Today we continued along the coastal way where mountains of 2000 meter drop down in the sea. Bert got mesmerized by the turquoise water and the beautiful landscape and found it hard to keep the eyes on the winding road without railing. The road was narrow, we had to stop all the time to pass other cars and we could only drive 20-40 km/hour. Bert also wanted to stop again and again to take photos, and it took us four hours to travel 25 kilometers!

Nearly all of the coast line used to be closed for civilians, and here where military bases all the way. But now there is only a few military bases left. We stopped to take a look at an old fort and a church . We also stopped to take a swim at one of the nice beaches that we passed along the way before climbing the mountain ridge

Durres is the resort closest to the capital Tirana. The beach is crowded, large and littered and nothing that we recommend. We spent the day in Tirana instead. It is noting much to se in Tirana, but it is still nice to pay the capital a visit when passing by.

Driving in Tirana is a challenge. No one cares about traffic lights, traffic rules, and we where lucky to get out of that chaos without any dents even though Bert used to be a commercial driver. Nearly all cars in Albania are dented, and we now understand why.

Interesting information that we had was that the police was not allowed to stop any foreign cars till September 1: st, 2005 - as long as they haven’t done a serious traffic offence. This ban really works because we have passed a lot of checkpoints without getting stopped.

After leaving Tirana we took the winding roads over the mountains to Macedonia. We passed through Elbasan with its huge steelworks , before we stopped in Prrenjas to get our car washed , shop and fill petrol .

It took longer than expected to get though the border to Macedonia. We had to spend an hour there even though it was only three cars in the line before us. It was pitch black when we finally go through.