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Tallinn, 19 October 2003
European summer: the Balkans, Albanian roads, kitten from Ohrid and Auschwitz
Odv2004-09-15 11:38:46
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our way we were stopped by the Greek police for about 10 to 15 minutes, after which they tried to make us believe that it was for statistical purposes.
Meteora is on the list of things that I must see in my life. This heightened the expectation and although it is a great place, with amazing, nearly unreal, scenery, it is a major tourist destination, which has probably made it lose some of its charm.
From a lookout point in the monastery we saw how people were climbing the near vertical mountain sides. A chilling sight.
After a night in Greece, we left as early in the morning as possible to cross the Greek-Albanian border. But it still took us 2.5 hours to cross that border!
While waiting in the border queue, our car was suddenly rocked from side to side. It wasn't until later that evening that we found out that Corfu had been hit by an earthquake.
Corruption is clearly visible at this border, I saw many people hand over 5 Euro notes, together with their papers, only to see the border guards put away those bills in their own pockets! So when we had to pay 10 Euros for a kind-of sort-of entry visa, which wasn't really a visa, I demanded an official receipt.
After passing the border we saw that the queue on the other side was even longer! Greece and Albania don't get along very well and the Greeks are wary of their poorer neighbors entering their country.
We were planning to return to Greece before making our way to Macedonia. But since Greece and Macedonia also have a dispute over the actual name Macedonia, that border could well be a problem too. Anyway, upon seeing this queue and considering the Greek-Macedonian problem, we decided not to return to Greece but go directly to Macedonia from Albania.
Our stop in Albania was at Sarande, host to Albania's nascent tourist industry as visitors come over from Corfu on day trips;
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See photographs from:
Serbia Montenegro Gallery
,
Poland Gallery
,
Netherlands Gallery
,
Greece Gallery
,
Bulgaria Gallery
,
Albania Gallery
