Sat.May 7 page 31 |
2005 BALKANS TOURBen Oostdam |
Durres |
| After a long train ride and some interesting talks with Lola, a 20 year old Muslim geography student and two young Tech schoolers practicing English, we finally arrived in Durres at 19:00. Hurrah, a quick view of the sea - not 'thalassa', but "det!" The rain was pouring, so I took a taxi to the Hotel Ambassador which I had seen from the train. I bargained for a 25 Euro single room and found hardly anyone speaking English or German. Called Terri McBride, the USAID girl who Naum had told me to meet, but she was on duty, so instead of going out for dinner, I finished up my morning cheese sandwich and the rest of the nuts I had bought on the train. Also did the laundry and went to bed early. |
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 Durres |
 view from my room |
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Had problems with a dirty bathroom and defective toilets and outlets, but after a night of heavy rains and wind it was nice and sunny at 09:00 and I sloshed through the mud across the railroad track to the shore. It was rather empty but there were many apartment buildings and hotels, and I managed to secure a good ham and egg breakfast. On the way back, I witnessed two donkeys drawing a cart across the rails, savagely beaten by the driver. I settled my account, checked out and took a taxi at 10:00 to the bus station where I found out that the earliest bus to Shkodra was at 13:00. Fortunately, a ferry agent (one of dozens selling tickets to Italy) allowed me to park my packs so I could go for a walk and a coffee. I walked some back alleys near the harbor (below), found a market, spent an hour watching customers in a cafe and saw a gypsy with a small bear . |
 BLO fecit 20050724 |
 
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