Balkans Holiday Revisited - Day 5

Day 5 - Saranda We disembarked at Igoumenitsa, a small port so we were soon out on country roads. I'd never considered Greece as a riding destination before but loved it! The tarmac wasn't the best but we rode some lovely twisty mountain roads. Mind you, with temperatures in the mid twenties we were a bit surprised to come across this sign Our two Zumo's had a bit of a disagreement as to which way to go and in the end took the scenic route to the border at Ktismata. There is a smaller border post nearer to the coast but ,being inexperienced at crossing out of the EU and also with some doubts as to the state of the coast road on the Albanian side, we'd decided to be cautious and go for the bigger crossing. We needn't have worried. The Greeks gave the bikes a thorough inspection before letting us out and the formalities on the Albanian side were straight forward. We bought insurance at €12 ech for 15 days, changed some euro into Leke and we were in Albania! Isn't amazing how different either side of a border is? This was very rural with no buildings around to speak of but there was no doubting we had changed countries. The terrain had altered from green, hills to a wide barren valley and the narrow A road now widened. After about a mile we saw the first of Albania's signature structures - little concrete bunkers. Thousands of these were built by Enver Hoxha between 1950 & 1985. I don't think they've ever been used in anger but they dot the landscape particularly at borders, beaches and mountain passes. Our Zumos were now useless, showing a bike on a blank and barren screen! Our map proved to have all the roads marked on it but not necessarily in the right place! In half the distance we were expecting we spotted the sign to Saranda. A mountain road, protected by intermittent concrete blocks and broken walls, led high over a pass. Frequent shrines proved the ineffectiveness of the barriers and oncoming traffic inevitably in the middle of the road made the ride somewhat....shall we say exciting? The road surface was ok but you had to watch out for the occasional large pothole. Dropping down into Saranda there were extensive road works with a complete lack of tarmac, scattered with potholes & gravel. Road junctions had no signs as to rights of way which was interesting as we approached one three abreast but all managed to negotiate it safely. Traffic was heavy in town & at one point I was shunted in the rear by an impatient driver. No harm done and we soon found ourselves a nice little hotel, the Hotel Kaonia on the beach where we had B&B for €30 Next door wasn't so hot though! This was typical of Saranda. At least half the apartment blocks around the bay were only half built. It was a pleasant place to stay with a choice of bars and restaurants & a lively evening promenade. __________________ http://mogs-travels.blogspot.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pontydoc/