Highlights of Albania

On day seven of our Bike Beyond Boundaries tour of Albania's World Heritage Sites, we cycled from Gjirokastra, birthplace of feared dictator Enver Hoxha as well as renowned writer Ismail Kadare, over the steep Gjerë mountains to the straits of...

A visit to Lazarat may not be for everyone. The village is the mafia headquarters of Albania and there is big business going on. September is harvesting season where you can see average peasants busily tending to their billion dollar crops. Watch...

Saranda may not be the prettiest of Albania's cities. What was once the pride of Albania's coast, is now an overdeveloped mess. But you can't knock Saranda for their sunsets. The clear sky turns pink, yellow, red or blue depending on the evening...

Hikers and climbers are just beginning to discover the Albanian Alps. A (wide) dirt road leads up from the valley to Valbona but the government is planning to pave it, which will bring untold numbers of daytrippers to this pristine place. For now,...

Albania recently built a freeway from the coast to Kosovo. However, unless you have a very good road map or speak Albanian, it can be hard to find the freeway. Like most Balkan countries, Albania likes to put the next town on road signs, rather...

It takes about 3 hours to cross from Komani, a concrete pier with a restaurant, to Fierza, at the other hand of the manmade lake. The few ferries that cross the lake are old, rusted, and serve as local transport for everything from motorcycles...

This is only one of the 'out-of-the-blue' images that regularly pop up as you're exploring Tirana. Apparently one of the former mayors of the city was an artist himself. In the post-communist era he actively encouraged the use of brightly colored...

Looking for a European locale as a possible retirement area, we traveled to Albania. A one hour flight from Rome, we landed at Tirana airport, rented a car and made our way to Lake Ohrid and the town of Pogradeci.. There we had a lakeside lunch...

This place is in the middle of nowhere in Southern Albania. There is no bus stop. You just have to motion to the driver to pull over at the side of the road when you see a promising looking dirt trail. You take that trail off the main road, all...

Gjirokastra's Ottoman old town with its grey slate roofed houses is beautiful, especially from the top of the city's citadel. The citadel or Gjirokastra Castle as it's called, is now a museum well worth visiting to see the United States Air Force...

Visiting Berat is easily one of the highlights of a trip to Albania. The old Ottoman city, with its unique stone houses which climb the hill towards the castle, is the kind of place you can wander for hours and happily get lost in. The UNESCO...

An easy day trip from Tirana is Kruja Castle. It's actually more of a fortress than a castle and is currently home to the Skanderbeg Museum, a museum dedicated to Albania's national hero. One of the highlights of Kruja is shopping in the old...

One of the most popular activities for tourists and locals alike is to climb Tirana's abandoned Pyramid. It's quite a steep climb but you'll see many people run up to the top while others climb it on their hands and knees. There is talk in Albania...

Albania is often described as unique and quirky and the country’s infamous bunkers have a lot to do with that. Former dictator Enver Hoxha had over 700,000 of them built to help protect the country from invading nations. Of course no one ever...