April 24, 2023
Day 68: Arrived in Durres by ferry
Thunderstorms
There’s a tap on the door to vacate our cabin.
We arrive in Durres harbor early after a smooth sailing. We wait in the reception area on deck 6 with all the passengers disembarking. Once the boat is docked we can go down onto the car decks. The guy who helped us with the bikes is here again this morning and waves to us.
We are off the boat and head to the line for immigration for all passports. We are second in line which is good, because the guy is very slow. He’s slowly typing with one finger the data. We don’t get an entry stamp which we are not sure what might mean later, but for sure disappointing. Most passport controls scan the passports. Who of us doesn’t like seeing the stamps in the passport?
Customs is essentially non-existent. We are still riding a long way in the harbor area to find the exit. Fortunately it is in the direction we are going to find the Hotel Edart. It’s about 0830 when we check in to a very nice room with an Adriatic Sea View. 45euros might be a bit expensive for Albania, but this is a nice room to spend the day.
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Now begins the figuring out how a new country works. We have plenty of Euros but we need Albanian Lek. Chuck Atkinson has shared with us that some places will accept Euros and if you use a bigger denomination, Lek currencies will be given in change. There is one lone man waving bills and shouting “Money Exchange” as we exit the harbor. This used to be the norm when crossing borders and has gone by the wayside. Now we stop at an ATM and withdraw some cash.
We walk along the main street seeing what shops and restaurants are available. There are plenty of small supermarkets, a few restaurants open, and people drinking coffee. First impression though, the coffee places don’t also have pastries. Some restaurants are open, and we ask one place how late, and he indicates “open, open”. In Italy the restaurants were closed usually at the time of day we like to eat.
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We find a restaurant open and have a vegetable omelet. We’ve not had that many eggs since Morocco, so this is a nice breakfast. Back at the hotel, we work on the journal. Rachel does laundry as our room has a balcony and with the strong breeze we are confident the clothes will dry.
By lunchtime the wind has picked up and the storm is moving in quickly. For lunch, we find another restaurant and begin the process of learning what to order. Patrick has goulash with rice, Rachel takes a nice salad and kebab with fries. The goulash is excellent, the kebab questionable.
Through the afternoon the wind increases to a full-on storm. From our room we watch the waves crashing into the pier and onto the beach. It rains, first soft, then a downpour. By evening several thunderstorms pass over. We are happy to be inside and are not motivated to go out and find dinner. Patrick makes a dash to a grocery store for wine and crackers to supplement the cheese and salami we are carrying.
Both of us are close to finishing our books so it’s good we were able to pick up new ones before leaving Italy.
Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 2,356 km (1,463 miles)
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