Short trips

I got an invite to go out to Turkey for the wedding of some Iranian friends. The wedding was so different from others I've been to and was a great occasion. We stayed in Antalya, a nice port town on the south coast of Turkey.

I'll add more to this later!!

This is my fourth time in Albania..... the first 2 times I came on mission trips, one to decorate the homes of the long term workers, and the other to run childrens holiday camps. The last was a day trip to Sarande, when I was in Corfu in 2006. This time I've come to see friends I miss from home. They moved back here as it's their home.......

Albania has yet to hear of health and safety..... with its deep holes, wire loops and spikes everywhere on the pavements, you have to really keep your eyes open as you walk! The driving style here is similar to that found in South America and Morocco..... it's hard to spot any kind of rules! If there's no lines, drivers assume they can squeeze anywhere so there is completely random lanes. People kept telling me I didn't need to wear my seatbelt.... but I felt like I did!!

Sunday I appeared on Top TV channel, on Ethet - the Albanian version of Pop Idol. Eda and I had front row seats and I had the camera in my face for much of the evening - I spotted myself on TV at least 3 times!! (just the right of the judges desk)

http://www.top-channel.tv/13/ethet.html It was finale 5 I went to see.....

The quality of the acts was really amateur compared to what we get on the telly here in the UK. Early in the day, I went with my friends to take the Dajiti Express cablecar, but it was closed for maintenance... so we drove up to one of the bars and enjoed the view from there.

Monday I wandered around wanting to visit museums and galleries, but found them all closed..... but enjoyed a walk down one of the boulevards, despite the rain, and stopping for a beer in Taiwan - a bar in one of the parks; and met my friend for lunch.
Tuesday it was raining again... everyone was blaming me for bringing English weather... so I joined the local fashion of mud splats up my legs. Everyone had them so that was fine. My friend took some of the morning off work and her cousin drove us to Petrella castle, which houses a bar/restaurant and nothing else... still it was out of the rain, had lovely views and served a great lunch. And it was lovely to spend time with my friend! We passed Mullet City, which amused me!! (think dodgy hairstyles!!) Dinner tonight was at 11.45pm!! My family always tell me off for eating late back home, but this was too late for me!
The next day, I had seen enough of Tirana's dirty streets and so stayed in the flat and read a book.... except for nipping out for a beer in town during the afternoon. It was my friends birthday so they had a party in one of the cities bars. At first I felt lonely sat in the corner thinking no-one spoke English, only to find out a good number of them had lived in England! It was a laugh joining in with their traditional folk dances as well as the normal party mixes...
Thursday I took a bus down to Berat to see the citadel there. I'd heard it was a beautiful place, so when I saw the main square I was pretty disappointed. It was only later that I saw the actual old citadel rising up the hillside that I had a glimpse of what I was there to see! By the time I'd had lunch it was raining so I figured I'd leave the sightseeing for the morning, and just wandered round the newer part of town and read my book. I stayed at Tomi's Hotel, which is at the beginning of the cobbled street up to the castle. Had a lovely meal there, and as the waiter spoke some English I was able to find out about what to see and my travel onwards. As I was heading up to bed, one of the other guests said "hi", I was polite back, and we shared where we were from etc, and off I went. 20 minutes later there was a knock on my bedroom door - I didn't want to answer but opened the window to see who it was - this guy had come up to ask if he could sleep with me!!! Cheeky git! Then what started as a simple text to my friend to ask her to leave her phone on, resulted in a whole load of phonecalls! She rang the owner to let him know, he came up to my room to apologise, with her on the phone translating, then he came back and his son spoke to me over the phone saying the same again!! I was slightly on edge at first, but all the fuss made me feel more edgy so I didn't get much sleep!! It didn't help that a cat or rat decided to choose the bit of roof above my head to scratch around for several hours........ The owner wanted to speak to my friend in the morning, and again gave a lengthy apology to her!!
Thankfully Friday had lovely weather so I was glad I had the tiem in berat to see the sights. I hired an audioguide adn set off with that round the Muslim quarter at the base of the hill, and then to a historical museum house half way up and into the castel walls. There is a community who have built their homes up in the walls, and so the castle grounds are quite alive. It wasn't tourist season and I didn't see any other travellers around. There were some beautiful old churches and lovely views across the mountains. Going there was the highlight of my holiday!
I took the last bus (at 2.45pm) to Durres, thinking I'd be there in an hour, but as it took two and I had no map to help navigate, it was getting dark by the time I reached the seafront. Sunset was nice and I had a pint of cafe-latte by the water. Hot drinks in Albania were always so small, and gone with only a few sips. I had tried a few times to get a larger hot drink, but these guys amused me as I used my very limited Albanian and pointing and ended up with a pint! By the time I was done, it was truly dark but I tried to find some of the ancient sights in Durres. I found a round tower, but the way I headed I managed to hit the shopping area. I did come across a dug out area with some columns but couldn't stop to look as there was a guy stood 'pleasuring himself' when I walked by! My friends drove over to Durres and met me, and we went to a nice fish restaurant for dinner before driving back.
For my last day we took a trip to Krujer. The journey was slow as the roads are being remade, and the traffic was crazy. Inside the walls of the castle is a couple of museums and an old mosque. An old guy showed me round the ethnogrphic museum, explaining everything in English. It was similar to the first museum in Berat, but was nice to see. After a nice lunch I had a quick wander down the medieval shopping street. It's really attractive, but my house is far too full of 'stuff' that I need to throw out things, rather than buy any! That night we went to a kareoke bar in town. We've only had the smoking ban in place for 6 months in England but I REALLY missed it! The bar was THICK with smoke and my eyes burned, and I coughed all night, with smelly hair! My friends got up to sing a couple of tunes in Albanian, and there was a great atmosphere in there.
Sunday morning I had to say my goodbyes. I don't know when I'll see my friends again as she is just about to start a course on top of her job so she'll be busy 7 days a week for the next year! They work so hard, and long hours! It was lovely to see them, but next time I'll go when they are on their holidays from work!

I used to have a real love for Albania, and had dreams that one day I'd go and live there to work with children with learning disabilities and mental health problems. Now I'm not so sure..... I have more a heart for South America....

Nearly forgot!! Spotted some blatant plagarism in Tirana.... theres a fast food outlet, looks exactly like McDonalds.... same sign except two breaks in the M, same menu, same staff uniform, but different company. There was also the Yahoo coffee shop, nothing to do with Yahoo (I doubt) but nicked their logo for the sign. Marks and Spencers is there.... but not with M&S stock in the shop, again just the logo, and New Look..... but with expensive clothes, not the cheaper stuff with get here in the UK.... Stela beer too, but that's not Stella.... Apparently there were more but I didn't see them! Started to wonder if you bought anything with a brand name in Albania if it EVER actually meant you were getting the branded product.... or some random copy.

I found some flights costing me 15 pounds return including taxes, so it would have been rude not to go! I had a rushed trip to Barcelona, arriving at 8.30pm Saturday and leaving for home first thing Monday.... Stayed at the hostel Mambo Tango, which well deserves it's top hostels rating. It's a family run hostel, and they were super friendly. The first night there was a movie with a free meal.... I had planned on going out, but I can never resist a freebie! Watched Babel - great film, but them was too tired to head out , despite others just going out to the clubs at 1am.....
Spent the whole of Sunday seeing as many sights as I could..... Las Rambles, the houses and park designed by Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia, and the port. That evening I went out to a salsa part, which was great fun, but that was the end of my mini-trip.... must go again sometime......

Travelling South America for 3 months (see my other blogs) gave me a thirst for more.... so I couldn't leave it too long before heading off somewhere again.....

Having done a surfcamp in February I was eager to surf again. I had planned to in Rio but the weather wasn't good enough for me, a fair weather sportsperson, to get in the sea! I was keen to go again with Calima Surf Camps as I'd had a great time with them, but I was wanting to try a new place.... as they had refurbishments happening they could only offer me the one I;d already been to, so I hunted out a new company... This time I went to Morocco with Safari Surfing. I had no idea what to expect from this company and was chancing it a bit as I could only find their web site. After it was all booked tho, despite being a bit nervous, Calima told me they had used Safari Surf and had no problems with them, so I was reassured. I flew out to Agadir and got picked up by Simo, the Moroccan owner of the company. He had 2 guys with him, from Ireland and Germany and they told me the surf had not been great that week, but that they were impressed with the services.

The lodge was lovely. I had a private room, a mini castle - it was beautiful! There was another surf school staying at the same place but we just slept there. Breakfast and dinner were at Simo's house. His wife, P...., and kid were really friendly. They were a small company and the numbers changed daily but there were never too many of us, unlike the other companies we saw on the beach! My first day I had an instructor to myself as the other surfers were experienced so could just go out to play on their own. I was disappointed how rubbish I was on the board.... I'd hoped to pick up where I left off back in February but I had to start almost from scratch. Still, I got on my feet that first day. By the end of the week, I was itching to get out beyond the white stuff, into the big waves. I nearly had my chance as the instructor said he'd take me as the conditions were perfect, but by the time we'd got our boards and wet suits, the waves had changed and I'd lost my chance. I don't get the difference in waves, so I had to trust them, but I wish I could have gone out to the green waves. I had in February. Oh well, it means there will have to be another surf camp trip for me!!!

The weather was on the whole pretty good. Woken up most mornings by sunshine ( if the mosque hadn't woken me first!). One night there was an amazing storm, thunder and lightning for ages..... amusingly a number of the others hadn't heard it at all!

I had a day off to go to Essouria. I'd been to Marrakech before when I was 19 and as now it's easily reached by Ryan Air, I thought I'd try this other place. It was an interesting town, but I wish I'd done my norm and gone without the tour..... I'd booked with a tour caompany and got dragged round expensive shops where they obviously got commission, and taken to a tourist restaurant. The others were lovely, but all French people in their fifties, so I couldn't chat at all.... I've forgotten all my French an none of them spoke Engligh or Spanish. I wish I'd taken the bus!!! Oh well, I still bought some nice lamp shades at a good price and they are looking fab in my house now.