Out Of Africa

Casey writes:

Why did we add Tunisia to our trip? Because we could! Staring at countless maps over the past few months, we were fascinated by the close proximity of Tunisia (and Africa in general) to southern Italy. Prior to arriving in Tunis, I knew about as much about the history of Tunisia as I know about Metaphysics. Nothing. Actually no, that's not true. I knew how to spell it. I knew the capital was Tunis. And I knew there was a bloody huge expanse of desert between this country and those in west Africa where the Ebola virus hysteria currently exists, and that I could therefore reassure my family that I wasn't going to die.

We arrived at the ferry terminal in Palermo with low expectations as a result of our previous ferry journeys. We were met at the ticket office by a mob of angry, aggressive Tunisian men who had surrounded the ticket counter and were shouting at and intimidating the ticket administrators. With sighs of resignation, we joined the queue and tried to stay as far away as possible from the horde. The ferry itself met all expectations. Trying to sleep in upright seats surrounded by screaming children was tricky. Walking through the corridor in a straight line was impossible unless you wanted to trip over the prostrate bodies strewn everywhere. And finding a seat in the cafe for breakfast? Forget it... the seats were being used as beds by the passengers who didn't feel the need to pay the extra cost for a chair. We were surrounded by men everywhere. Where were the women? This was a good question and became an ongoing theme throughout our time in Tunisia as a whole.  

After twelve hours we arrived at the port of Tunis. The fight to get off the ferry was akin shoppers lining up for the Boxing Day sales, but we survived unscathed and after the two hour process of waiting for my visa, we were in.

Unsure about the security situation in Tunisia and the transport options around the country, we opted to join a group tour for our twelve day jaunt. (Un)luckily for us, this particular tour company attracted a clientele with little in common with us. Sorry, but we were travelling with some arrogant, stuck-up, rich, posh people, who only know how to complain about this that and everything. We sought refuge with Peta (from Perth) and Ruth (from Leeds) - the other normal passengers - and did everything possible to stay away from the holier-than-thou posse. And that's the end of my rant, I promise, because aside from our fellow tourists, Tunisia was just brilliant!

Tunisia is indeed a fascinating place to visit. It's a hybrid of Mediterranean, European and African cultures. It is a country trying to rebuild itself after its 2011 revolution, but unfortunately, the actions of the government and the reduced living standards, have made many locals jaded and pessimistic about their future. Startled by the lack of women everywhere we went, we quizzed our tour leader. Walking down the street, we saw literally hundreds of men of all ages sitting in cafes and restaurants, socialising, and genuinely enjoying their (seemingly endless) free time. The lack of women anywhere in public was obvious. The justification we were given was that women choose not to attend cafes or eat out in restaurants. We were immediately sceptical. After also being told that 52% of the population are women and that there are 44,000 more women than men in the country, we were trying to work out where they all were hiding. We were left to draw our own conclusions. 

Tunis itself is dirty, loud and chaotic. The Medina is grotty, and you really get the sense that life is about the daily grind to make a living (at least for the men). It was eye-opening to wander the old city as we contemplated how life must have changed over the hundreds of years that the narrow alleyways and roads have existed.

The Medina

Tunisia is a haven of magnificently preserved historical sites and relics. A history teacher's dream! The Bardo Museum was a taste of things to come when we visited it in Tunis. It houses one of the best collections of Roman mosaics in the world. From there, over the duration of the tour so far, we have been lucky enough to visit many archeological sites (in varying stages of preservation), all with their original mosaics still intact on the floor, walls and pools. Just beautiful! The most famous site, Carthage, was founded in 1000 B.C.. Fantastic ruins built on a seaside location, it was once known as the 'gateway to Africa' and was a highly sought strategic post when the Romans conquered it in the third Punic War in 146 B.C. I can imagine that the old city must have once been amazing. We were also simply blown away by the Roman ampitheatre ruins at El Djem. The most impressive ampitheatre I've ever seen, with Richard comparing its grandeur to Rome's Colosseum. 

Bardo Museum

Carthage

El Djem

I've never taken much notice of doors in my life. But suddenly here in Tunisia, I fell in love with the bold vibrant colours and quaint architectural designs of the front doors on houses and buildings. Unique, pretty and quirky... who ever thought that a door could excite me!

Aside from Roman ruins and doors, Tunisia has a rich religious history. Now, a conservative Muslim country, the Islamic, Christian and Jewish populations have all had their fair share of the limelight. In Kairouan, the holiest city in Tunisia, we visited the Great Mosque, which is the fourth holiest Islamic centre in the world after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. We also visited the Mosque of the Berber, which was richly decorated with exquisite patterns and carvings. A Jewish community established itself on Djerba Island during Roman times. Here, we visited El Ghriba (Africa's oldest synagogue) and, completely unrelated to religion, we also visited a pottery workshop which distributes traditional pottery all over the Sahara. 

The Great Mosque 

El Ghriba Synagogue

Economically, the city of Sfax is the heart of Tunisia. Its people are obviously more wealthy and it is classed as a more sophisticated place to live. The twisting alleys of the Medina were pretty, and we enjoyed meandering through at our own pace. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some of the most basic living standards we encountered were in a place called Matmata. This 'invisible village' is camouflaged by the sandy undulating landscape, and situated within craters are around fifty hidden underground dwellings. Many of the surrounding caves are still in use today, and our accommodation for the night was housed in an ancient cave house dug out of the earth and rock. Richard and I were in our pure element and revelled in this unique opportunity, but we had to shut out the tantrums going on around us when some members of our group realised that there was no air-conditioning, shared showers, and a town water shortage. One night without showers or air-conditioning... oh dear, for some people it was as if the world had come to an end!

Matmata

Tunisia is hot! There is no surprise there. We've enjoyed daily temperatures in the mid forties, especially when we visited the Sahara and the Chott-El-Jerid salt flats, where we saw many mirages... and lots of salt and sand! Here, to the pure delight of some in our group, we visited two film locations used in Star Wars... the cave where Luke Skywalker met his step-father, and the magnificent canyon where one of the many airborne battles took place! From there, we briefly went 'sand duning' in four-wheel drives before heading to a local restaurant and eating camel kebabs for dinner. 

Half way through our Tunisian jaunt, I'll now hand the blog reigns over to Richard for his perspectives. I am loving being in such a different country to those we've visited recently. The local people might speak French, but we seem a million worlds away from mainland Europe!
 

I See (Sicilian) Dead People

Richard writes:

After an absolutely fantastic time in and around Naples, we set off for our ferry to Palermo for three days in Sicily. Our whirlwind tour of the island, has exceeded our expectations on almost every level, leaving with us with a desire to visit the island again in the future.

Our Sicilian adventure started very well. Unlike our ferry to Italy, where the scenes were reminiscent of a refugee camp coupled with being herded like animals on disembarkation, we had a cabin! It was with great excitement that we boarded, knowing we could escape the great unwashed whenever we liked. This ferry was however completely different, with a very agreeable and calm clientele. We ate our evening meal at the cafe, and watched the ferry leave the port of Naples over drinks before settling in for a good night's sleep to ensure our batteries were fully charged for our day in Palermo.

Almost everything we did during in our time in Sicily was brilliant, with so many interesting natural and historical sites to visit. The most bizarre visit was to the Palermo catacombs. There was a short paragraph in our Lonely Planet about a museum that housed 8,000 mummies and skeletons of Palermo's deceased from the 16th to 19th centuries. There was no other information however, so we decided to take a look, not knowing quite what we were going to find. After a walk into Palermo's suburbs in blistering heat, we arrived. We paid our three Euro entry and descended the steps into a giant cellar to be immediately greeted by walls lined with skeletons, all wearing, what looked their finest outfits. It was very strange and eerie. There was a clergy section, as well as corridors for men, women, children and virgins. We walked the corridors examining the facial expressions on every skeleton, which when you have so many to compare it is actually possible to see differences in expression. As we walked, the question that I could not escape was; why? Why are they on display like this? I googled this later that evening to find a monk had being "buried" like this as a cemetery had become full in the 16th century, and it became a status symbol to receive this after death treatment. As macabre as it sounds we both absolutely loved the place and it represents one of the weirder sites visited on the whole trip. If anybody finds themselves in Palermo, with a few hours spare, I recommend a visit!

No trip to Sicily would be complete without a tour of Mount Etna. The mountain dominates the island's skyline and is simply beautiful. It is still very much active with the last eruption of lava as recently as August of this year. The landscape surrounding the mountain is made up of grains of sandlike black volcanic rock, which makes for dramatic views and spectacular backdrops for photos. To get to the craters, you can either walk or get a combination of cable car and 4x4 bus. We chose the latter due to time constraints, but one day we would love to climb up ourselves. Once at the top we were taken on a tour, where all the recent eruptions were shown to us, with one crater still billowing steam.

Sicily's main tourist sites are the Greek empire cities of Syracusa and Agragento. Both very different, but equally as spectacular. Syracusa was the birthplace and home of Archimedes (of bathtub and water displacement fame). The ancient city houses his tomb as well as an Greek theatre and numerous other ruins. Syracusa also has a gorgeous more modern area that is housed on a small island accessible by a small bridge. The town has heaps of character and a jaw droppingly beautiful cathedral. We were also lucky enough to witness a highly competitive game of canoe polo as we walked to the town.

Syracusa Greek Theatre

Archimedes Tomb

Syracusa Cathedral

Canoe Polo

Agrigento, on Sicily's south coast was also a Greek settlement and it houses some of the most well preserved Greek temples in the world. We paid for a short tour around the site and absolutely loved it, with the Temple of Concordia the highlight due to its well preserved state.

Temple of Concordia

After over indulging on the food front in Naples, we looked looked forward to our Sicilian culinary experience. It certainly didn't disappoint, it in fact exceeded the food we ate in Naples. We did have plenty of pizza and ice cream, but also some Sicilian specialities including Arancini balls and Cannoli. Arancini, are deep fried bread crumbed rice balls, filled with a variety of fillings including ham, mushrooms, spinach and pistachios. We tried several combination of fillings and absolutely loved them. Cannoli on the other hand, is a dessert made from sweetened ricotta cheese housed in a pastry like roll. God knows how many calories they contain, but they taste amazing! Our final Italian food indulgence before our jaunt to Africa was a dessert of a Nutella pizza. Again hugely calorific, but a taste sensation! At risk of stating the obvious, Italian food is simply amazing. After eight days in Italy in total we have eaten so much pizza, pasta, ice cream, cappuccino and other delights. I don't think I could ever get bored of the food here, it is amazing!

The only problem we had in Sicily was navigation. Due to the short time we were there, we didn't bother buying an island map, figuring the combination of my iPad maps and roadsigns would be enough. What I didn't take into account, is that Sicilian signage is terrible and that even when I as navigator give perfect instructions, they are not always acted upon. The signs are horrifically bad. They either don't exist, or when they do, they provide more confusion than if they hadn't been there in the first place. The main area of confusion is that Sicily hasn't discovered that an upwards arrow means straight on. Instead, to indicate straight on, the sign points an arrow towards the road you are on, making you think you about to have to make a sudden turn to to the right or left. Eventually of course you work this out, but then you are not entirely sure if the arrow you are seeing is to indicate straight on, or if there is a genuine turning. Many fraught discussions later we arrived at our destination more often than not. The main exception to this was Catania. We thought whilst driving between Mount Etna and Syracusa we would pop into Catania for a look round. Despite following the centre signs for an eternity, we never made it. At one point we thought we had, and Casey was reading out street names for me to find on the map of Catania we had taken from the hostel we had stayed at the night before. I couldn't find any of them, only to find we weren't in Catania at all!

The navigator is completely powerless, if the driver ignores him. I had perfectly planned our route to our hostel in Giardina Naxos (near Mount Etna) and the plan was going perfectly, until I said to Casey; "don't take the Taormina exit". Casey made sounds suggesting she had understood. A few minutes later, I raise my head out of my iPad map to see that Casey is turning off to Taormina. It seems Casey just hears a key word, and doesn't bother to listen to what one might consider some of the other key words in the sentence (like "don't") and just does what she thinks is best! Forty-five minutes later (when it should have only been five minutes), after a beautiful drive through the quaint city of Taormina, we arrived at our hostel. 

The only problem with our drive through Taormina was that it began to rain. This wouldn't normally provide any problems, but we couldn't work out out how to keep the windscreen wipers on, all we could manage was a single wipe. So Casey could concentrate on the driving the narrow winding roads, I assumed the job of windscreen wiper operator (whilst map reading... who said men can't multi task??). The car had provided many problem solving exercises since we had collected it. The car, a BMW, was too clever for us on so may levels. Every operation seemed difficult. The first challenge was starting the bloody thing. There was no ignition key slot, just a button that said "start engine". This sometimes seemed to start the engine, sometimes not. After some trial and error Casey discovered that it worked when the brake pedal was down. The lack of the need for a key to start the engine startled us as we were told by the car hire company that car theft was common, and even though we had purchased "full insurance", in the event of the car being stolen we would still have to pay 750 euros. We were also worried as we had a bloody BMW, and therefore probably quite an attractive car to a car thief! We therefore conducted an experiment where we tried to start the car without the key anywhere near it, to assure ourselves that someone couldn't drive the thing off if we left the car unlocked. Low and behold the security system was actually very good, and the thing wouldn't start (to our relief).

We both are feeling a very real sensation that this trip is drawing to a close, with only a few weeks before arriving in London. It has been an absolutely amazing experience however, travelling over 60,000km (so far) over land and sea across Eurasia. We are both excited about the prospect of getting to the UK and living in London, though the world of the work place will take some adjusting to! Before that however, we look forward to what will be our 27th country of the trip on the fourth continent; Tunisia. Africa here we come! 

Pizza Pizza Pizza

Casey writes:

Fortunately for Italy, they DO make amazing pizza! And after spending a week travelling through Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Capri, I can undoubtedly retract my first impressions of this country. The cities are crazy. The coastline is stunning. The history is fascinating. And the people are simply lovely.

Richard and I have spent six months visiting the many not-so-travelled parts of the world, so suddenly being in Italy has in some ways been a shock. We travel on a strict daily budget, don't splurge our money, and appreciate the opportunities we've had to merge ourselves in different cultures without feeling too much like tourists. Here in Italy however, we cannot escape the mass construction of tourism. Walking through the alleys of Capri, we stand out. We are not carrying a Luis Vuitton handbag, we don't have designer clothes and we haven't had plastic surgery. The tourists here are a whole new breed, and we've endured the same surroundings in Sorrento and along the Amalfi Coast as well. I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to see this simply beautiful part of the world, and to see how 'rich people' travel, but I am not sure I quite fit this mould of traveller!

Naples is dirty, hectic and fascinating. The old town streets are narrow, with scooters whizzing past you in every direction. The churches, monuments and ancient buildings are lovely, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the National Archeological Museum. We had a scrumptious pizza along the famous 'pizzeria street', meandered past all types of shops, and admired the relaxed coffee drinking culture indulged in by regular groups of older men, who gather for their daily gossip sessions. The tour of Napoli Sotterranea - the maze of tunnels built 40 metres under the city - was a great insight into the history and workings of the city. We crawled through tunnels barely wide enough for a human, saw how the space was used firstly as an aqueduct and then an air raid shelter, and marvelled at an ancient Roman theatre that was discovered in the basement of an old woman's house (she was given a hefty sum to move out so that excavations could take place). Our walk towards the Naples waterfront was interrupted by our curiosity. Peering over a walkway down to the road below, we saw a mob of people gathering, plenty of police vehicles and a huge posse of riot squad police with shields. We stood watching with other intrigued locals as roads were blocked off; something was obviously brewing but after half an hour of stalled action, we wandered off and never found out what culminated.

I was so excited to be at the site of Pompeii after seeing so many images of it in school textbooks over the years. To stand amongst the ruins of Mt Vesuvius' eruption of 79AD was quite haunting and the intricacies of the old city were immediately apparent. We battled hordes of tourists in the humid weather, but it was worth it. From there we headed up to the crater of Mt Vesuvius, for sweeping views of the Gulf of Naples (except we were shrouded in cloud) and a leisurely stroll around the rim to admire the volcano's grandeur.

When we jumped onto the internet a few weeks ago to book a hostel in Sorrento, we nearly fell over backwards at the price of even the cheapest accommodation! So, after much research, we settled on a simple B&B in San Agnello, a thirty minute walk from Sorrento and only twice our daily accommodation budget, which was a bargain compared to the posher options down the road. To be fair, the seaside views here were simply breathtaking, but so were the prices for food and drink! Our day trip from Sorrento along the Amalfi Coast was lovely. Squashed onto a public bus with other paupers who also couldn't afford to stay in Positano or Amalfi, we weaved our way along the narrow coastal road, arriving for lunch in Positano. Our bus only collided with two other vehicles along the way, leaving significant scratches, which I thought was quite an achievement given the cliff top roads were barely wide enough for two scooters to pass each other, let alone a bus. Lunch at Le Tre Sorelle (courtesy of my friend Adele's recommendation) on the Positano waterfront was exquisite and our meal of pasta was a nice change from our over indulgence in pizza from previous days. On the bus again and to Amalfi, we enjoyed the quaintness of this town clinging to the rocks overlooking the wonderful blue water, and we left the shopping drag full of Luis Vuitton wielding women and visited the Cathedral of Amalfi instead. In the one complex we saw the Cloister of Paradise, the Basilica of the Crucifix, the Cathedral and the Crypt containing St Andrew's skull and bones.

The island of Capri. Where do I start? This island of dreams is famous all over the world. But in all honesty, I could only ever afford to stay here in my dreams. It has breathtaking landscapes, amazing architecture and is in every sense a rich man's paradise. For us though, a relaxing boat ride circumnavigating the island, plus six hours to meander around the pretty streets, eat some pizza and drink some limoncello, was sufficient to ensure we returned home with most of our cash still in our wallets.

Back in Naples for a day before our ferry to Palermo (oh goodness please let it be better than the last ferry catastrophe), we visited the lesser known ruins site of Herculaneum. Smaller than Pompeii, but in many ways more fascinating, because unlike Pompeii which was crushed by the weight of the volcano's ash, the buildings here were  just flooded with lava so they are extremely well preserved.

We've loved this small section of Italy that we've seen in a whirlwind few days, and now can't wait to get to Sicily for a final onslaught of Italian culture, food and history.

Welcome To Italy

Casey writes:

When we booked tickets for the ferry from Albania to Italy, we thought we'd be entering a modern, efficient and exciting European country. Instead, we faced thirteen hours on a ferry with similarities to a Vietnamese refugee boat, followed by an immigration process at the Italian border port which was more chaotic than the recent Eritrean refugee mob attack at Calais!

Upon taking our seats for the nine hour overnight ferry journey, we watched as families with screaming children streamed in, in their hundreds. The parents seemed oblivious to the fact that their children were tearing up and down the aisles, screaming and yelling at the tops of their lungs. This was primarily because the parents entered arguing, also screaming and yelling at the tops of their lungs. Then, instead of taking their seats, these passengers started claiming sections of the carpet, on which to lie down and spread out their belongings. Soon, hundreds of bodies were strewn throughout the deck, with chairs being dismantled so that their bases could be used as mattresses. There was nowhere to walk, no way out in an emergency (but that didn't matter because there didn't seem to be any life jackets anyway) and definitely no possibility of sleeping. I turned my back for a second, leaving my bag on my seat, and the next thing I knew my own seat was being dismantled by a bloke so that his darling wife would have something soft to lay her head on while she slept on the floor and blocked the aisle. Needless to say, I snatched it back with plenty of attitude. It brought a new meaning to the phrase 'he stole my seat'... because he did... literally! At 3:30am, still unable to sleep due to the unnecessarily bright lights and crowds of people talking, I went for a walk and decided to use the loo. Mistake. All three of the toilets in the ladies' room were smeared with faeces. Yep, not just a forgotten flush job, but a seemingly purposeful attempt to disgrace the facilities, with no chance for anyone to use the toilets. Brilliant! I marched into the men's toilets, only to find that this time, two out of the three toilets had received the same fate. I used the only clean toilet on the entire deck, and slunk back to my seat, disgusted by my fellow Italian and Albanian passengers. Why didn't I just use the toilets on a lower deck? I would have if the stairs weren't blocked and full of sleeping passengers! So I sat the rest of the night in my seat, protecting it from the constantly marauding seat thieves, and even with a cardigan, jacket and two scarves, I couldn't arm myself against the air conditioning. Approximately six blankets were provided for the several hundred passengers, and Richard's attempt to get one for me was met by an angry Italian man ready for a fist fight.

Our ferry arrived at the Italian port of Bari at 11am, three hours late. Ok, I accept that the Italians aren't known for their punctuality, but I wanted my breakfast! Hungry and tired, we joined the queue of pushers and shovers to disembark. Once finally off the ferry, we thought we had escaped the worst of it... but we were wrong. We joined a massive crowd of hundreds of people - which I can only describe as pandemonium - as we attempted to queue for the immigration building. It was hot standing in the direct sun, and with people pushing and shoving with extreme force from every direction, we were stuck in a massive mob. The security guard realised his job was beyond him, and ran inside with his tail between his legs, leaving the crowd to pry open and jump the metal barricades and force themselves harder against the closed glass doors. There was yelling, wailing, crying, and plenty of anger. I could not believe we were in a seemingly developed European country. It felt third-world. Richard and I kept passing glances with smirks and raised eyebrows and an urge to burst out laughing. Every twenty minutes or so, the doors would open, and the frenzied mob would come alive once more. The only way to survive was to push as hard as we could, with all our might... otherwise we were sure to be trampled. An hour and a half in this pandemonium and my bags felt like they weighed a hundred kilos. I couldn't put them down, I couldn't sit down and I couldn't get out of the sun. At one point I may have used a fat Albanian man's stomach as a bag-rest, but in the crush I can't be completely sure if it was his stomach or his suitcase. Suddenly, in a final mad scramble of yelling, pushing and kicking, we were inside! The immigration official didn't even look at my passport; he just bent the corner back enough for a half hearted stamp and threw it back at me. Our bags were not even checked and the process was over in less than thirty seconds, leaving me flabbergasted as to why we were forced to wait outside for an hour and a half, with my fellow humans acting like animals.

Italy,you've given us a baptism of fire. I've always dreamed of visiting you, your beautiful land and your glamorous cosmopolitan cities. Instead, your security guards cowered away while a mob went wild on your shores. You sure have a lot of work to redeem yourself. All I can say is that you better make bloody good pizza!

Love, Hate And A Greek Day Trip

Richard writes:

Albania; where do I start? After 5 days in the country, we have seen the capital Tirana, numerous historical sites and beautiful beaches and I still cannot work out whether I love it or hate it. In truth, over the past few days I have felt both emotions in equal measure.

On many occasions I have had to pinch myself that I am in a European country. At times it has felt like I am in South East Asia or India. The driving in cities is horrendous, with any gap seen seized regardless of whether the new occupier had any right to be there or not. The roads themselves are even worse than the driving. At times just loose gravel and mud, but more difficult are the roads in reasonable condition that suddenly subside, presenting a several inch drop in the road with no warning, causing our Hyundai hire car to launch off the edge and almost ruin our vow of arriving in London without flying. Our progress was also halted on many occasions by passing animals including, dogs, goats, sheep, cows, turkeys, pigs and even a tortoise! Casey has done an amazing job getting us around this country's crazy "road network" with ourselves and the car intact.

Albania's roads and hazards!

It is not just the road infrastructure that needs some investment. Tirana also looks very dilapidated. After seeing so many cute Balkan capitals, Tirana is far from pretty or impressive and is in truth barely worth a visit. Having said this, we enjoyed our walk around the city and had a lovely day, despite the fact that the heavens opened in the mid afternoon and everything we wanted to visit was closed. This included the cable car that ascends the mountain that overlooks the city, the city art gallery and the national history museum. We had got accustomed to European museums being closed on a Monday, but this was Tuesday! Two of the more interesting, if bizarre things to see in Tirana are the "Pyramid" and bunkers. 

Tirana

The pyramid was designed by the daughter of Enver Hoxha; Albania's communist dictator from 1944 until 1985 (more on him later). The building is interesting, not due to being an architectural wonder, but rather for the fact that it is has viciously been attacked by the ugly stick and left to rot as a consequence. The building is currently vacant, with arguments as to whether to demolish the monstrosity or not. I for one, thing it should be "preserved" in its current state, as despite its lack of aesthetics it is certainly a talking point for what is otherwise an overwhelmingly dull city.

There are thousands of underground bunkers strewn across the country, many of which we viewed as we drove to the south, unmistakable due to the large mushroom shaped concrete structure. Two such bunkers are in the capital. These bunkers were built during Hoxha's rule with the intention of scaring the people that Albania's enemies could attack at any moment. Alongside these bunkers in Tirana, there are remains of a concentration camp built by Hoxha for the imprisonment of political prisoners. The camp was actually in the north of the country, but a small section has been transported to the capital as a reminder of the crimes that went on during his lengthy period in power.

In terms of Albania's enemies during Hoxha's rule, that was pretty much everyone. In truth no nation actually gave two hoots what Albania was up to, but the threat of attack was used to stoke paranoia amongst the people. Having said this, it is safe to say that dearest Enver was probably not on anybody's Christmas card list, due to his extremely eccentric foreign policy. Hoxha was a man that believed in doing a job right, and as a consequence didn't accept compromise. He fell out with the USSR after Stalin's death, accusing it of being too liberal. He also fell out with Tito's Yugoslavia for the same reason. Throughout his rule, Albania's only international ally was Mao's China. This relationship fell apart when Mao died. China's ceasing of the slaughter of millions of innocents during the Cultural Revolution after Mao's death proved too much for Enver, and he abandoned his only international friend due to their new found tree hugging liberal ways. This isolationist policy left the country chronically lacking investment, for which it appears to be still struggling from today. To add to my communist dictator souvenir collection of a Mao alarm clock, USSR leaders' babushka dolls and Tito money box, I bought a Enver Hoxha mug. Casey cannot wait for us to have our own place for these trinkets to go on display!

After all of my negativity about Albania, we also saw some truly beautiful places. None more so than Butrint. Butrint lies in the far south of the country near the Greek border. The leaflet handed to us on arrival describes it as "a microcosm of Mediterranean history, representing in all its phases of development, the rise and fall of the great empires that dominated the region". The small ruinous peninsula contains Greek, Roman and Ottoman remains, some spectacularly preserved included the Roman amphitheatre and a sixth century basilica. Our visit had been a bit of a rush as we were fitting it in before the long drive to Durres in the north, before handing back our hire car and catching the ferry to Italy, so being delayed wasn't an option. We waited outside the gates at 7:10am before being informed they opened at eight. We were delighted therefore when they let us in 15 minutes early, even though it meant saying goodbye to a ridiculously friendly stray dog "guarding" the entrance gate. Despite the rush at Butrint, it probably represents the highlight of our trip to Albania, due to quality of the upkeep of the ruins and how brilliantly presented the site is with informative signs throughout the complex. We were also lucky enough to have the place to ourselves due to it being too early for the other tourists to have arrived.

Just a 15 minute drive from Butrint, is the seaside resort of Saranda. Full of charm and beautiful views of inland Albania and Corfu across the Adriatic Sea, it is an ideal place for anybody who wants to mix the historical aspects of Albania with beach time. The beach front is strewn with bars and eateries and we thoroughly enjoyed our two nights. Casey even went for a paddle in the clear waters, though it apparently was too cold for swimming! We had actually only planned to stay one night, but we on a whim decided to stay another day and squeeze in a visit to Corfu, Greece, which was only a 30 minute ferry ride away. In just a day, we were unable to escape the overly touristy Corfu Old Town, but it was great to see a bit of Greece and enjoy the cobbled streets and mingle with other tourists. I was even able to buy my first British newspaper for three years, which seemed to contain the same news stories as when I last lived in the UK about how Dover is under attack from African migrants crossing the English Channel from France.

View of Saranda from our balcony

Corfu

Another fantastic location in Albania is Berat. Located in central Albania, like Butrint, Berat is a walled city, and equally as beautiful, but in a different way due to being inhabited. We were lucky enough to book one of the only guesthouses within the walled city. Run by a sweet old couple who spoke very little English, it was a fantastic location from which to explore the narrow and winding back alleys of Berat. 

I am still unsure what I think of Albania. On one hand I love the multitude of historic sites, lack of tourists and beautiful scenery. Its capital and infrastructure is difficult to love however. Either way, it has been a fantastic few days, which like the rest of the trip will not be forgotten. Next stop Italy via the cross Adriatic ferry to Bari!