Saranda, Albania

We're in Albania!!! Crossed the border without problems, first check out of Greece then ride through no mans land & check in to Albania. Found the place to by insurance for the bikes (13 euro each for 15 days) then changed some money. 200 pound =259,000 Leke! Greece was green & verdant, initally Albania brown & barren. Hundreds of concrete bunkers/pill boxes lined the road to the border, now derelict. Took a twisty, hair pinned road over the mountains to Saranda which is on the coast. Roads as bad as we'd been told, nice tarmac that stops without warning followed by long stretches of gravel. Glad I have the GS not the Blade.

Saranda is nice. Hotels and apartments surround a beautiful bay facing out to Corfu. Met some English daytrippers who'd come from there today. They took some persuading that we were staying here & not on their boat trip. This evening ate out on the seafront. It was very lively! Loud music, lots of people, flash cars driving up and down, fast food stalls & kiddies rides added to the atmosphere. There were definitely a strange excess of men out. Although there were family groups and couples, mostly there were single sex groups of men, young and old, out for the evening together. The women were few and far between. Anyway all's going well so far. We've a nice hotel with room with sea view and plan a day off the bikes tomorrow. We'll catch the local bus to Butrint to see the remains of the Greco Roman town there