Our plan today was to cross the border from Montenegro into Albania, after two nights in Kostanijica this time without raves all night we felt rested and ready to continue our Overland journey. I was nervous though crossing into a new country, Albania seemed a big unknown to me. My nerves made me excited.
Today was our 5th Wedding Anniversary, so we hoped to make it somewhere nice. Lake Shkodra had been recommended to us by our Dutch neighbours, so that’s where we decided to head as it would also be an ideal place to stop just inside Albania. They had also recommended to us to cross at the border by Podgorica as the other crossing was obscenely busy.
Leaving Kotor Bay
The journey around the Kotor Bay and up and out towards Cetinje was magnificent. We managed to navigate ourselves to Cetinje, but once there, there happened to be absolutely no signs telling you how to get out of the town. We had seen a Policeman standing on a corner, so decided to head for him and ask for directions. We had already passed him and when we pulled up alongside him he humourously exclaimed, “I know why you are here! I’ve seen you already, you are lost!”. He very kindly gave us good directions to find the road out and towards Podgorica.
Crossing at Podgorica
As we neared Podgorica, we experienced the no road sign phenomonon again. With great “Navigation by Wendy”, we managed to stay on the road out of Podgorica and towards the border at Hani Hotit in Albania.
Although heading in the correct general direction, we had somehow managed o drive straight through the shanty part of Podgorica, giving us a real insight into the developing world of both Montenegro and Albania.
We drove into a town, and as we stopped to consult our map, an old man came towards us, I can only assume asking us if we were ok. In my best pigeon Montenegrin I asked for Shkodër. The man said in many words I did not understand to keep going straight and not turn right! At least it was not left this time! This we followed and eventually made it to the border crossing.
By the time we got to the border, it was super HOT and the sweat was simply dripping from us.
Leaving Montenegro was fairly straight forward. The border guard looked at Dan sitting in just his board shorts and advised him that driving shirtless in Albania would receive him a fine from the Police. We thanked him for his advice and headed for the Albanian border control.
At the Albanian side we pulled out the Albanian phrase book and was flabbergasted at the huge change in language that we would have to master. Hello was not simply Ciao and thank you was no longer Hvala. We were going to be stumped.
Luckily for us though, the border crossing was amazingly simple and we got insurance then and there from a man that was talking to the border guard.
We were in Albania! Yee Hah! Love being in a new country.