Rest days on these tours are just so great. Especially after such a big ride – climbing over 2600m in a day takes a toll on your leg muscles. The hotel here in Ksamil puts on a great breakfast – we ate late, slow and large. At 9, Bob, Niek and I rode 5 km to the famous Butrint National Park. We ended up spending three hours wandering all over, marveling at the ancient ruins, checking out the excellent museum and loving the peaceful, shaded paths and low crowd factor. There is an Acropolis, a very well preserved Greek theater, and many other interesting buildings (ruins) from various eras. Well worth visiting if you have a day to kill here.
Ancient ruinsSitting, wishing I had a time machine to go back and see this place vibrantly aliveView from the museum
We rode back and checked out a small island we had spied on the map. It’s only about 100m off shore and we concocted a plan to buy beer and tie it to ourselves to swim over and have a party.
There’s our island
It looked doable but in the end we just bought beer and lunch provisions and had a party on our spacious balcony instead. I posted on our tour WhatsApp group and after a couple of hours, just as Bob and I finished the last of our beers, Peter and Tom showed up with more. It was a jolly time, relaxed in the shade, trading stories.
Lunch partyThe aftermath
That lasted from 2-5 then we headed out to dinner at 6. We had independently found a fantastic seafood restaurant and had a wonderful dinner there, again with a beautiful sunset view.
Prosecco and the view from dinnerYummy saladStuffed grilled squid
Ice cream for dessert from the market on the way home capped off a very relaxing and fun day. Tomorrow, back to work, for our final full day in Albania.
Stage 24, maybe on paper the hardest of the tour, is finished. That means we’ve hit the two thirds mark of the tour. I was not really looking forward to a day with so much climbing, and the rain showers during the night didn’t help. It looked promising in the morning though, and I left my tent out until the last minute but it was still wet when I packed it.
7am view from camp – weather is looking good!The snack table is very popular today
We all took off at 8am, heading along the coast, then inland up a valley that slowly got steeper.
A few easy kilometers along the coast to start us offStarting up the valley
Soon we were climbing for real, long sections of 10+%. This first climb was 1000m in 16 km – a mental game. I took it easy, didn’t push too hard, stopped a few times and as I got close to the top, was in thick fog. It was chilly but we were working really hard. My Garmin registered 17% a couple of times, and lots of time over 13%. Wet from sweat and fog drips, I got to the top to find a stunning view down the other side to the sea. The fog was lifting and settling so the view kept changing.
Gorgeous viewReady to descend
Soon I put on a jacket and headed down. I stopped pretty soon because I saw a bunker right next to the road and was dying to actually go inside one and check it out. It was smaller than I expected, kind of lame really. I still can’t believe they built over 170,000 of these in 8 years in the 70s. But the modern paint jobs are good.
A very small but smiley bunker, with Bob J jetting byInside the bunker is room for two very small people but it doesn’t inspire safe feelings in me
I continued down – the descent was fast, mostly straight sections with just a few hairpins you had to brake for. There were a couple of long into the wind switchbacks where I could only go 40 and two with the wind where I cruised at over 70 and hit 80.5 once. Bob J is a super rider and caught up to me on this section – he’s seriously fast. But it didn’t fully deliver. Before we got anywhere near sea level, it was back to 10% climbs, now in the hot sun.
Going up again, to a village over a cliffGoats in the road. The goatherder called out “Hello my friend” as I passed
The rest of the day kind of went that way. Lots of long climbs interspersed with short but fast descents. But the scenery! Maybe it’s partly because of the weather: the first time in a week or more that rain wasn’t imminent and forecast to dump. The world just plain looks better when the weather is great. Several times, when descending at high speed, I would be torn from just wanting to stare at the gorgeous sea and islands and shoreline with the super-azure water to having to watch the road. I also liked saying hi to people. One guy called out from his house, “Where are you from?”. I answered, “USA”. “Oh very good!” was the response. This was a big improvement from two days ago when a guy leaned out of a car window and said, “I will kill you” to Bob M.
We rode by a castle, had lunch about halfway, it went on and on, and finally the 9th and final climb that my Garmin identified was done. From there it was downhill or level with a nice tail wind, except the last 5 km which had a bonus climb not seen by the Garmin. Harry and I whooshed into town and there was Henk, waving us into the hotel parking lot.
Some parts of the Albanian Riviera look pretty legitThe big fogbank on the 1000m mountain is what we climbed first thing in the morning
There were maybe 10 people there already. We had a huge variety of snacks prepared by Diana and Caroline. Simply awesome. I immediately bought us beers from the hotel and everyone ate and talked about the amazing day. We agreed it was the most scenic and one of the most fun ever. Of course if it had been raining or the wind had been reversed it would’ve been a different story.
After shower and laundry, I lay down for a minute but soon it was time for dinner. Google showed a large number of good looking restaurants within walking distance. But Sigi and Anita had already checked and almost all were closed. The season really does end September 30 I guess. Five of us went out to the Island Restaurant which was known to be open, and of course found the staff and many riders there. We had a great dinner, huge, inexpensive and tasty. Best pizza on the whole trip so far, made by what looked like a 16 year old boy in a very professional looking full size pizza oven. Liz had a grilled fish, both Bobs and Carien all liked their food and beer.
Dining room with a viewThis was great!
When we got back to the hotel we had to climb and descend the two flights of stairs a couple of times, locking up bikes and getting water. So we were laughing about who was failing the stairs test – taking the elevator due to sore legs from riding. Now it’s time for another massive sleep. Good night.
The second night at the campground in Berat wasn’t as good as the first. We had rain on and off and the dogs and other animals seemed louder. But still I slept 6 hours total and started packing up at 6:30. It was raining a little at breakfast and packing wet tents is never fun. But that’s life. And we had banana pancakes. The thick black clouds were dramatic, and it rained right before we left at 8, but then stopped so I started out jacket-less.
Preparing to leave BeratThe trusty Salsa Cutthroat, all ready for another day on the road
The road out of town was smooth and maybe slightly downhill and we had a tailwind so the pack I was in cruised at 37-39. The pavement was wet and dirty so I got speckled with mud but the kilometers passed quickly.
A nice boat houseOld mosaic and new gas station
It rained a bit a couple of times but I didn’t bother stopping and changing clothes – once you’re wet you just keep going. Lunch was supposed to be just after a bridge at 60 km and the bridge came just after a long construction zone, muddy, bumpy and slow. The bridge itself was pretty crazy, broken, barely passable by motorcycles, not by cars, but fine for gravel bikes. I waited for the others when I got back to the pavement but no one came. And there was no sign of the lunch truck so I continued on.
Old mosque in Vlorë
Soon I was getting near the end, riding through the beach resort town of Vlorë. I don’t know if this is for real but we always talk about the Albanian Riviera – this is it. Simo caught me 5 km from the campground. He has Covid and it was a big effort for him to do the whole ride – tough guy. We finished together to find no one and no trucks at the campsite. I bought us drinks and we sat outside in the nice breeze watching the water, glad the riding was over. It was only 11:40am.
“The Albanian Riviera” from near campThe real Albanian Riviera needs a little workTime for a cool one – the power had died only recently so the beer was still cold
More riders finished and it turned out lunch was at the 80 km mark but many skipped it. Ype told me the delays of shopping and the slow roads made it impossible to get there in time. Tom, Peter and I walked down the beach (rocky but pretty other than the trash) to a restaurant Tom swore was open. But every place was closed. We did find a store that was open, but no power, just as at our campground. We bought some more drinks and snacks and ate by the water.
Eventually the trucks arrived with our baggage, the firetruck with our tents last. We had cold showers, washed clothes, set up tents and relaxed chatting for a couple of hours. These shorter days are really nice for relaxing longer after the ride is done.
Later in the afternoon the next storm coming in
After some reading, it was time for dinner, another excellent meal, giant, tasty and fun. Now time to sleep for a long time!
The most important member of the Bike Dreams staff, Caroline, our excellent cook
We had the option today of getting another one of our skipped stages back. There were two options but nobody took the hard one (136 km, 3352m/10,997′). After a hopeful breakfast under almost clear skies, most of us left at 8 with the weather quickly crapping out. We headed out of town, up a valley – the plan was to ride 50 km to the town of Çorovodë, have lunch, and return. The road rolled up and down, it drizzled a bit, but the real rain held off until we were maybe 3/4 of the way to Çorovodë. Just as I was about to stop for a jacket and food, I ran into the fast group, doing the same. We all continued in rain which petered out as we got close to the end. We passed Ype and Henk setting up lunch, and continued to the end of the track.
Çorovodë had some touristy places; our track ended up some switchbacks at a nice viewpoint. A local was playing guitar there with a big smile and three high school age girls were really cute and forward trying out their English with me.
Today’s A-Team at the turnaround point, Louis, Joop, Bob and Carien – hot shotsLocal musicianWith Carien and BobAnother great lunch stop
I cruised down to lunch and ate well. The sun came out, went away, then came out for good. We had our first actual good weather in days for the return ride to Berat. I was surprised at how much prettier everything was in bright sun – the villages and countryside looked great.
4-legged traffic – this lady was going at a good clip, side-saddleScenic view looking back where we had riddenWe saw a lot of these signs today. Kthesa = turn
I had a fun race with two big rock trucks on the descent, then before I knew it I was back. The shower at least started out warm today, and the beer was still cold and good. I sat in the garden with several riders writing this. I love how we can do these rides now and not really get tired and be fine for more riding the next day.
As of tomorrow we are back on schedule. We have three more stages in Albania plus a rest day, then we cross into our final country, Greece, on October 5.
The camp WiFi died once a dozen people arrived so this will be short. We left Tirana a day early and rode 137 km to the town of Berat. The first 15 km were in town, urban combat cycling. I was leading and it was nerve-wracking but I think everyone made it through ok.
Then we were out in the country and a big climb started around 30 km. Little traffic, good views, sprinkles of rain, all good.
View from the top of the climb
The descent was fun then I stopped for banana ingestion before continuing to lunch at 87 km. Eating was great, then we continued. I saw I was about to be hit by a big storm and sure enough it started pouring. I took shelter in a friendly auto repair shop until it reduced. Then went ahead 500m and met Bob, Bob, Carien and Louis in an abandoned gas station. Soon we left in sprinkling rain which stopped and then the road even dried.
Out of the pouring rain in a auto repair shop
After 10 more km we did a final climb to the local famous castle, didn’t stop, then I blasted down a cobblestone road which was rough and took out a couple of riders. It was quick to camp and we set up tents in a pomegranate orchard with turkeys wandering around.
Our camp for two nights
Beer and many snacks were consumed, along with Caroline’s Albanian rice soup. Then a cold shower and the sun 🌞 came out so I could dry things like my bike shorts. Not an easy day but a good one.
If we had been able to stick to the schedule, today would’ve been the day we cycled to Tirana, the capital of Albania. Instead, we had been here for two nights but not cycled at all. So Wilbert, our fearless leader, sent out a couple of options for riding. Besides doing nothing, one was to downtown and back. The other two went up a long climb above town, one going over a ridge and out to a small town, and the other going up to the hotel at the top of the cable car. I chose this last one. The cable car route itself looked pretty great, climbing 800m in 4.6 km – the highest cable car in all the Balkans.
But no, it’s a cycling trip. After a Bike Dreams breakfast, Niek, Bob and I set out in a group after most of the others had left. We took the “dirt” option which avoided lots of crowded city riding. The 2 km section of dirt wasn’t that bad although a little muddy. It rained a little as we were getting ready but not on the ride.
Starting out, looking up at the mountains, encouraged by the blue skyAfter some gravel, mud and riding through town, the real climbing started
We cruised around and connected with our bus route from yesterday briefly. Then up up up.
View of downtown from a couple hundred meters up
The grade wasn’t bad, under 10%, until we got to the final turnoff just below 800m. We had snacks and headed up the narrow one-lane paved road. It was steeper, up to 13 or 14%. But it was varied and the view down was great. Luckily there were few cars. Soon we were up on top and parked by a bunch of Bike Dreams bikes. We went inside and had a drink at the bar, then after everyone else left, we spent some time out at the viewing area looking down far to Tirana. The mini-golf course looked tempting but the weather was a bit cold and we gave it a miss.
View of downtown from the hotel/cable car end. Elevation 1060m.Dressed warmly for the top part of the descent
We put on more clothes for the descent but they weren’t really needed. I said good-bye to Bob and Niek at the junction when they turned off to go explore the other route. I retraced my steps back to town, a gorgeous fun descent, and was back at the hotel quickly. 2:28 to climb up vs 1:16 to go down – there’s a fair amount of climbing on the descent too. I scored a Strava KOM on the dirt descent segment too. I had some snacks and wrote this up and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
Relaxing in our awesome lounge at sunset
Dinner was a little difficult at first. Our neighborhood just isn’t where people stay. But none of us wanted a taxi mission. Four of us walked to a couple of restaurants to see what we could find. One very local place looked a little iffy but the friendly owner spoke English and I thought we were good. It turned out they only had pork, Greek salad and corn bread. I would’ve been ok with the salad and bread but two of the others also don’t eat pork and they all wanted French fries. So we bailed to a place called “Fast Food”, it ended up with 9 of us. Bob and I each had veggie pizzas that were big and good for 350 lek each ($2.90). No beer but we had already had sunset beers. Also no French fries except for the chicken sandwich Tom had. He swears that he watched old French fries being pulled out of a jar of water and added to his sandwich. We’re not 100% sure about that though. Anita gave us all Turkish Delight for dessert and all was good. Tomorrow we leave Tirana and continue the tour.
Of course the weather forecast is terrible for tomorrow, it always is these days
We had a whole rest day to spend in Tirana. Bob and I had a nice breakfast in the hotel then taxied downtown. It’s about a half hour drive but wasn’t expensive (under $9).
Modern buildings and an old statue and one of many construction cranesThe old Tirana Hotel used to be a tall building in town, now overshadowed
We looked around the main square, went in an old mosque, then walked over to Grand Park, a large and beautiful park. It wasn’t raining but the ground was wet and muddy.
A little bit of the Grand Park of Tirana
Back in town we checked out the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral which was pretty cool. Then on recommendation from a couple of our trip members we happened to meet, we went all through the House of Leaves. It used to be a clinic but was taken over by the State Security guys (Sigurimi). It’s a fascinating and very sad museum of taking paranoia about “The Enemy” way too far.
A tiny amount of the surveillance hardware on display at the House of Leaves
We needed a break but then it started raining so we walked over to the Bunk Art 2 museum, which is underground in an actual bunker and is large and depressing. It uses video and covers some of the same stuff as the House of Leaves and in the end, we had to escape.
The monster of security, 2.45m tall
We headed off to a nice restaurant nearby and had a good lunch for very little money. Tasty except the wine was kind of … (I said ‘Niek would send this back’). We didn’t stay too long since it was getting late and we wanted to go to Bunk Art 1, the craziest museum, built in a 5-storey massive underground bunker where Hoxha and his buddies would go in case of nuclear attack. Was he paranoid much?
We caught the local bus to Bunk Art 1 for $0.33 each and arrived about 4pm. The entrance is a long tunnel to put you in the mood.
The ticket lady said they kind of start closing around 5 so we stayed, wandering the corridors until 5:15. The place is amazing. First we walked through the special apartment where Hoxha and his wife would stay in the event of actually using the bunker.
The “Talk to Enver Hoxha” exhibit. I got to pick up a phone he had actually used and hear his voice. No answer when I asked why all the dick moves.Hoxha’s office in the bunker, bedroom through the doorAmazing theater inside the bunker
All in all, it was quite an education. I left really feeling sorry for Albania as a country. I can’t tell if Hoxha and his cronies actually believed the BS that they were doing the right thing for their country and socialism is great. I’d like to hope so. In that case they were tragically wrong wrong wrong. If not they were simply terrible people.
We had a little excitement taking a taxi back downtown. The guy was not an actual taxi driver and made a call as soon as we got in. He then detoured up a hill and stopped “just for a minute”. We bailed not wanting to find out what he was up to. Maybe nothing but we took the bus instead. Downtown it was pouring so we jogged over to a restaurant I picked and had a nice filling dinner. The waiter called a taxi for us and the drive back took about 25 minutes. He spoke good English and it was great to be able to discuss what socialism is and whether or not Albania currently is run by a dictator [his opinion is yes].
Back at the hotel, everyone was there except for a few guys out drinking. It was great to hear how well the second shift had done and how they made it from Kotor to Tirana today – some by bus and some with Ype, but in 5 hours instead of the over 8 it took us yesterday. Hopes are high for some riding tomorrow.
Last night as we were getting ready to sleep, we got the news that the 19th, 20th and 21st stages had been cancelled due to weather (rain). Predictions for locations on our route were for 150mm (6″) per day. Instead we would ride in the vans to Tirana, Albania. All through the night it rained hard but just before 7 in the morning it let up for us to ride over to the campsite with our bags.
We had breakfast and Wilbert gave us the plan: take 17 of the riders to Tirana, then come back for the other 8 in a second shift. When I had looked late at night it was a bit over 4 hours one way, but in the morning it was saying 5+. It ended up taking over 8 hours. We packed up and the decision of who goes was settled by registration order, that is, signing up for the trip earlier is better. We piled bikes and bags in and took off in rain at 8:45.
Loading the back of our van
As we drove around Kotor Bay and through Kotor, the rain increased until it was pretty amazing
After a while the rain let up, then started massively again. We stopped for a snack, then continued. Finally we got to the border and immediately we could see there was a problem. A long line of vehicles, end not visible, not moving. At all. While it wasn’t raining too much I walked up the line, over the border, but it ended up taking 90 minutes or so – no explanation, just slow.
An Albanian car and one from Montenegro, waiting in line to say Good bye to Montenegro
We drove on, through periods of massive rain, I passed out for a while, then we stopped for a snack. Tom and Graham and Peter and I just had beers, then back in the van for more fun.
Liquid lunch
I passed out some more then woke up in a traffic jam in the suburbs of Tirana. It took forever but we finally arrived at the Hotel New York which turned out to be a pretty great place. Beer is cheap, the rooms are nice, it’s not crowded and they will even bring in food. First, Bike Dreams provided a bunch of snacks which was great, then we ordered dinner. My pizza came pretty quickly and was surprisingly good. Others were also impressed with their dinners, especially in weight per cost.
View from our lounge/bar at Hotel New York, Tirana, Albania
We have a rest day tomorrow and rain is predicted to stay strong all day. There is a plan to get everyone else here tomorrow, then we all have a rest day the next day.
Today marked the halfway point of the Balkan Boulevard tour in terms of ride stages, 18 out of 36. We crossed into our 5th country, Montenegro, number 64 for me. The weather forecasts have been the exact opposite of what you want to see: huge rain, coming inevitably. But even with a pretty late start today, we ended up only having a few small showers to ride through.
The route took us first into the Old City of Dubrovnik, which may have startled some tourists, but it wasn’t really crowded yet
Then we headed south with a fair amount of up and down. We had some roads with lots of traffic and some without any. One really nice section was up high, around 350m, with masses of cypress trees around and a good view down to the sea.
Cypress trees over the Adriatic
We came to Ype and Henk just setting up for lunch at the 50 km mark. Even though it felt like every minute of non-raining time we wasted at lunch would be traded for riding in the rain later, it was great to stop and refuel.
Another day at the lunch room
Soon after lunch we came to the border. Getting out of Croatia took a few minutes, then maybe 2 km of no-mans land, then a similar wait to get into Montenegro. Arriving by road is nice and we haven’t had any South American style border crossing woes.
Leaving Croatia for the last time on this tripWaiting to enter Montenegro
There were two small climbs but mostly fast cruising along the coastline, in and out of little bays, dodging people walking, riding or driving. As we got closer and closer to the goal, the speed crept up. Soon we were averaging 32, then 34, then 36. Blasting along in a tight line at nearly 40 kph was just great.
Riding the Montenegro coastline with Niek
We pulled into the campsite, a bit short of Kotor itself. Bob and I had booked an apartment nearby due to the weather. We rode over (about 400m) and checked in. It’s a modern, nice place, very inexpensive, I guess because they close for the end of the season in two days. We got our keys and then rode back for lots of snacks and hot leek soup and drinks. Somehow on cool days I just don’t drink enough, so I had lots of orange juice, peanuts, along with cheese-bread, sour gummies, pretzels and the soup. A full meal is just what’s needed after these rides.
A view of part of our apartment
Back at the apartment we had showers and regretted having no dirty clothes to wash in our washing machine! I was on dinner duty so had to be back at camp at 5:30. After a couple of hours it was time to go and still, amazingly, not raining much.
Dinner tonight started with pasta salad with avocado and pineapple and basil. The main course was rice with a quite spicy sauce with lots of smoked tofu and veggies, flavored with lemongrass. Each plate had two big prawns on top. Dessert was cake with whipped cream and pomegranate. Choice of red or white wine (white FTW this time).
Dry dinner
After dinner Wilbert described the ride tomorrow (wet and long) and then Chris gave the marmot presentation. He sang a Swiss song that was very well received, then passed the marmot on to Graham for having the nicest smile of anyone. Nice job!
On the plus side, basically just one hill tomorrow
Then I helped wash a million dishes and utensils and it was time to ride the 400m “home”. Unfortunately the rain kicked up to torrential and we just couldn’t stomach it. I suggested we try it naked since the human body is inherently waterproof but Bob rejected the idea. We hung around and then, during a lull, went for it. It was super dark and rainy and as soon as we arrived it started dumping even more. Now we have to make a judgement call: is relaxing in warm, dry comfort, listening to rain all night worth $26 each? We could’ve spent the night making sure nothing touches the tent walls and trying to not go out to pee. I think we did the right thing.
Even though it was a rest day, Niek, Bob and I were first in to breakfast when it opened at 6:59am. It was sumptuous and delicious, best yet on the trip. We ate massively then caught an uber to the old town. Our plan was to see the sights before it got too crowded, especially the famous walk around the old town walls.
It worked pretty well and was cool and uncrowded as we entered and climbed up to the wall. The view was great as we slowly made our way around the whole perimeter.
Looking through a hole in the wallAcross to the fortressNiek and I looking out over the AdriaticThe view southNo crowds early in the morningPanorama
After a full circumnavigation, we walked through the Rector’s Palace, checked out a couple of museums, then headed up to the cable car up Mt Srd.
The view up over 400m to Mt SrdThe ride takes only 4 minutes and suddenly you have an amazing view of Dubrovnik.Panorama
We had a good look around, then explored the Homeland War Museum, then started down, hiking the rocky trail back to town.
The view north on one of the switchbacksLooking down to the old town
Once we were back down, Bob and I had lunch at a small restaurant then he wanted more museums and I wanted to relax. So I walked back to the hotel, gave my bike some love in the garage, then hung out for a couple of hours until it was time to plan out dinner. I found a place nearby and at 6:30 the three of us, plus our new Danish rider, Per, walked over and had a very nice dinner with wine, in the open air.
We walked back and then made another ice cream stop to try and use up all our kunas. I still have 20 left (about $2.50) so I can have another ice cream or drink during the ride to Montenegro tomorrow – we won’t cross the border until lunch time or so.
I love rest days, especially in great places like this. From here we have 2 nights in Montenegro, a night in Albania, then we arrive in the capital of Albania, Tirana, for our next rest day. Unfortunately the weather is forecast to be really wet during those days, but we’ve survived that before.
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