Albania and Macedonia 2018, between tourism and adventure

Our test of the two SWMs, the Superdual T and X took place along a journey that we told you live with a diary, but which we now want to describe to you with the right calm, a few weeks after our return.

Frequenting forums and motorcycle groups this summer, it was easy to notice one thing: an explosion of people who decided to take a holiday in Albania. The small town facing the coast of Puglia seems to have suddenly become a trendy destination, after having been ignored for years or, at most, considered an even dangerous place. Those who, like myself and several friends who know a little about the Balkans, expected that sooner or later it would happen, and also expected something that promptly occurred: a lot of people who returned complaining because the place didn't correspond to the their expectations.

This is because Albania, despite being a stone's throw from Italy, is still a particular reality. Straddling the economic boom, traditions and backwardness, the land of the Eagles is far from the concept of "tourism" as most people consider it. My partner and I also boarded a ferry from Ancona to Durazzo, she for the first time and me for the third, our program included a gypsy trip, with only a rough plan, between Albania and Macedonia. Someone will have followed our semi-serious reports written during the trip, this is intended to be a slightly more serious report and above all a guide to avoid being taken aback if you decide to visit Albania for the first time.

Let's start from some assumptions: Albania is an absolutely safe country and the Albanians are a people of sometimes embarrassing kindness, they will go out of their way to help you and will be extremely happy and flattered by the fact that you, Italians, want to know their Earth. However, they are also an extremely proud people, whoever thinks of going there and "demanding" services has done everything wrong, they will help you as long as they can and even beyond, they will almost never want something in return, but don't think that everything is owed or you could leave mistaking words. They have not yet entered into the perspective of "the tourist is always right". Having said this, some practical information: you can easily enter Albania with your identity card (valid for at least three months), most insurance companies do not cover your vehicle in Albania. Upon disembarking from the ferry, or as soon as you cross the border if you arrive by land, you will find the offices of the local companies ready to take out a policy valid for 15 days for around twenty euros, don't forget it because you will be asked for it at every control. It is STRONGLY recommended to have health insurance, Albania has a bilateral agreement with Italy and therefore, in the unfortunate event of health problems, health care is free and guaranteed, however the health facilities are not exactly at the top and the possibility of contacting a private structure is an additional guarantee. Think about it and also include the costs of recovering the vehicle. Given the Albanian road system, it could be decidedly convenient if you need to have your motorbike recovered. Telephone coverage is good, but there is no roaming agreement, so surfing the web can cost you a fortune, fortunately the diffusion of Wi-Fi is widespread, practically every bar or restaurant has free connection. However, if you find yourself in small inland towns you may have problems, buy an Albanian telephone card as soon as you land and, with around 15 euros, you will solve the problem.

In Albania the current currency is the lek, but euros are readily accepted everywhere. I heard someone start to argue about the exchange rate: "they rip you off in shops and restaurants". It has NEVER happened to me once, in fact, generally roundings are done downwards. But even if they try to cheat you, know that at most they will take away one euro or less, in a country where over 50% of workers have a monthly salary of less than 350 euros. So don't be nit-picky, smile and pay in euros. ATMs, on the other hand, are accepted only in a few shops, don't take this into account and - above all - don't be like that participant in a discussion on Facebook who started shouting "when they show me the bill, I give them the credit card, if they don't accept it, it's their problem", the problem could become yours and, in any case, you won't make a good impression.

Returning to our itinerary, we decided to visit both "famous" places from a tourist point of view, and destinations where there is absolutely nothing touristy, but where you can see everyday life.
We then disembarked in Durazzo and, after half an hour to go through customs and take out the insurance policy, we jumped into the traffic of the SH42 with the intention of reaching Scutari, in the north of the country. The traffic is completely chaotic, don't expect anything "predictable". You might find someone who stops to let you pass or someone who jumps in with the certainty that you will stop, so keep your eyes open, especially on roundabouts. There are no rules there and only the strongest survive. Scutari is a well-known city rich in history, everything you need to know can be easily found online. Along the road, however, there are a couple of places that are worth a visit: the best known is certainly Kruje, famous for the museum dedicated to the national hero Skenderbeu and for a beautiful, excellently preserved bazaar (and surrounded by unwatchable condominiums, but it is a characteristic of the urban development throughout the country). The second is the Sari Saltik tekke: although from the outside it seems little more than a small chapel, it is one of the holiest places for Bektashi Muslims. It is not a spectacular or particularly "beautiful" place, but if you want to listen to it, the elderly caretaker will be happy to explain the history of Sari Saltik, the peculiarities of Bektashism and make you see Islam in a little-known light.
As already mentioned above, Scutari is definitely worth a visit, it is a lively town, with a splendid castle whose oldest structures date back to the Bronze Age. Unfortunately, here too you will find yourself faced with a problem that is widespread throughout Albania: historical vestiges and ruins of absolute interest, very little valorised and with little or no indications on site. Get a guide before leaving or search the web.

The second stage of our Balkan trip is the least touristy one could imagine. The initial idea was to reach Debar, in Macedonia. In reality, for the umpteenth time, I am fooled by the map: what is marked as a major road (the SH36) turns out to be a disaster with unpaved stretches, landslides and truck drivers driving at crazy speeds. We then stop in Peshkopi, a small town with just over 13000 inhabitants a few km from the border where we stop at the "Piazza" (yes, in Italian), the hotel of an Albanian friend. In Peshkopi the only thing that has a semblance of a "tourist attraction" is the ethnographic museum, which among other things is not even very well looked after, despite hosting interesting pieces; why does it deserve a stop then?

Because it is in these places that you see the "real" Albania, that of children waving along the streets, of people who, for no particular reason other than knowing you, stop to say a few words (many understand Italian and speak it understandably), they want to know where you come from, they want to know if you like their country and they greet you with a thunderous "Italians, Albanians, two peoples with one face!". The next day we enter Macedonia and we realize two things: Debar wouldn't have offered any tourist attractions anyway and the Macedonians are less outgoing than the Albanians. By this I don't mean less hospitable or less pleasant, but if the former willingly stop you for a chat, the latter mind their own business. It is probably a reaction to the over 50 years of total closure that the Albanian people were forced to endure during the regime of Enver Hohxa.

Macedonia welcomes us with perfectly asphalted roads, forests as far as the eye can see, bilingual road signs (the official alphabet is Cyrillic, but road signs are also in Western characters) and, shortly after the border, don't miss the monastery of Saint John the Forerunner (Sveti Joan Bigorski), if you want to be amazed. The impact with the capital, Skopje, however, is a bit disorienting: the outskirts are similar to that of any city in the former Yugoslavia, long avenues, Soviet-style barracks, overall however clean and well-kept, then you arrive in the center and as if by magic... it's immediately a theme park!

The architects who are redesigning the center of Skopje must have grown up at the Gardaland specialization school, otherwise the profusion of neoclassical architecture and monumental bronze statues combined with plays of colored LED lights and even the presence of three fake pirate ships could not be explained wooden buildings that house as many restaurants, in the river that runs through the center. Told like this it might seem like something just and terribly trashy, in reality it is funny and hides a fascinating and eventful story. We are still talking about a city that saw its origins in the fourth century BC, during the empire of Alexander the Great. As usual, since this is not a tourist guide, we leave you the satisfaction of discovering everything that the capital of Macedonia can offer. We can only tell you that after the indigestion of culture during the day, a very lively nightlife awaits you and is worth experiencing at least a little.

We then leave the capital to make another stop that is anything but touristy. After a beautiful road, partly dirt and partly asphalted, where crossing free cattle is the order of the day, we skirted the A1 and then diverted onto the R1312 arriving in Prilep, Suburra in ancient times. The center does not offer any particular attraction other than, here too, a lively square full of bars and restaurants. On the other hand, a few kilometers away, it is possible to visit the ruins of Prince Marko's towers (fair hike required) and about fifteen kilometers to the north, the Byzantine Orthodox monastery of Treskavec, dating back to the 12th century. In addition to being a spectacular complex (under renovation but still visible when we were there) it can be reached via one of the most beautiful and panoramic asphalt roads we have traveled in Macedonia.
To keep up with good habits, a tourist location happens to an unknown or almost unknown destination, so we aim the motorbikes towards the tourist location "par excellence" in Macedonia, Ohrid, on the lake of the same name.
Here you can find trashy souvenir shops, Italian restaurants that do “spageti bolognaise” and “macaroni amatriciana”, tourist traps, rides, rental pedal boats and nightlife. We considered them a necessary nuisance to visit the historic center, which is absolutely fascinating and requires at least a full day. As usual I won't give you a list of "this and that", any tourist guide will provide you with all the necessary information.

After Ohrid, we then returned to Albania, abandoning the chaos of tourists on the lake, to dedicate ourselves to the search for an archaeological site that was little known even to the Albanians themselves. The monumental tombs of Selcë and Poshtëme. The five royal tombs date back to the Illyrian period (between the 3rd and 4th centuries BC) and are distributed in an area of ​​a few hundred square meters on a hill above the village of the same name. The funerary objects are obviously no longer present and are housed in the archaeological museum of Tirana, but the buildings are well preserved and worth a visit, the road is entirely asphalted (very badly) and only the last few hundred meters are a comfortable country lane without differences in level and without difficulty and are marked on Garmin maps, to leave a bit of fun. Leaving the Illyrian tombs behind, our destination for the day is Berat, "the city of a thousand windows". A UNESCO heritage site, Berat is balanced between those tourist centers that we don't like so much and a pearl with a thousand-year history that can be found in the mosques, in the caravanserai and in the alleys of the historic center. Even in this case, there is so much news online that reporting it here would be useless. If you are going to Albania for the first time, however, you cannot leave it off the list of things to see.

The last stop is Tirana, the capital. As the Albanians themselves say "There is Tirana and there is Albania". Tirana is experiencing a truly unruly economic boom, with all that it entails for better or worse. There are buildings, shopping centers, luxury shops and limousines next to apartment blocks built during the communist regime. Those who can flaunt it, those who can't try, with results that sometimes lead to the grotesque.
Tirana is not visited because it is "beautiful", there is almost nothing beautiful about it, it is visited to understand the history of a country which, for 50 years, has lived in total isolation from the rest of the world. In which practically all citizens were constantly monitored by the sigurimi, the secret police; in which a complaint could lead to someone ending up in a labor camp (or worse) without any certain proof. Visit the House of Leaves (the former headquarters
of the sigurimi) or the bunkers of Hohxa allows us to understand why, today, Albanians are so sociable and eager to chat with any foreigner they meet. The objective of this article, as you may have understood, is not to provide a tourist guide for a pre-packaged trip; you could easily draw up yet another list of things to see, there are more in Albania and Macedonia than you might think but I've never liked starting with a list of things to tick off once seen. I have had the most beautiful experiences in towns that were barely marked on the maps (by the way, I recommend the excellent Freytag&Berndt, but I also recommend not to pay too much attention to them, especially regarding the practicability of the roads).

So if you go to Albania or Macedonia, limit yourself to making a rough plan, sure, some things are "must see" that cannot be missed, at least on the first trip, but then get lost, wander around at random, talk to people ; they will be absolutely happy and sometimes amazed by the fact that you are interested in knowing a country of five hundred souls whose name is barely marked on a map. It may happen that they offer you a drink, it may happen that they want to tell you about when they were in Italy or about relatives they have in your city. When you are looking for a restaurant, don't open Tripadvisor, stop two old men on the street and ask them "where would you go for dinner?" It happened to us that they called them to book and they gave us a card with the owner's name and their greetings written on it. At the same time, however, be prepared to find guest houses that are very different from the photos on the web page (they all look wonderful, even the worst taverns), be prepared for repeated blackouts in the city, due to a crumbling electricity grid. Be prepared not to understand a word on the menu of the restaurant where the old men mentioned above sent you and to order at random, without knowing what you will find on your plate. Albania is like this, it is still an "adventure land", a place where the first thing that amazes you is the people. Probably one of the most hospitable adventure terrains in Europe.

Edited by Stefano Pelati