Road trip across Albania and Montenegro

We arrived in a quiet residential neighborhood of old apartment houses around two in the morning. We slept and woke up to sun, warmth and mountains greeting us.

We walked to get our rental car. This concluded our pre-committed plans.

We decided to drive to Montenegro with our first destination being Kotor — a town in a valley of a fjord.

We spent the night in the town. Next day we set off for Durmitor National Park. After a few hours of driving, the roads narrowed. We drove until the snow blocked our way.

We went onto the snow, first along the hiking path and then onward, going up and down the slopes. Going down felt like running down sand dunes. We had scheduled our trip after the ski season, but before the hiking season. I quite liked this timing. The hiking paths were still partly inaccessible, but that just invited exploration. Running around in the snowy valley, it felt like we were experiencing beauty that had been seen by just a few. It was good. So was swimming in the mountain lake.

We escaped darkness and found a place to stay overnight at Žabljak. The room was warm and we could feel the warm water pulsing through the radiators. We slept well. When we woke up, the cars outside were frosty. We went for a run outside to a lake and were guided around the lake by a pack of friendly dogs.

After the run we started driving towards Shkodër to meet with our third travel companion.

Shkodër was certainly photographic, but it did not resonate with me. It somehow felt as though the seeming leisureliness of the city was too scripted. And perhaps not too much contentment and joy could be felt from people’s everyday lives there.

We stayed in The Wanderers Hostel. I enjoyed it a lot.

The next day we drove to Theth. We spent the day hiking around the area.

We made friends with others staying in the lodging. It became apparent that the Theth to Valbonë hike was not possible due to snow conditions. So we just climbed the mountain as far as we could.