Bad, Bad Roads
Starting yet another HOT day with a rich breakfast, I first headed north, i.e. the "wrong" direction, to a bridge from the 16th century. This is when the roads took their first assault at me: my apologies for anyone having close ties to Albania, but these roads, at least in 2012, were pathetic. On the positive side, the cars drive slowly and they seem to have an understanding that as a bike rider, I sometime had to go to the opposite lane just to avoid a large pothole, a rock or any other sort of barrier. Somewhat funny is that there are even some huge speed bumps, so hardly did you navigate through some really mean obstacle that you cross an even meaner speed bump, thump! The bridge was only a few miles outside the city, but I needed a looong time to get to it - it was worth it.
Getting back to the city, it was now bustling, with lots of young people, a big market, of life and energy everywhere. There are huge mosques side-by-side the catholic cathedrals and orthodox churches. At the hotel, Sonny, an employee, spoke great English and being a biker himself, he prepared an itinerary for me. Similar to Bihac in Bosnia, I had a hard time leaving Skroder...also due to the fact that the Albanian ladies were very cosmopolitan and pretty, as the third photo suggests...
...well, not all of them were modern...
I did leave, eventually, it was getting quite late. At around 1 pm. I found a back-road heading south and the pavement was like heaven: completely newly paved, I made good progress. Running into a Czech biker reassured me that I wasn't the only crazy guy to bike in like 50 degrees, at least that is how hot it felt. I reached the town of Lezhe, where Iskanderbej, an Albanian conqueror and a major king, is buried. Not exactly a touristy place: his memorial was locked, but I managed to find a key (which was handed to me), asking to lock up things as I found it. I am sure that today it would be different...
Heading south from Lezhe, I took a small road, which simply completely got the better of me. Riding on it was a grueling exercise, the pavement must have been built by Iskanderbej himself in the 15th century and never again repaired. Boy, was I suffering.
Typical of Eastern Europe are former factories of the Soviet system, that are now deteriorating - and Albania is no exception.
Finally, the pavement completely finished and only gigantic potholes were ahead, I asked someone how to proceed. He told me to simply take the motorway (Autobahn), so I thought to take my chance. The first thing I saw was a donkey cart going the wrong way, against the traffic, so I thought no one would mind a biker - so started riding against the traffic as well. Not too long though, as it was yet again time to find a hotel. I just got there at the very beginning of a quarter-final game (Portugal vs. Czech Republic, which Portugal eventually won 1:0), I laid down in front of the TV,, completely exhausted.