28 August Monday, Sarande Albania

I woke up this morning to a harbour of grey looking buildings set into the mountain; then the sun came up and everything has colour. It looks exciting – time to explore.

I’ll go up on Lido shortly and have breakfast after the rush. Because I don’t have an excursion, I don’t have to worry about being ready early; everyone else had to be ready for tenders by 8.00 (and then sit in the theatre waiting for their turn). This cruise I get to go straight to the tender station anytime I want to and I don’t have to wait and queue up. So as soon as I have breakfast, I’ll head off for a look. My 24 hours of wifi on board will expire in half an hour, so my next post will depend on shore availability tomorrow in Argostoli, Greece. I heard that there is wifi in Albania but it’s known to be unsecured, so I won’t bother with that.

When I got up to the Lido, there was the Queen Victoria right alongside us, a little further out from shore. The view from Observation deck showed several little beaches close together. I went down to the tenders stairway and only had to wait a few minutes before I was on a tender; we were soon chugging towards the shore – only a very short distance in this port and pretty smooth apart from a bump or two at the breakwater. The waterfront and its exit are noisy, filled with taxi drivers all calling out their minimal store of English phrases: “Welcome. You need taxi?” I started walking up what appeared to be the main street/hill and one of the first public buildings was an Evangelical church: quite a surprise as we’d only heard Orthodox mentioned.

Then there was the first of several car washes! It seems there’s always money to get your car washed. I’m not sure if I’d try this one??

There’s also money, it seems, for Botox – the only beauty salon I saw – and Vodafone 4G!

I continued up the hill but soon it just seemed to be residential, so I headed in a square of “main” streets, assuming I’d end up back at the start. This street seemed to be chemist after chemist, as well as at least one doctor.

It turns out the little beaches are right there a few metres from the main streets. The sun was very hot but didn’t stop the enthusiasts.

The apartment buildings are fairly modern but fairly drab, certainly not fancy. Many shops are basic, somewhat dilapidated, dark inside, dingy; the ravages of communism are obvious, as are the signs of major unemployment. They’re trying to build a tourist trade and the cruise ships are an attempt to get this industry to a productive stage.

I can’t imagine buying fish here – the flies buzzing around the trays were huge and no-one seemed to be shooing them away.

When I got back to my room, they were just about to service it, so I sat in the lounge down the corridor; this has a huge screen along one wall with rotating pictures from the Rijksmuseum by Dutch impressionists from the 19^th Century. Beautiful to see.

I had a nanna nap and then dinner, which was very nice, as usual. Tonight we have to turn the clocks forward. I also have to be up very early tomorrow because the excursion leaves early.