Day 6: Dubrovnik to Shkodër

Finally in Albania! But it was a long road getting here today.

In case anyone is on tenterhooks for the review of the tiramasu: not great. It’s an easy dish to get wrong. In this case, there was too much cream, the cream was too hard (think the inside of a custard cream) and the ladyfinger biscuits were much too dry. Tiramasu is disappointing most of the time and yet, like Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap, I keep hoping that next time…

Senada was as good as her word this morning and made me a Turkish coffee which I drank in her wee garden. Then it was time to start the unpleasant business of bus travel from Croatia to Montenegro. The bus driver was grumpy and there was a €2 charge per bag in the luggage hold, but that turned out to be the least of my problems.

Things started to go badly at the border, where it took an hour and a half to get through, one hour for the Croatian side (probably because of new EU checks) and then, when you thought it was all over, another half hour at the Montenegrin side. We all had to get out each time and queue and there wasn’t even any shade on the Croatian side!

It wasn’t all bad. I had been sad about not seeing Dubrovnik so it was nice to see the old town from above as we passed it along the hillside. The last time this old fortress was actually used in war? The 1990s! 😯

The scenery was also very nice, especially when we hugged the Adriatic.

But once we were in Montenegro, things did not get better. They were building endless big roundabouts on the main road that didn’t seem to go anywhere. I can only assume that they’re planning a major increase to the road system or loads of new resorts that need roundabout exits. Either that or big roundabouts are the last word in traffic calming in Montenegro. And then we hit a huge traffic jam 😩

And while I’m aware that I’m judging Montenegro on very limited data, it seemed to me like a Temu version of Albania: very similar, just not as good. I never got to experience the delights of Budva’s old town, which might have changed my opinion, because the bus was over three hours late. I just had time to go to the toilet, get something to eat and some fresh water, and then it was time to get on the next bus. I never left the street the bus station is on!

The next bus was actually a minibus so eight passengers were left behind. Fortunately I was not one of them. In fact I got the front seat because it was the only one left, and I became an unofficial driver’s assistant when we got into trouble on a very steep back road outside Ulqin, and I had to hop down and tell the drivers behind to back up so the minibus could take a run-up at the hill 😂

It was much more pleasant than the morning anyway, and much quicker. At the Albanian border the driver just took all our passports and they processed us in a oner. We arrived in Shkodër early and I was able to quickly buy a local sim card before checking in to my room.

I’m now in a nearby restaurant enjoying a raki on my last night of freedom before I fall under the watchful eye of my mother-in-law and have to be a good wee nuse. Goodnight from Albania!