I’ve sailed across to Albania!

ell not me personally but a captain – or would skipper be more accurate? Now checkout the dream boat:

Ha, only joking.

This was my more humble vessel:

So I’ve made it back to the Balkan peninsular but this time I’m much further south having docked in Saranda, Albania. I’d researched this crossing in advance and it only received good reviews so I wasn’t concerned in trying it for myself. It was just a matter of getting me and my luggage to the port but I did it without drama and again used the reliable Corfu bus service. Naturally I was sad about leaving this island as I mentioned in yesterday’s post but it is what it is and now the only way is up – quite literally.

A blog comment from a friend named Margaret implied she might consider Corfu as a future destination. Well, I have two further reasons to add to the cause:

1) If the seriously well travelled people from yesterday’s post say Corfu and its people are super-nice, then they are just that. Further to this, an American couple I will shortly mention said the exact same words to me on the voyage across the Ionian sea. I myself had found this overwhelming cultural pleasantness to be indicative of the Greeks in general but she was specific in stating Corfu.

2) You can easily catch a day trip (or stay a couple of nights) in Albania so you can visit two countries! Besides, how many folk do you know that have stepped on Albanian soil. It’ll cost you between 19 and 23 euros for a one-way ticket (season dependant) and you have other options about getting back to Greece including more buses if you so desired.

I met an American couple during yesterday’s one hour cruise. One lady in her late 40s/early 50s was an airline pilot and she conceded (with a big grin on her face) she spends half of the year travelling. Furthermore, the company she works for has good negotiations with five airlines and so on these she can either fly as a passenger for FREE or get heavily reduced fees for her and a travel companion. Saying ‘niceeee’ didn’t quite do that anecdote justice does it…

Speaking of the cruise, it was stunning. The water was smooth and so was the journey. The sunshine was laying down its rays as was the wind – a perfect combination. So much so that I stood ‘outback’ for the entire journey and only sat down for the last ten minutes listening to some tunes of which Leona Lewis’ ‘Moment like this’ popped up from the shuffle menu. How apt I thought holding back a wry smile.

I thoroughly would recommend this later in the day cruise as oppose to the early morning one because you will miss out on this folks! Watch daylight turn to twilight…

I have to admit, I think that sail was my most liberating one-hour experience I can remember of recent times and far from what happened to me when I had a 24 hour sail journey across the notoriously angry sea of The Bay of Biscay.

Something I didn’t expect though (largely because I didn’t put any thought to it) was how Albania would look at first glance. Any guesses yourselves?

I think you can see for yourself how beautiful it looked. Will this be indicative of the rest of Albania? I’ll be sure to let you know in the next couple of days…