Greetings from Albania
Well, we are thankful that we had an excellent cruise & ferry experience and have made it to Albania. The repositioning/one-way cruise was better than we had expected and although "cruising" is not really "our thing", it was a wonderful, inexpensive way to travel from the U.S. to Europe.
Our Airbnb apartment here in Vlore Albania is the most inexpensive rental we've had to date and it's one of the nicest. Check out our amazing view.
Jim had a very long break from cooking while we were on the cruise ship and unexpectedly, his break continues because the restaurant food here is so inexpensive & there are so many healthy options.
We purchased all of this prepared food (pizza, salad, grilled veggies, half a chicken and homemade bread) for about $22 dollars 😲
The thing we probably like the most about Albania is the culture. The people have a reputation for being incredibly kind and helpful to strangers. An example is yesterday when we were in search of a new pair of sneakers for me since I didn't realize mine were terribly worn on the bottom and provided little traction on the slick, tiled sidewalks here and in other parts of Europe. I found the perfect new pair and we didn't have enough money on us to pay for them and we told the shopkeeper we would return the next day. When she saw the condition of my soles, she insisted that I wear the new sneakers back to the apartment and I could come back the next day and pay for them 😲.
Another thing that we love about the culture here is the traditional walk every evening along the sea. Families from the oldest member down to little ones being wheeled in strollers, fill up the concrete promenade as people stroll and watch the beautiful sunset. Albania has already touched our hearts in many different ways.
