje and then south to the border with north Macedonia. 130 kph limit, I called to a wreckers and got a swag of plates, no Albanian, nor Macedonian ones though. Funniest thing to me was seeing a coffee shop with big "no smoking" signs, inside and out, guess what, everyone in there was smoking and every table had an ashtray, I moved the one on my table and it was replaced almost immediately.
Really, the only photos of Kosovo are of the drive down into North Macedonia to Struga. Still nice scenery though. There is obviously a lot of new investment in Kosovo, new buildings going up everywhere and as they use the euro, it was easy. The land does seem very productive, grains, vines, olives orchards and of course livestock managed by shepherds. Interesting comments here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/ju0p6j/r6_motorway_kosovo

The motorway down south follows a river valley and seems to be basically one very long bridge.
The reddit post mention tolls, there were signs everywhere saying pay toll ahead in various languages, but apparently there was a revolt and drivers refused to pay them, so the booths were removed.

These photos are of the road in North Macedonia, still partly one lane each way, but there is a lot of building going on.

 

[Cossie]

North Macedonia, country number one hundred and something, bit sad to do a quick trip through two countries, but hey, I'm further in front of SWMBO now, and that is all that matters.
I was going to go down into Ohrid, but ended up staying in Struga at the north of the lake. Passing the airport at about four in the afternoon, there were at least five Wizz Air planes on the tarmac. Speaking to the owner of where I stayed, things were quieting down, but the place is packed in summer and at Christmas/new year.
My lodging was on the 4th floor, sigh, lugging my bag up all those stairs wasn't something to look forward, but the Place had a lift! I stayed here and it was very good, accomodation and food seems to be very cheap, petrol is also the lowest cost of any of the six countries visited.
To me it's an odd sort of place, has a very European seaside feel to it, but of course on a lake.
I apologise for not getting out to more historical sites,, maybe next time, Ohrid the town itself should not be missed, apparently!

Struga - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ohrid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Cossie]

Very little of interest until I spy some transmitting towers. As said previously I listened a lot to the radio when I was young and here were the transmitting towers of one of the stations I heard in the early seventies.
All closed now, so I couldn't get in and be interviewed! I tried to explain to the watchman that I had heard Radio Tirana International back in the day.
Installed by Chairman Mao , him and Enver Hohxa were buddies, each hated the Soviets and of course us capitalist running dogs of the West.
Lot's of road works, it was a fairly prolonged encounter going into Albania, I even saw trucks going through a very large enclosed X-Ray machine, not sure why anybody would be taking things into Albania.
The towers are at Cerrik and are for sale for anyone that might possibly be interested,

 

[Cossie]

After the euphoria of spotting the towers, I continued on to Berat, another town not to be missed, unfortunately for reasons previously explained, I did miss a lot. Next time.
On the way there I was very surprised to see oil wells, you could smell the crude, there was a refinery nearby but had shut down. What was even more surprising was to see a NATO Tactical Airbase, Enver and his mate must be spinning in their graves. The airfield is an old Albanian one.
At the next major intersection was something I did expect to see, an old Mig 17, maybe a 19, this airfield had/has a lot of old Soviet era equipment. Some photos here. I would have loved to have had a tour, probably not possible now.

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/albanias-graveyard-of-soviet-era-migs-idUSRTX6EW0B/

THE ALLEY OF FORGOTTEN MiGs - podniesinski.pl

Albania is one of the few countries where you can still find gems of Communist-era aviation left where they served.

www.podniesinski.pl

Albanian Air Force 1988

 

[Cossie]

Berat, White City, traces it's history back thousands of years, everyone has been through this place. The hotel and rooms were quite good White City Hotel, great location in the centre of town, so another place to revisit one day.

Berat - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

From here on I was just filling time, actually from a few days ago, I took a few photos then off to Tirana, I wasn't capable of really giving any of these places the time and attention required.

 

[RB]

After the euphoria of spotting the towers, I continued on to Berat, another town not to be missed, unfortunately for reasons previously explained, I did miss a lot. Next time.
On the way there I was very surprised to see oil wells, you could smell the crude, there was a refinery nearby but had shut down. What was even more surprising was to see a NATO Tactical Airbase, Enver and his mate must be spinning in their graves. The airfield is an old Alabanian one.
At the next major intersection was something I did expect to see, an old Mig 17, maybe a 19, this airfield had/has a lot of old Soviet era equipment. Some photos here. I would have loved to have had a tour, probably not possible now.

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/albanias-graveyard-of-soviet-era-migs-idUSRTX6EW0B/

THE ALLEY OF FORGOTTEN MiGs - podniesinski.pl

Albania is one of the few countries where you can still find gems of Communist-era aviation left where they served.

www.podniesinski.pl

Albanian Air Force 1988

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Think it is a Mig 19. We saw it in June & also surprised to see it on a roundabout! This was an article I found Forgotten airfields europe- very similar

 

[jastel]

You will never have to pay a toll again with all those plates!!

 

[Cossie]

Last ones I promise! I stayed at the Mecure on the outskirts of Tirana, got lost going and I posted this elsewhere, I'm sure I clipped the handlebar of a scooter, but no damage evident.

All I can say is that you have not lived until you have driven a largish car in Tirana!

I really wish that I had a dash cam.......

Having said that, drivers are unfailingly polite, park anywhere, put your hazards on. Want to do a U turn, indicate and others will stop and allow you to do it. Merge or what ever you want to do not a problem.
I guess they have to, otherwise it would be bedlam.

ACT drivers could learn a lot about be courteous to other road users.

Upgraded room, newish hotel, Mecure, crazy traffic, again I missed a lot, but others have posted excellent TR's on here and are more than worth reading.

Thread 'Parts of Italy, Kosovo, Nth Macedonia, Greece, Albania, Poland and Germany.'

Jul 12, 2025

We have just returned from another great trip.

Bit of Background-
We have been fortunate to be regular leisure travellers to Europe & enjoy making our own arrangements and have always managed to travel independently. We don’t drive while holidaying there and have typically caught trains & buses to get around. Apartments are our preferred style of accommodation as we enjoy the space, like to prepare our own breakfasts (& sometimes lunch when we get over eating out) & like the convenience of access to washing facilities. Booking.com is our main choice with flexibility of free...

• RB
• Replies: 162
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

Thread 'Finally on the way to Albania.'

May 6, 2025

Decided I best make a trip report as much for myself as others..!



Today at this time, I am seated in 1A on QF37.

This time last year I was in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. However, I really wished to go to Albania and some more of The Balkan countries. As I soon discovered, three weeks is not enough to explore that amount of area. So not long after arriving home I had myself a classic ticket to Dubrovnik via BKK. This did not exactly suit me but it was a start.

I did not give it much thought for a few months until things were a bit quiet at work earlier in the year and started...

• Cessna 180
• Replies: 40
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

Visited a local shopping centre, can't say Albania is cheap, but people do seem to have money.

Off to the airport, some time to kill so a bit of a drive, this mentioned in another thread.

As my pnr for my Wizzair flight today is ZENxx_ and driving yesterday I saw the Nirvana Resort, I had to stop.
I didn't want a large meal so I had fish soup and a tomato/cheese salad and of course a coffee.
There must be a bit of disposable income in Albania. Quite an impressive setup.


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The Honda bike was a nice touch in front of the relief, the food was good as well!

To the airport and hotel, what a shambles! As I had a very early flight I booked an airport hotel. Not the cheapest one there and can not recommend it. A new building is going up behind, so when that is complete, it may be better.
Paper thin walls, too many stairs, guests arriving after midnight and talking for hours, uncontrolled children, bedding only had 1 sheet as a covering, bar/restaurant did not take c cards, so I was happy to get out of there in the morning and over to the airport. Daylight saving ended that night, so I could have had an extra hours sleep.
WizzAir, was worried about what I had read online, no problems at all. I paid for priority and extra cabin bag, left on time, arrived on time, no worse than any other flight I have ever taken. As it was Munich West, i.e. Memmingen, there was a bus outside the airport direct to Munich railway station.
IBIS, got early check in, weather was going downhill quickly, max of 6, feels like 1 with rain. Wandered a bit, very different to the Munich I saw 40 years ago. Dinner at the Lowenbrau Keller, shared a table with a guy from Sydney, he had the pork knuckle, I had goulash, ok, but too salty.
Munich airport terminal 1 next day, Lufthansa bus directly there, easier than working out S-Bahn, U-Bahn or trains.
If using Munich terminal 1, there is a lot of walking involved.

 

[Cossie]

Six hours to Doha, slept a bit, quickish time in the South lounge before my flight to Bangkok. Was upgraded to first at the gate, that hasn't happened for a long, long time. pity it was such a short flight.
Satellite terminal in Bangkok, issues with the bridge meant a half hour delay, as I was on separate PNRs I had to go through immigration and collect bags then check in again.
I used the oldies/business/first fast lane, but it was still 3/4of an hour to get through, and our bags had still not appeared.
That done, to departures, Qantas checkin open, no issues, dropped bag, had fast track to the Air France lounge and waited.
Finnair operated Qantas flight, still unconvinced about the J seats, you are either upright or flat. Sydney immigration was quick, bags took a while but mine was one of the first out. The Qantas internal transfer bus wasn't running, the airport is making upgrades, hopefully to the X-Ray machines.
Outside to a Qantas bus then around to domestic and finally home.
Picked the boy up, he seemed happy to see me, but he probably just wanted food, you know what cats are like!
It was good to catch up with rally friends even if some of them start drinking on the bus at 8am..... Rally was good, Hyundai flopped big time, they have spent millions and millions for very little reward, not surprising rumours are that they are withdrawing. For those interested there are some good videos on WRC youtube page.

FIA World Rally Championship

The Official WRC YouTube Channel – See more at WRC.com

www.youtube.com

I still have to go through my camera photos and more importantly I have an appointment tomorrow morning with a knee guru.

That is all.......

 

[Flyfrequently]

Thanks for taking us on your adventures @Cossie and good luck with your pesky knee

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the TR - good luck with the knee guru.

What do you do with the plates - do you have them on display

 

[Cossie]

Thanks for the TR - good luck with the knee guru.

What do you do with the plates - do you have them on display

Thank you. Some are on display in the garage, I have too many to put them all up!

 

[OZDUCK]

Very enjoyable TR and more good wishes for your knee problems.

My first thought on all those number plates was that they came off stolen cars but I assume they really came off older cars bought cheaply in Western Europe and then taken east.

 

[RB]

Great to read your perspective on some areas we saw recently. Great photos!

 

[RSD]

Nice trip and nice report!

I'm far too old to compete these days, the body wouldn't handle it, my last rally was totally unplanned - back in the early 2000's I went to Arusha in Tanzania to do a wildlife safari - at the end of the six day wildlife safari I arrived back in Arusha to find out that a round of the Tanzanian Rally Championship was being held there the next day. That night I met some of the crews in a restaurant and one of the competitors was in a bit of a panic as his co-driver had become ill... right place... right time... right skill set... local club membership and competition licence were swiftly arranged, and in the dark I jumped into the seat to make sure that it was in a suitable place and adjust the harness etc.

It was only the next morning that I found out that this WRX was an ex-Prodrive 555 WRC car that had previously been driven by some guy named Vatanen - and that we were Car 1!