Cradle of Western Civilisation (Corfu/ Athens/ Aegina, Greece)

We left the shores of Albania by ferry and cruised across to Greece, where I was planning to stay for a couple of months.

We stared at Corfu Island, the most northerly of the Greek Islands. Here we had a great room overlooking the rugged coastline and tried to enjoy the last few days we had alone before flying down to Athens. We swam, wandered around the old Venetian town, and I got my first taste of gyros. It was nice, but the pressing deadline of Rin’s departure drenched these last few days in gloom.

 

In Athens we were once again joined by Jac. It was good to see him, and he had many stories of his travels in Spain, France and Belgium. Together the three of us shared a studio apartment for a couple of nights.

 

 

Athens is touristy but the things to see are no less interesting. First thing we did when Jac arrived was go and check out the big stadium which hosted the very first ‘modern Olympics’ back in the late 1800’s. Of course the ancient Olympics took place in Olympia, but it was still pretty cool to see where the Olympic games as we know them began.

 

 

That evening we went out to have dinner in a restaurant that Erin had come to two years earlier. She told the waiter this and he was very happy and brought us out free wine and free desert, but managed to work that into a profit by overcharging us on our meals.

Where there are lots of rich, white tourists its going to happen.

The highlight of Greece is the Acropolis, a big hill on the middle of the city stacked with ruins. On the lower hill there are ancient theatres and up top there is the Parthenon – a big columned building in ruins. There are people all over the place and it’s a bit annoying, but this rugged hill topped with this ancient structure can be seen from all over town, and is as epic as you would expect from a place that is known as ‘the cradle of western civilisation.’ See Greece, Athens specifically, the Acropolis specifically, is attributed with the creation of much of our current culture. They invented democracy, structured education, modern philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, they were the first to master comedy and tragedy, literature and architecture.  

Other interesting things we saw included the changing of the Guards at parliament, the temple of Zeus ruins, and the first cemetery of Athens.

Soon our time together was over I had to say a sad farewell to Jac and Erin as they got on a plane to fly home. I had no idea when I would see either of them again. As soon as they were out of my sight and I was alone again after five weeks, I became so homesick that I wanted to run through immigration and get on that plane with them. Worse was when I got back to the silent apartment and saw the evidence of their stay all around me; the toothbrush Rin left for me, the pull out bed Jac was using, the cups they had been drinking from left on the sink. It made me miss them so much. It was one of the toughest days of my year and I wanted nothing more than to go home as soon as possible.  

The next day I caught a ferry to the nearby island of Aegina, where I spent ten days planning, swimming at a couple of different spots along the coast, exploring nearby ruins that seem to be hidden across this whole country, climbing up hills for views and eating.

The photo below shows the remains of a temple which outdates and is said to be the model by the Parthenon above was designed. These ruins were especially nice because they overlooked the small island and the sea beyond.

 

 

I ate gyros, which is a kebab like thing stuffed with pork, chips and tzuzeki sauce, every single day, for lunch and dinner. Lets just say the food was expensive and it made me nervous in anticipation of my upcoming budget review.

I made sure to try the local dishes too, but lets such say the dishes might be interesting but they are hardly exciting.

 

 

It was a pleasant little coastal village and I would end my days down at the fisherman's wharf looking out over the sea and back towards Athens as the sky grew dark.  Still, I couldn’t shake that feeling of loneliness that I knew would come after a perfect month with good company.  

 

 

 

Third World Europe (Albania)

One scene to sum up Albania:

We’ve just waved down a minivan which shuttles people between different parts of town, like a poor man’s bus, and we are heading into the coastal city of Durress from our beach front suburb where the buildings crowd in an ad hoc fashion which suggests a complete rejection of town planning. The minibus is dark from the curtains everywhere but the windscreen, which has a spiderweb crack that spreads from one side almost to the other. At the first traffic lights we hit a baby is fed into the driver’s side window and takes hold of the steering wheel and steers for five minutes to the next lights. Arms come in and take the baby back out, and then are replaced by the open hands of beggars who walk between cars stopped at the lights. The light goes green and the car in front of us nearly crashes into another car that speeds around it on the left to make a sharp right. I just sat there wondering if I was still in Europe. Sure, Eastern Europe was edgy, but this was something else – I’ve seen more civility in poor Asian countries. This was Third World Europe.

One day to sum up Albania:

The buses don’t leave the capital city Tirana from a designated bus station, so we get up early and walk 40 mins with our heavy packs to a quiet street where the buses going south take off. We hadn’t been on a bus in Albania that hadn’t broken down at least once, so we weren’t expecting a smooth day, but we had no idea what we were in for.

We had 290kms to get to the southern town of Sarande. Firstly, we drove halfway there then the driver said there was a problem so we waited in a café for 2 and a half hours. It was hot, we didn’t know where the hell we were, and we weren’t sure if we were about to be abducted from those baddies from ‘Taken’ who come from Albania. Turns out the buses don’t run between towns unless there is enough people, and there’s no such thing as a sure timetable. It’s a nightmare if you’re on a tight itinerary.

We ended up back on a bus but were hardly relieved because at first it was just me and Erin and the two men driving/attending the minibus. Also, we were heading back the same way we had come. Soon two police got in, and I knew not to take any comfort from that. Not in Albania. Erin and I looked at each other and trip to figure out a plan to escape, and realising there was none I reassured her that they might not want to murder us. They might just want to rape us.

My shoulders relaxed when more people hailed down the bus from the side of country road and soon we had even swung around and were heading south again. We were at Sarande by 6. It took 11 hours to go 290 kms. And the cherry on top is that when we got there we couldn’t find our accommodation so we asked a local to call the number of the hotel, only to be informed that the hotel was now closed. We had a booking!

 One shake of the head to sum up Albania:

It neighbours Greece and is a short ferry ride across to Italy, but Albania might as well be on the other side of the planet, nestled in next to Cambodia and Laos. This is the first country to make Atheism the national religion. It's where the baddies come from in the movies, and where Voldemort went into hiding. This is where the bins on the beach aren’t actually bins but piles of trash on the waterline. It’s pathetic in so many ways, assumedly thanks to a soviet hangover. I feel sorry for the people; their neighbours are first world and they are so close but so far away. That sort of close range comparison must be painful.

We came in from the north, trailed down on dodgy buses to the coast, the inland to the capital and then down to the southern border town, which looks directly across at the Greek Island of Corfu. In the Capital, there is a pyramid shaped mausoleum that the former dictator built for himself, but has gone unused and has been trashed. It’s one of the key sights of the capital.

 In the north we visited castle ruins on top of a hill, and pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves.

If nothing else, their flag is interesting (up top). Also interesting is the KFC rip-off AFC, standing for Albanian Fried Chicken. I’m not sure you could get away with this in too many other European countries.

 

It would all be forgettable if it wasn’t so fucked up. But as I’ve said, it’s the ordinary that can have more of an affect rather than the extraordinary. And that’s the only case Albania can plead.

Get your fruit on the beach.