Since we arrived in Albania on Wednesday, the weather has not been welcoming, rain and a chill in the air. We were keeping in the camper and trying to catch up on things.

Saturday, the weather finally broke, and while not completely sunny and warm, the sky was not dripping on us. We did some cleaning in the camper and a load of laundry. We thought about going to the Tirana Winter Festival, but it was opening night, and we though that might be overwhelming. We decided to go on Sunday Night for our first adventure in Albania.

We made our way up the steps to the lookout to enjoy the view, Salsa included. Later, I was able to do some flying as the sun was going down and got some good drone footage of our surroundings.

Sunday was the best day we had in Albania so far, sunny, warm and beautiful. Seemed like the best time to head into Tirana, the capital city, and see a winter market. Our camp hot worked on ordering a Taxi for us, 30 Euros round trip, and we were 15 km from the city square. At 3:30, the taxi arrived and we took a slow, traffic filled ride into town. Thank goodness someone else was driving.

This was also the first time we had left Salsa in the camper to “watch the house” while we would be gone for so long. We brought one of our cameras with us, had it plugged in, so with internet, we could see what she was up to. She did wonderfully, although looked sad as she watched for us most of the time. So happy we brought the camera and have Starlink to send the signal to us.

After circling in traffic the city square, the taxi driver dropped us off, and we arranged for his brother to pick us up at 9 o’clock. We heard the story of the whole family and how the younger son gets the house, but the older get the family funds. The older brother was also a police office, in addition to driving a car for hire, and working in the tourism business. According to our drivers, the average apartment in Tirana is about 600 Euros (60,000 Lek) a month, and the average income is about 500 Euros (50,000 Lek). Not hard to see that their economy needs some correction, or why you have to work more than one job.

Tourism is helping, the country of 3 million sees 12 million visitors a year. We were happy to be there and help out. So after walking around the festival for a bit, we settled in for some food. We had no idea what to get, so a worker at one of the food stands suggested a sample platter. It was more than what 2 people could eat, but with it, a beer, and a coke for 28 Euros, it was a pretty good deal.

After some more walking, we topped off dinner with some crepes, two trips in fact. We tried to walk them off, but wanted to stay close to the pick-up point, as it was getting close to 9. As we sat on a bench, we heard a younger couple on a bench next to us speaking English. We had to find out where they were from. We had a quick chat, and found they were an America couple living in Germany, and his parents lived in Tirana.

We returned later at night to excited Salsa. We knew she had done all right from watching the camera. We turned in for the night, looking to stay another day or two to get more laundry and cleaning done. Monday was another work day, including recording some segments for our videos. We are working to get them up to date!

Monday Night, another camper appeared, actually, it was one that was stored in the lower area. Tuesday Morning, we would find they were an English Couple that have been traveling for 8 years. After they left, it was our turn to fill the water tank, and head out. We are heading north until it gets too cold to stand, and then we will head back south.

First, a couple of stops. We went to a mall to get groceries. We had been parked for almost a week, and even though I did a trip to the “local” market a kilometer and half away, we need to some food for the road. The next stop was to refill our gas bottles. It was a bit of an ordeal, but we got it done, both tanks topped off. Based on past usage, that should cover us for a month and half. However, I plan is to use the 5kg bottle, and refill it with the 10kg as our back up until it is filled. Once back in Italy, we look to change the system.

So we were on our way north in Albania.