Anything is possible in Albania!

Took this photo today when i was in Koplik.

A man selling sheep from his car boot.


Then by chance I saw this on another website.

Pedestrian zone for Piaca?

Just been catching up on some news at www.infoshkodra.com.
This is a very good website for information on Shkoder, but also a very frustrating web site. For example this picture gives no information as to time scale for the project, nor the cost.
Often I have seen things on this site under "Photo of the day", ( Like the photo of Ismail Kadare at the "Tradita" restauranat) but there was never any prior warning or notice given to us that Kadare was going to be in Shkoder.
An up and coming events diary would be a very welcome addition to this informative site!

Secondly, I like the idea of the pedestrian area.
It is still part of the Albanian life to walk around the streets in the cool of the evening. I believe that this part of the culture will continue. At times visitors from abroad have asked me if the theatre or the football match has just finished, as so many people are walking about the streets. They cannot believe that is normal life every day on the streets of Shkoder.
However, I have a problem.
There are already too many cars on the streets of Shkoder. Shkoder was never built with the idea of lots of cars on the street. If they close off this street to make it pedestrian-only, then they are blocking the main route to the hospital. This is already a very busy street, even if it is at the moment only one way traffic. If they close it down they will force cars on to the other streets which are already blocked especially during the "school run" early in the morning.

If they are going to do this, then they really must think of a bypass road for Shkoder so that traffic coming from the border down to Tirana or from the south to Montenegro do not have to enter the city at all!

Road Accident.

Driving in Albania can be crazy most of the time...
...and I mean CRAZY!

I don't understand the reason why...
Is it people thinking there is no state, so they drive anyway they want to?
Is it people driving who don't have enough experience?
Is it young people who are too immature to be driving fast cars?
is it people driving after drinking?
Is it just driving too fast?

The number of deaths in road accidents has quadrupled(x4) in the last 5 years.
From January-July 2007 there were 200 deaths on the road - more than one per day.

Unfortunately, many drive so badly, that it is the other drivers that suffer from their bad driving as they have to swerve and avoid them.

There is one thing for sure - there are far too many accidents on the roads!

Yesterday, i was with my wife making our way back to Shkoder from Tirana.
I was directly behind a large bus, and we were crossing a bridge. I must have been driving about 80km/h and I reckon the bus was doing the same speed.

Towards us there was a long line of traffic and I saw I could not pass the bus.
Just then, a white mercedes pulled out of the oncoming traffic and directly in front of the bus. The bus driver had little time to react, and they collided. The car was crushed under the front of the bus.
One woman was killed, and there were 3 other passengers injured as well as 2 small children.

I have no idea why he/she pulled out....but being directly behind the bus, we saw the whole thing.

The Police took ages to come, and the ambulance longer. Most of the victims were already taken away by other drivers to get aid at the nearest hospital.

My thoughts are with the family of the woman who died, and those that are injured.
But also for the bus driver who had nothing that he could have done to avoid the accident.

I am also thankful to God for his care over us yesterday and also for the many times we have travelled on difficult roads.

Watch out for the Train!!

Travelling from Shkoder there is a turn off at Vrak. You have to cross the railway line, but there is very poor visibility.

The video tells the rest of the story!


Welcome to Albania!

How many men does it take to get a mercedes out of a hole?

Our road is horrendous. (This in fact at the entrance to "Foto Marubi")
Anyway, almost every second day a car goes down this hole.
This time the tyre burst, but they still thought they could tow it and push it out.
I thought it was unlikely, so i took the video...

Then I remembered the story of the negro American beaten up by the Police, which was filmed on video by someone watching from a window nearby. I remember someone saying at that time..."Listen if the Police ever beat ME up, and you have your video camera, then PLEASE - put the camera away and come and help me !"

So I put the mobile phone away and gave them a hand and having jacked up the car we managed the get the car out of the hole.

Problem solved - until tomorrow and someone else goes down the hole.

Driving in Albania

One of the beauties of Albania is that you can park almost anywhere you want. (About the only exception I can think of is parking against the flow of traffic. You must leave the car facing the same direction as the traffic in that lane)

However, this can also backfire on you, when you are in a rush and wanting quickly to get somewhere ( and at this time of year you cannot get ANYWHERE quickly in the car) and what do you find?
Someone is blocking you.



Usually i have to go to the Bingo Hall across the road and get them to make an announcement, although don't expect an apology from the person that has blocked you in!